Looking Backwards

by ToastyMagic

(Self Insert) After arriving in Gravity Falls by literally falling into it, Matt is dazed and confused. He is sent back from 2020 to 2012 with his knowledge of the show and he soon finds himself in the Mystery Shack where Stanley Pines takes him in. How'd he get there? Why are things changing? I guess you'll have to find out along with him.

8. Double the Double Trouble

It has become well known to me and the twins that Stan Pines will do a lot of things for money, most anything in fact. So when he told us that he was going to host a party specifically to get more money and to attract the youth to the tourist trap, we weren't surprised. But what was surprising was the amount of effort the con-man was putting into it.

Stan had completely cleared out the museum, setting all of the attractions out in the woods to give the party a good space to be in, I hope no one has a heart attack if they stumble upon the sascrotch. Regardless, with this section of the Shack entirely cleared out, it gave room for all sorts of things; a decent sized dance floor, DJ booth, a snack bar, chairs, even the couch that is usually in the den made its way out here. Stan had also bought party lights that he asked Soos to install and the handyman excitedly did. It was almost like today was someone's birthday.

Oh wait…

It was.

Today was June fifteenth, Stan's sixty something birthday. Did anyone else in the shack know that? I doubt it, but it isn't just Stan's birthday, It's Ford's too. That's why he was putting so much effort into this, even if no one knew. I bet somewhere deep down he was throwing this party for Ford, proving to himself that he wouldn't forget his brother.

Soos stood on a stepstool, placing a party hat on the horn of a fake taxidermy rhinoceros with a smile. Taking the box of hats he had gotten the item from, Soos made his way across the room to a table with party supplies on it. On his way there, he passed Wendy who was sitting in a plastic chair. She was lazily blowing up balloons and tossing them onto the floor with a bored expression. I couldn't blame her, waiting for a party to start always seems like it takes forever. I sat next to her.

"Are your friends coming?" I asked. Today, instead of wearing my usual sweatshirt, I had the red flannel and jeans that Wendy gave me on my first day here. I had to at least look a little nice, it was a party after all.

Wendy smiled, having something to take up her time. "Yeah they are," she replied. "They think you're pretty cool, by the way."

"Even Robbie?" I asked with a skeptical smirk.

"He wouldn't show it but yeah, I'd say he does too. You can literally summon a shield of red light at will." She punched my shoulder softly. "How is that not cool?"

"Fair point," I chuckled, rubbing the back of my neck.

We heard Dipper and Mabel chuckling from the couch, prompting us to glance at them. They were both completely covered in silly string. I winced, that might be a pain to clean up. Wendy stood and wordlessly tossed me a bottle of my own messy fun from the party supplies table and we made our way over to the twins.

"Guys, stop!" Wendy shouted, clutching my arm. I quickly acted as if I were injured, putting on a fake grimace and doubling over. "Something terrible just happened!" The twins looked at us nervously and then, at the same time and without warning, we sprayed the two of them with our own bottles of silly string. The twins raised their hands to their faces, laughing while trying to shield themselves from the onslaught of brightly colored string.

Stan, who just had the area cleaned, stormed over to us. "Alright, alright!" He exclaimed, grabbing the bottles from our hands, "party supplies are now off limits." The grumpy old man then walked away with the confiscated cans.

"Mr Pines," Soos called from across the room, he was putting up streamers. "Who's birthday is it again?"

"Nobody's," Stan lied. "Thought this party might be a good way to get kids to spend money at the Shack." He then unrolled a poster that had a donkey with a pinned tail on it.

"Nice!" Soos remarked with a thumbs up.

This seemed to put the con-man in a good mood as he flashed a rare smile at his handyman. "The young people of this town want fun," he began, "I'll smother 'em with fun." Stan then shook a fist manically.

"Maybe comments like that are why kids don't come to the mystery shack," Dipper remarked, pouring his sister a cup of soda. Stan was quick to rush over and pry the bottle out of his hands.

"Hey! Hey!" he yelled. "How's about you make yourself useful and copy these flyers?" He handed a clipboard to Dipper with said flyer on it. Given the last fiasco with Stan and his flyers during the wax figure incident, I wasn't at all surprised with what the flyer read. 'PARTY at the Mystery Shack! Kids and teenagers welcome...free?'

"I fixed up the copier last night, you runts go over to my office and print a bunch of these," Stan ordered. "It should be good as new!" Dipper and Mabel complied reluctantly, the latter clutching her half filled cup of Pitt Cola. "You go too, Matt. Don't want them accidentally burning the place down or somethin'."

"You got it," I replied with a mock salute, making Wendy snicker.

"What are you laughin' at, Corduroy!" I heard Stan yell as I excited the party room.

"Nothing Mr. Pines!" She answered, standing up straight.

"Good! Now clean this colorful mess up before it stains the couch!"

#

To be honest, I have no idea why we are printing flyers. The party starts in, like, an hour. Seems a bit late to try and spread the word if you ask me. However, it is not entirely impossible that Stan gave us the task just to keep us busy instead of messing around. I'm leaning more towards that idea the more I think about it.

I pushed open the door to Stan's office and me, Dipper and Mabel shared a quick glance at one another. The supposedly 'fixed' copy machine was barely held together with tape, and bits of string. It appeared to threaten to fall apart at any moment if it so chose.

I was the first in the room, walking past the employee of the month picture of Soos hanging on the wall. A small smirk grazed my lips at the sight of the photo before resting a cautious hand on the machine, eyeing it worriedly. Realizing that the beat up contraption would not blow up at a simple touch, I laid the flyer Stan had given us on the scanner.

"Do you think it'll even work?" Mabel asked, taking a swig of her soda. I answered her with a shrug. Unfortunately, I did not see Dipper approach from behind me as I pressed the copy button. To make things worse, he rested his arm on the photocopier, completely carefree. I noticed his arm too late.

A bright green light swept over the paper and Dipper's arm, prompting him to draw back, not expecting the machine to operate. As the machine copied, it appeared to be going surprisingly smoothly, but on the inside, I knew it was having trouble. If I were to give you an analogy, I'd describe it like this: when a duck swims on the water, you only see it glide, apparently effortlessly across the lake. But underneath, as in beneath the surface, it's a whole different story. Its legs are moving like he's pedaling a bicycle up a mountain. Well that's this machine right now. It is that duck.

Suddenly smoke exploded out of the holding tray, right into our faces. After a brief moment of coughing and swiping at the air, the fumes cleared and we were able to watch a perfect copy of Dipper's arm and the flyer roll out onto the tray.

"Success!" Mabel cheered, picking up the paper with a smile. Not even a second later, the paper began to shake violently prompting the startled girl to drop the paper to the floor with a yelp. After another moment of shaking, the copy of Dipper's arm pushed itself out of the paper and began crawling towards us. Both preeteens scrambled to my side, eyes glued to the unholy copy the machine pushed out. I rolled my eyes at their reaction.

As far as I could tell, this episode was not particularly dangerous. To my knowledge, Tyrone and the rest of the Dipper clones only wanted to go on a date with Wendy with no intention of "disposing" the original Dipper. Not to mention all you need to defeat a paper clone is some liquid and their bubbling into the floorboards. The only thing at stake here is Dipper's perfect night with Wendy. For someone as smart as him, I'm surprised that he hasn't realized that there is no such thing as perfect.

"So, Dipper," I began, looking at the distressed boy as the copied appendage moved closer, "you gonna arm wrestle it?"

"Seriously!" the preeten exclaimed.

"What? It's a copy of you, it'll be an even match." Dipper lowered his eyebrows at the remark, realizing I was not nearly as terrified as he was. "Oh come on, It's just an arm. What's it gonna-" I turned my gaze back to the copier machine to be met by a paper hand surging through the air and latching onto my face. Not expecting this at all, the arm was easily able to force me to the ground where it began slapping me across the face. I suppose I may have insulted it. Before I had entirely processed what was happening, Dipper was able to pry his copied arm off my face and threw it into the wall where it collided with the picture of Soos, shattering the frame.

I quickly sat up, hoping to see the limb halt its movements. It didn't. Luckily however, Mabel acted on pure instinct and splashed the appendage with her beverage. Once the soda made contact with the paper, it began to fizz and bubble, disintegrating it within seconds. Despite this however, a frown was displayed on her face. She knew it was going to be hard to get a refill without Stan noticing her. I'm glad she didn't notice my drink resting on Stan's desk.

"Oh my gosh, guys," Dipper started looking at his sister and I with wide eyes, "I think this copier can copy human beings!"

"Ya think?" I sarcastically asked, standing back up to my feet.

"What do we tell Grunkle Stan about the machine?" Mabel sincerely asked.

"We'll tell him it broke." I dusted my elbows off. For a noodle arm, that thing sure had some force to it. "I think Stan is one of the last people we should tell about this." The twins nodded in agreement and we stepped out of the office. Hopefully that would be the last time any of us stepped foot in there tonight.

I knew it wouldn't.

#

All of the workers and inhabitants of the Mystery Shack convened at the center of the dance floor where Stan held a clipboard. "Alright party people," he began, "and Dipper." The preteen's expectant smile fell at the comment while his sister had to stifle a laugh. "Let's talk business." Stan pointed to his handyman. "Soos, because you'll work for free-and you begged-I'm lettin' you be DJ."

Soos pumped a fist into the air. "You won't regret it, Mr. Pines." He then pulled out a book with a smile. "I got this book that teached me how to D.J. r-r-r-right!"

His boss looked at him blankly. "Not encouraging." Stan then shifted his gaze to his cashier. "Wendy, you and Mabel are working the ticket stand." The redhead nodded with a smile while the brunette shook her head.

"What?!" Mabel exclaimed, spreading her arms to her sides. "But Grunkle Stan, this party is my chance to make new friends!"

"I-I could work with Wendy," Dipper offered with an awkward raised hand. Oh boy, here we go. How was I going to prevent this from happening? Don't get me wrong, it's not like I want Dipper to be miserable, but the sooner he realizes how hopeless this crush on the older girl was, the safer it is for everyone. In the show, Dipper had gotten involved with the supernatural numerous times just because of his crush. This party is a perfect example of that idea. If I butted in and worked with Wendy instead, Dipper wouldn't have a reason to clone himself and he'd saved quite a lot of embarrassment. However, Wendy would eventually leave to go and party, leaving me bored and by myself…

…

…

…

Unless…

Now, I know what you're thinking, but I promise it won't go wrong in any way, shape, or form.

I pinky promise even.

"Nah, don't worry about it, Dip," I spoke up, setting a hand on his shoulder. "I'll handle the tickets with Wendy, you just go and enjoy the party." Dipper looked upset at this, I wonder why.

Stan raised an eyebrow at this, not convinced. "You realize that if you do, you gotta commit-"

"Yeah, yeah." I waved my hand through the air with a smirk. "I gotta stay out there all night, no getting out of it or whatever." I crossed my arms. "I doubt we'll even have to be out there the whole night, people will have to stop coming eventually."

Stan shrugged before saying, "Dipper, you'll be inside making sure the party goes smoothly. No one parties too hardy, got it?" The preteen gave a nod laced with dismay. "Yeah, I bet you'll be really good at that." Stan then pointed to the main part of the shack with his thumb over his shoulder. "Now, you kids go freshen up. Wallets-I mean guests will be arriving any minute."

#

I stood in front of the full body mirror in the bedroom, brushing my hair into place, praying that the humid air outside wouldn't be a pain to deal with. Dipper stood beside me, clipping a clip-on bowtie to his usual red/orange shirt. I don't know how he does that, wearing the same thing pretty much everyday that is. But hey, if it works for him, that's good. I just hope he's actually cleaning the clothes he wears.

"Oh don't look so down, Dipper," Mabel exclaimed with a smile. Dipper flinched at the sudden noise and turned from the mirror to his sister. "This party is going to be a chance to meet people that are actually our age." Her cheerful expression fell for a moment. "No offense, Matt."

"None taken," I replied, examining the faint ginger whiskers that peppered my face within the mirror.

"I know Mabel," Dipper sighed. "It's just that I wanted to spend the night with Wendy. It feels like we haven't hung out a lot lately."

"Dipper, dude," I scoffed, stepping to the bedroom door. "We literally solved an entire species-wide conflict with the Man and Woman-taurs two days ago."

"So?"

"Wendy was with us!" I declared, throwing my arms in the air. "She was with us for almost the whole day!"

"No," Dipper retorted, "first off, that was five days ago-" I rolled my eyes- "and second you were with her for the whole day." I raised an eyebrow at this. "Despite my best attempts to hide it from you, y-you know that I-I like her," Dipper stammered, his face growing a deeper crimson the longer he talked. "She hardly pays me any mind when you're around and tonight was my chance to finally be alone with her and you took-"

"Matt, what are ya doin kid!?" Stan yelled from the base of the stairs. "I said freshen up, not get ready for a red carpet!"

"I'll be right down!" I called back, running a hand through my hair, making sure it was in place.

"You better! Cars are rolling in as we speak!"

"Dipper, look," I started, looking back to the twins in the room, "let's talk about this later." I didn't wait for a response, turning to the door and walking through it with Mabel in tow. I sighed as my feet stopped before the stairs, my gaze finding its way back to Dipper who sat alone on his bed, peering at his shoes.

"You okay?" Mabel asked, resting a hand on my arm.

"Yeah," I replied, setting my foot on the first step. "Just thinking of someone back home."

#

The brisk night air sent a soft breeze through the trees, allowing them to sway freely as if they too were dancing to the music that escaped the shack's walls. Wendy and I sat shoulder to shoulder behind our poorly made ticket stand with a large bowl of popcorn between us, occasionally fighting off the pesky mosquitoes who seemed invigorated by the humid air. I leaned back in my chair, lightly tapping my foot on the grass beneath my shoe to the rhythm of the song inside. Out the corner of my eye through a nearby window, I could see Stan point two fingers to his eyes and then flip said fingers around so they were pointing at me. I couldn't help but chuckle at him as I turned away from the window. Like anything was gonna happen.

As I faced forward, Wendy handed me the cash required for a couple of girls to enter. I took the money and set it neatly in the metal box that was our makeshift register. Quite surprisingly, the monetization of this party was going very well, and that's not even including the fifteen dollar exit fee Stan had been heavily enforcing. Nate and Lee pleaded with Wendy to let them out shortly after they were admitted so they could get something from Thompson's car. For the first time ever, I witnessed Wendy not only follow rules but enforce them as well. Poor suckers.

"Enjoy the party!" Wendy exclaimed to the boy she just gave a ticket to, a genuine smile displayed across her face.

"Thanks, you too," the boy replied, taking the small paper with a now red face. I could tell he hoped Wendy and I hadn't noticed his slip up but his wish was shot down when the female lumberjack let out a small snicker. The kid shook his head and cursed under his breath as he walked up to the door to the party.

"Don't worry man," I called after him, "happens to the best of us." This caused Wendy to laugh now as she passed the embarrassed kid's money to me. A couple people on line joined in, watching him stride uncomfortably into the party space.

Overall, everything was going great. Both of us redheads seemed to get into our rhythm behind the stand as more and more people showed up for entry. Wendy and I would casually talk about her father's weird lumberjack rituals in between patrons. At the ripe age of five, Manly Dan apparently made Wendy climb up her first tree with nothing but her bare hands as some kind of right of passage. Very dangerous if you ask me, but it was a normal occurrence within the Corduroy family.

"Well, look who it is," A snooty voice announced, breaking the conversation between us. At the sound of the voice I let my neck go slack, allowing my head to fall dramatically. I let out a small sigh as I looked at the new arrival. "I should have known the gingers were working the ticket stand, their pale aura is brighter than the moon."

"Nice to see you too, Northwest." I replied, noticing her posse was present as well. "How many tickets? Three?" Pacifica stood there for a moment, a single eyebrow raised and a single hand resting on her hip, gazing off into the forest. "Earth to Northwest?" I waved a single hand extravagantly through the air, grabbing her attention and making her flinch. "How many tickets?" Pacifica shook her head and reached into her bag, pulling out her credit card. We both simultaneously looked at the "register" resting on the table. "Seriously?"

"Okay, well it's not my fault that this place is a hovel!" She declared defensively, slapping a one hundred dollar bill on the table and yanking three tickets out of Wendy's hand before storming off to the door.

"Well," I began, picking up the money, "that happened." I set the bill in the box not bothering to check if it was real or not, that girl has no reason to be carrying fake money around. Her two lackeys looked at eachother and followed their "friend" into the building. Just like the last interaction I had with Pacifica, Wendy was eyeing me. "What?"

"Nothing," she replied, eyes now set on the next group of people walking up to the table. One of the guys reached into his pocket to pull out a wad of crumpled cash for him and his friends.

"Oh come on." I poked her shoulder before taking the set of bills from the guy's now outstretched hand. "I remember that look, you can't fool me Corduroy." She crossed her arms with a playful smirk. "I've been a lot more careful about the things I say and do, so there's no cause for concern." I looked back at her, matching her smile, but when I turned, her's was gone and instead squinted eyes and pursed lips greeted me.

"Did you see that?" She asked, peering off into the woods beside us. I tried to follow her gaze but only saw a simple canopy of green pine and oak. "Over there, just past the trees." She pointed into the dense flora, squinting one eye even harder to line up her arm just right. Now that I had a more precise location to search, I saw what had captured her interest. A faint yellow glow sparkled through the underbrush, just barely noticeable. It seemed to fluctuate in size, growing larger and then smaller in a secret rhythm that somehow managed to match the wind.

"Do you think that's what distracted Northwest?" I asked, subconsciously scratching a mosquito bite.

"Could be," Wendy shrugged, still entranced by the mysterious light. "Let's check it out." She began to rise to her feet but I stopped her with a firm arm on her shoulder. I looked behind us into the window to once again see Stan within clear line of sight of us, chatting up a middle aged woman while leaning on his rickety old banister.

"No way the con man we call a boss is gonna let us slip away like that," I declared, prompting Wendy to look behind us as well.

"Huh, who knew Stan had game." As if he had super hearing, his gaze locked with ours causing the two of us to snap forward in our seats, hoping he didn't see us. Our dreams were dashed when the party door opened a few seconds later.

"Alright," Stan began, stepping outside and shutting the door behind him, "what's going on with you two?" He crossed his arms and leaned against the Shack's exterior, his eyes studying us.

"Sorry," I replied, rubbing the back of my neck, trying to form an excuse. "It's just uh, there are a lot of bugs out here and we were hoping that we could go get some bug spray or jackets from inside." Wendy, playing along, nodded intently.

"Didn't I tell you that you guys were going to be out here all night." Stan raised a finger when he noticed Wendy was about to reply. "With no getting out of it?"

"We'll be super quick."

Stan looked at both of us with an unimpressed look. Wendy began to dramatically scratch her arm while maintaining eye contact causing Stan to sigh.

"Fine, I'll stay out here," Stan sighed, stepping down the stoop. "You have five minutes." Wendy and I shot to our feet at his proposal and walked up to the door. "Five minutes!" Stan called after us once we slipped inside. The music within the Shack was booming through Soos' speakers and beating in our chests. Soos was doing an excellent job keeping the crowd pumped and keeping everyone on their toes for the next song.

"We all having a good time, dudes?" He asked into his microphone with one hand balled into a fist in the air. He was met with a large cheer that was somehow louder than the music, making him smile. "Then let's keep this party going!" His fist then smashed onto his keyboard causing thunder to rumble throughout the building. "Just to clarify, that was not real thunder, dudes."

"Yeah! Soos!" I called, now walking with Wendy through the dance floor.

"Call me crazy," Wendy began, "but wasn't the plan to get into the woods? Not into the shack?"

"Trust me," I replied, picking up the pace, causing Wendy to groan.

"You really have got to stop saying that."

#

"Hey bro-bro!" Mabel exclaimed. "You enjoying the party?"

"I thought those two were supposed to stay outside the whole night," Dipper said, pointing to Wendy and Matt across the room, completely ignoring his sister.

"Oh, so what?" Mabel continued, waving a hand through the air. "They deserve to have some fun too, you know." Dipper hesitantly nodded his head, still watching the two of them. "That's the spirit!" She grabbed her brother by the arm with a grand smile. "Now, come over here, I want you to meet my new friends!"

#

After making our way through the crowd, Wendy and I were now standing in Stan's office before the copier machine. Wendy had a very skeptical look on her face as I turned the machine on.

"Can you please explain to me how this old piece of junk is going to help us find out what's in the woods?" Wendy asked, crossing her arms.

"Why explain when I can show?" I replied, hoisting myself up onto the copier. "It's honestly probably a lot easier that way." I laid stiff, arms at my sides with hints of excitement on my face. "Oh, I almost forgot," I raised my head to look at Wendy, "If things get dicey, splash the other me with that soda." I gestured to Stan's desk that still had the red solo cup from earlier placed on top of it.

"The other what now?"

I didn't bother answering, slamming my finger into the copy button, causing a green light to sweep over my body. The machine began to rumble, prompting Wendy to pick up the soda from the desk. After a few jets of steam and smoke, a copied picture of my backside rolled out of the machine and lightly fell to the floor. I sat up in anticipation while Wendy stood ready with her cup, without a doubt feeling ridiculous. Suddenly the paper began to wiggle and shake and my figure began to rise from the paper. I jumped off the copier and onto the floor, just as my double rose to full height. It turned to look at me, a blank expression displayed on its face. For a brief moment we both just looked at each other.

"It worked!" The two of us suddenly yelled in unison, pumping both fists in the air.

"What. The. Hell." We both turned to Wendy with goofy smiles on our faces. Her eyes were darting between the two of us as if they were on fire.

"Where are my manners?!" I exclaimed with a scoff, setting one arm on my double's shoulder, our smiles not wavering. "Wendy, allow me to introduce you to me: Matt!"

Immediately my double took an extravagant bow saying, "An absolute pleasure to meet your acquaintance Miss Corduroy."

She only responded with silence, holding her cup defensively. "How is this possible?" She asked after a few moments.

"No idea!" My double and I exclaimed in unison. "It's your turn."

"I'm not so sure…"

"Wendy, you wanted to get into the woods, this is the only way we can do it without Stan firing us," I stated firmly, enforced by a nod from my double.

Wendy sighed, handed me the cup of soda and pushed herself up on top of the machine. I pressed the copy button for her and just like me, a green light swept over her body. After the printer's rumbling finished, she immediately got right back to her feet, awaiting for her paper self to come alive. She stood next to her double, staring into its inky eyes that failed to replicate her emerald ones.

"How are we going to tell the difference between each other?" Wendy and her double asked in unison, startling them both.

"Well," my double began, "I'll go by our middle name, William."

"And I'll just take my flannel off," I continued, setting the article of clothing on Stan's desk. "I feel like a black t-shirt and a red flannel will be pretty hard to mix up."

"I guess…" Wendy replied, taking off her green flannel and setting it next to mine. She had a white tank top underneath and began to hold her arm sheepishly out of nervousness.

"I find it funny that the originals are wearing black and white and the copies are wearing color," William remarked with a snicker, trying to relieve some tension. This seemed to have worked as faint smiles began forming on both Wendys' faces, finding the ironic humor in it.

After a moment of silence, Wendy spoke up, her smile growing, "Do you want to go by our middle name?" Her double's eyes widened substantially at this suggestion.

"No way!" the double exclaimed, making me and William smile. Blerble. Wendy Blerble Corduroy is Wendy's official and canon name revealed by Alex Hirsh himself. "I'll just go by Wen or something," the double suggested.

"Alright Wen," William began, walking to the office door. "I believe we have a job to do." Wen nodded in response and followed William out the door with Wendy and I in tow. While the doubles returned to their station at the party, the two originals went out the Shack's front door and into the night.

It was much darker on this side of the shack, having no colorful lights shining through any windows to illuminate the area. Instead, only the glimmer of the waning moon and the distant stars were able to shine their light down from the heavens upon the dancing trees. As we walked in silence, unbeknownst to us, a stocky figure was watching us from the shack with crossed arms. Once Wendy and I stepped into the woods, the figure disappeared into the darkness of the building, returning to the party.

Due to the fact that the canopy of leaves from above refused to let any light through to the forest floor, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the amulet. A red aura encased the two of us, illuminating the area. Before us, deeper into the forest, the same golden hue mysteriously flickered.

"This is new," Wendy commented, inspecting the red glow enveloping our bodies. She waved her arm out in front of her and the red light followed it.

"Yeah," I replied, "I may not be able to effectively lift things with the amulet, but I am able to establish a connection with people and objects, hence the glow." I too examined the aura lighting our way. "Now my arm won't get tired since I don't have to hold it up in the air the whole time."

"Any idea what that light from earlier even is?"

"Aside from a large group of fireflies or a scampfire? No."

We pressed forward into the underbrush, keeping quiet, hoping we wouldn't startle whatever was connected to this light. Then we heard a voice. Wendy and I looked at each other and we nodded simultaneously. Wendy drew her hatchet from her belt, having grabbed it from within the shack before we left. After the wax figure and convenience store incidents, she always seemed to either have it with her or close by and I wasn't going to complain. I released my hold on the two of us with the amulet and the red glow dissipated, the energy gathering to my closed fist housing said artifact. The source of the light was just before us now, seeming to be held within a small clearing. I crouched behind a tree at the edge of clearing, Wendy did the same. The voice spoke again.

"Stupid boy." My blood ran cold. "I know he's hiding something, and with the help of this new minion-" I silently began to count down, using my fingers. "-I'll be sure to know every secret in his head!" Wendy and I surged from within the woods out into the clearing, cornering none other than Lil' Gideon. He stood before a ring of candles that surrounded a framed picture of me. The picture seemed to be taken discreetly, my eyes appearing to not be meeting the camera. However, a red x was drawn over my eyes so I couldn't be sure.

I knew exactly what this was, Gideon was attempting to summon Bill. He held the second journal open in one of his hands, the book flipped open to the page that showed how to summon the demon. I didn't think Gideon would try to summon him this early but now I needed to act. Anger began to swell in the pit of my stomach, and the amulet seemed to fuel it.

"Well, well, well," Gideon began, "if it isn't my old friend Matthew."

"Give me the journal, Gideon." I demanded sternly, feeling the anger growing, prompting Wendy to give a twirl with her hatchet in anticipation. "Now." Gideon did try to torture me, almsot crushing my windpipe and breaking my arm. Now I held the upper hand and the power he had once used against me. It felt good, almost intoxicating.

"My oh my, where are your manners?"

I ignited my shield, this time its red glow burned bright in the face of its abuser. Gideon took a step back, completely appalled and now fully realizing what I held in my possession. A feeling of darkness came around me and I could feel it tugging at me, I allowed it to.

"I wasn't asking." The shield seemed to have a flame emanating from it, burning with hatred and anger. "Give it to me before you do something stupid." There was a time when I would have been more civilized with this demon child, trying to reason with him, but we are well past that at this point.

"You-you wouldn't attack a kid would you?" Gideon stammered with a sneer, standing as tall as he could.

"I'm seriously considering it right now." My eyes began to glow red, matching the flames radiating off of the shield. I could feel the darkness enveloping me, as if hugging me and trying to lay me to bed. It felt comfortable and I soon lost all physical feeling because of it. I could feel my consciousness begin to be shoved aside and within a few mere moments I was lost to the darkness and rage within the amulet.

"You wouldn't dare," Gideon retorted, holding the journal tightly. "I'm Gravity Falls' golden child!"

I unknowingly charged at him, the amulet taking full control of my body. This made him jump, fear displayed clearly in his eyes. I grabbed the journal before he could run, and tugged as hard as I could, sending Gideon to the grassy ground. A loud rip could be heard and despite the kid's forceful fall, he managed to hold onto the journal. I walked over his collapsed body and he stared me in the eyes, holding the book tightly, giving me a silent declaration saying that he'll never give up the journal. I recognized this and so did the amulet. The artifact made me bring my shield over my head and was about to slam it downward when I got tackled to the ground. It was Wendy.

Gideon took his opportunity, got to his feet and fled into the woods for safety, squealing as we went. The amulet was knocked out of my hands causing the shield to disappear along with the feeling of darkness, I was free. I opened my eyes, which were no longer glowing, to see Wendy standing over me.

"Did I just almost kill him?" I asked in disbelief, sitting up. Wendy nodded in response, nervously sheathing her hatchet. "Oh my god." I wrapped my head with my hands. "I'm sorry, I-I don't know what came over me." Wendy offered me her hand and I took it, using it to pull myself to my feet. She was studying me silently, ensuring that I stopped glowing that sinister red.

"I guess the amulet is tied to emotion, just like Dipper suggested," Wendy offered, both of our gazes falling upon the amulet that rested on the floor. It was still glowing, fluctuating in intensity. I began to reach down to grab it but Wendy stopped me. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I don't think it's tied to emotion, the amulet is its own entity and now I'm ready for it. I think," I replied, grabbing the jewel off the ground. The darkness returned and I flinched which caused Wendy to take my hand into hers, acting as an anchor. The darkness rushed through her too, causing her to waver slightly. A soothing voice seeped into our minds, flooding our consciousness.

"Why have you stopped justice from being administered?"

Wendy and I looked at each other for a moment, the red aura having returned, encasing us once more. It felt like the two of us were on an island in the middle of a raging storm, invisible forces pressing all around us. The voice's presence felt impossibly heavy, pushing hard into our heads. Despite this we had each other, and we were not alone, giving us the ability to stand strong.

"She stopped me from doing something terrible, not justice," I remarked, Wendy nodded in agreement, a small smile of relief finding its way to her face. I hope she didn't think that I'd actually do something like that. The voice returned, deeper than before.

"That evil boy has caused so much harm, wielding me as a weapon against innocent people and creatures alike. He deserves punishment."

"And he will receive it, but not by death," I declared. "He is just a child after all."

"Taking his life won't change anything he did," Wendy chimed in. "Matt has a good heart, using him to enforce your will is almost the same exact thing Gideon did to you."

The voice seemed to contemplate this idea, and silence followed. Wendy and I stood still, bracing ourselves for whatever came next.

"Very well," the voice accepted reluctantly, and as fast as it came, the feeling of darkness disappeared once more. Wendy released my hand, feeling the darkness dissipate as well. I took a deep breath of relief, looking at the amulet.

"We'll get him eventually," I promised. The amulet gave a faint glimmer in response. I glanced at Wendy. "Thank you."

"I gotcha, dude," she replied with a light punch of my shoulder. "No way was I gonna stand by and watch that happen." She laughed uneasily, picking something up from the ground. "You did manage to rip this from the journal though." She handed me an old piece of paper. "That's the triangle guy, right?" I nodded in response.

"Gideon was trying to summon him so he could get information from my mind," I explained, eyes glued to the drawing of Bill CIpher in faded ink. The torn page showed how to summon the demon, including the incantation and some of his abilities. I folded it up and put it in my pocket. "If we're able to hold onto this, we might never have to deal with him."

"You wanna head back to the party?" Wendy asked.

"And get away from this mess? Yes please."

The two of us slipped back into the woods, returning to the party that was now in full swing. As we stepped back into the shack from the back door, we failed to see Gideon following us out of the woods.

#

"Party crown? I'll take that, thank you very much," Pacifica Northwest stated inspecting her image within a pocket mirror. She stood before Soos on the dancefloor with both of her lackeys standing behind her with crossed arms. Wendy and I stepped onto the steps leading to the room as this was happening and a slight frown found its way to my face. We both leaned on the railing above the floor, watching the scene unfold.

"Uh, I just can't give you the crown," Soos politely replied, holding the bedazzled object with great care in one hand. "It's sort of a competition thing." Pacifica set a hand on her chest and laughed at this remark.

"Honestly, who's gonna compete against me?" she asked, picking up a spare microphone from its stand and taking a look around the room. "Fork Girl?" Pacifica then gestured to a girl with forks taped to her fingers who had round glasses and a red backpack with a green striped sweater. I scowled at Pacifica's insult and watched the victim, Candy, lower her head out of embarrassment. Next Pacifica pointed to the much bigger girl next to her. "Lizard Lady?" She then laughed hysterically at them, with her posse joining in.

"Geez," Wendy whispered, "someone's really gotta knock this girl down a peg." The two insulted girls hugged each other and I watched Mabel's face go stone cold, a very rare sight that shot chills down my spine. She then began to walk up to the DJ booth where Pacifca attempted to yank the party crown out of Soos' hand.

"Hey," Mabel jumped in, the bow on her head bouncing with excitement, "I'll compete." The previous frown was dashed away from my face. Show her who's boss, Mabel. She set out an extended hand in Pacifica's direction, offering a handshake. "I'm Mabel."

"That sounds like a fat old lady's name," Pacifica replied, setting a hand on her hip, refusing the bubbly girl's handshake.

"I'll take that as a compliment!"

Pacifica's eyes widened slightly at this remark. I'm not exactly sure why but I could have sworn I saw admiration hidden in her blue, judgemental eyes.

"May the better partier win," Pacifica announced with a dramatic shake of her head.

"Yeah!" Wendy cheered. "Go Mabel!" Suddenly a set of firm hands set themselves on our shoulders and pulled us within the shack. Obviously this startled us a great deal, and when we tried to identify who our subduer was, our expressions became grave.

"I knew you knuckleheads were up to something," Stan declared, letting us go. "What kind of funny business did you two get involved in that making clones of yourselves was a good idea?" We both looked outside to see our paper clones staring back, mouthing an apology. Stan then gestured to follow him into his office and we reluctantly complied.

"We found Gideon lurking around in the woods outside the shack," I answered haphazardly, once we stepped inside. "We gave him a good scare."

"A very good scare," Wendy added.

"Gideon?" Stan interjected. "What's that little monster doin' around here?" Stan then gasped and slammed a hand on his desk. "Was he tryn' to sabotage my perfect money making scheme?!"

"Yes," I replied with a drawl, lying to his face.

"Curse that little runt," Stan continued, he slammed his hand on the desk once more for good measure. "Well, I guess I can't get too mad at you guys for bailing on your roles if that was your reasoning." Wendy and I let out a sigh of relief and subetly fistbumped each other. "But how did you clone even clone yourselves?"

"With that," I replied, pointing to the beaten up copier machine next to him. Stan was not amused by this.

"Is there some sort of invisible wizard that I can't see or are you just makin' fun of me?"

"We're serious Mr. Pines," Wendy chimed in. "That old machine can copy living beings."

"Right, and I'm only in my twenties," Stan mocked with a scoff. "Whatever, keep your secrets to yourselves, but if I catch you doing that again, you ain't getting out of trouble." And with that Stan left the room, returning to the party. Wendy and I shared a shrug and followed suit, closing the door behind us.

What we failed to notice however was the quiet opening of the window behind Stan's desk. The certain "little monster" in question slipped into the building through the now open window, having heard the entire conversation a few mere moments before. Gideon's gaze fell upon the copier machine and he approached it with a sinister smile.

"Let's see if that lying ginger can tell the truth after all."

#

Soos had the music bumping, nodding his head to the beat of the bass boosted song. He was radiating happily, proud of his work as a DJ. Dipper then walked behind the booth, and Soos leaned down so he could hear the preteen over the loud music. He whispered in the larger man's ear, slight disgust finding its way to his face.

"Got it, dude," Soos replied after receiving the message. He then took a microphone and brought it to his mouth, dimming the music so he could clearly be heard. "Yo, dude in the dark blue shirt." Soos pointed at the young man in question. "Stop spitting in the punch bowl. That's, eugh, that's really gross." A large array of boos and fake gagging followed Soos' announcement, pressuring the now ostracized man out of the building. Of course Stan made him cough up the extra money for the exit fee before leaving. "Nice catch dude," Soos praised, giving Dipper a high five.

"Good thing I stuck to the soda," I commented, nudging Wendy with an elbow. After our confrontation with Stan, he gave us the all clear to stick indoors and enjoy the party. We were walking to the outskirts of the room where Wendy's friends were crowded together, taking up the couch and the space around it.

"Yoo, look who it is!" Lee stood up from the couch and dapped me up with a smile. "You deal with any more gnomes or monsters since the last time we saw you?" I saw Robbie roll his eyes in the corner of my vision and I could tell he was biting his tongue. Lee's voice quickly went down to a whisper and he shielded his mouth with one hand. "Any shot we can bypass that exit fee now that everyone is jammin' out?" I briefly pictured the look on the teen's face after he would have stepped outside to see another pair of redheads greeting him, definitely didn't want to explain that. The troublesome group would try the machine out for themselves and only make things more complicated.

"No way, Stan is watching us like a hawk." I pointed to the old man scouring the dance floor for any signs of trouble. A slight frown pulled at his lips but his eyes showed he understood. "As for that other thing…" I set a hand on my chin, drumming up the best way to describe the whole Leaderaur situation, explaining that can of worms would most certainly be difficult. "Well, me, Wendy and Dipper befriended an eight headed bear the other day," I replied, making Nate's jaw fall slack.

"That's impossible!" The shocked teen exclaimed.

"I'll say," Robbie added with a strum of his guitar.

"Dude," Lee began, facing his friend, "Lighten up! We're at a party, at least pretend you're having fun." Robbie ignored him.

"Good luck doing that when this loser is around," a new voice chimed in.

"Ew," Tambry spoke up, looking away from her phone for the first time since she arrived, "why is a literal bottle of hair dye talking to me right now?" I turned to see Pacifica Northwest's insulted face.

"You're one to talk, highlights," she retorted with a scoff, hands placed on both her hips.

"What do you want Northwest?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"I just wanted to say that this is an excellent party you're throwing." I raised an eyebrow. "For the standards of a commoner of course. I hope you're ready to watch your little cousin cry after I win this little competition of ours."

I was going to reply but something caught my eye. In the doorway leading to the interior of the building, I saw a figure in blue dash out of sight into one of the rooms. I didn't bother responding to the snooty blonde and stepped right past her, making my way to the steps leading to the hallway. I heard her shout something after me but I paid it no mind.

Once I reached my destination, I heard an all too familiar voice coming from Stan's office. I felt the amulet start to burn in my pocket, feeling its rage return. There was no doubt who was in that room. I set my back to the wall, and brought the amulet out. Unlike before, I did not feel the darkness envelop me but I felt its presence, ready to seep into my mind given the right motivation.

"Dude, are you okay?" Wendy asked, suddenly appearing beside me. Her unexpected arrival made me flinch but I quickly turned and set my free hand over her mouth. I brought a finger to my lips with the hand housing the amulet, and she could see the sinister red pulsating within the jewel just like before. She gave me a quick nod, realizing the only time the amulet had done that before was when Gideon was around. She instinctively reached for her hatchet but soon remembered that she had set it aside once we had gotten the all clear to return to the party. It didn't matter however, Gideon was up to something and we needed to stop him. The key to handling a situation like this requires delicacy, precision and ste-

"Gideon!" Stan yelled, who just like his employee, appeared out of nowhere. He must've seen the two of us slip away again, and to give the old man credit, he did have a lot to manage right now. Making sure that us redheads stay out of trouble falls under that umbrella. Due to Stan's aggressive outburst, Wendy and I knew there was no point in staying hidden anymore so we stood in front of the doorway with our boss.

"My, my, Stanford" Gideon began, "long time no see." He stood in the center of the room with both hands clasped behind his back, a sneaky smirk was clearly displayed on his face.

"What are you doing in my house?" Stan exclaimed, taking a step into his office.

"Only trying to take back what is rightfully mine." Gideon's gaze shifted to me. "These two stole something very important to me and I would like it back."

"No way, Gideon," I replied, "I'm not giving you the incantation. It's way too dangerous."

"Incantation?" Stan asked, arching an eyebrow.

"He wants to use a dream demon to learn secrets about us."

For a moment I could see a hint of intrigue on Stans's face. It wasn't just curiosity, it was something more. He seemed to lose sense of what was happening, encapsulated by the term and he reverted back to a time long passed. I have no idea what that time was. No, intrigue wasn't the right word, it was enthrallment. The look disappeared as fast as it came and I discarded it as nothing. The term 'dream demon' isn't thrown around a lot after all, maybe he was just trying to picture it.

"I don't like the idea of a little runt like you runnin' around my shack lookin' for something," Stan began, crossing his arms.

"Give me back the page," Gideon warned. "Or else."

Stan instantly let out a chortle at the threat, clearly not treating the matter seriously at all. I couldn't blame him, a small grin squirming to my face as well. My shoulders, which I didn't even know were tense, fell slack. I took the source of his psychic power a while ago, he doesn't have anything to make good on that threat. Neither of us even bothered asking: 'Or else what?'

Because, the question was answered before we could even ask.

Gideon grabbed a stack of paper that was as thick as his fist and as long as his height off of Stan's desk that I somehow missed. I charged forward, just like I had done earlier but it was no use. Gideon threw the dozens of sheets into the air and they careened to the floor elegantly and effortlessly. I skidded to a halt, knowing that I would be outnumbered within seconds. I ignited the shield and turned to my head Wendy and Stan, watching the latter put the pieces together and the former's confident smirk wane to a grave grimace.

Paper Gideons started rising from the floor, a vicious grin plastered on every single one.

"Alright, kids," Stan began, cracking his knuckles, "I'm gonna show ya how we do it in Jersey!" Wendy, not fond of watching her boss punch a literal child in the face, pulled him out the door and back to the hallway. I backed out quickly behind them and the three of us, coming to our senses, bolted down the hallway to the living room, away from the innocent party goers.

"Well I guess you weren't makin' fun of me, huh?" Stan asked, his rhetorical question falling on deaf ears. Wendy grabbed her hatchet, which was resting on the arm of the couch, apparently being a normal spot for the female lumberjack to set her equipment. While she readied herself, I sent a quick text to Soos, telling him to make sure no one leaves the party room.

"Attention, dudes!" the repairman exclaimed, his voice reverberating loudly off the walls a split second later, rattling a set of hung pictures. "I have, uh, a mini contest we're gonna do! Yeah, um, the first one to leave the dance floor loses!" I silently thanked Soos for coming up with the idea on the spot after a vague instruction.

"What are we gonna do?" Stan asked, turning to me. "That kid's not gonna stop until he gets what he wants." Honestly, it took me by surprise that he was looking to me for an idea. I always viewed Stan as the character to, in this case, punch first and ask questions later. It felt reassuring in a strange way, especially after he was ready to get said fists covered in paper cuts just moments prior.

"Those paper clones are thin and hollow," I began, dashing to the kitchen. "Liquid causes them to tear right apart and they fizzle away into nothingness." Stan followed suit, swinging open one of the cupboards for a bowl while I got the faucet running.

"Ya know," Stan started, setting the bowl under the flowing water, "once this is over, you two are mopping the floors." Wendy stood at our backs ensuring that the Gideons weren't on our heels.

"Grab a couple of cups," I instructed. "We don't want to use all the water at once." Stan nodded in agreement, and started rummaging through the rest of his cabinets.

"Guys, he-or I guess they-are coming," Wendy called from the living room. At this point the bowl was full and Stan tossed a spare cup to Wendy. It had rainbows and unicorns on it, without a doubt belonging to Mabel.

Wendy sheathed her hatchet, not ready to actually strike the real Gideon and make blood splatter all over the wall. However she certainly made it seem like she was prepared to resort to her weapon if needed. Stan stepped forward, filling his own cup with water and offering some from the bowl to Wendy. She took it graciously, and allowed me to step in front of them. We slowly backed up until we were in the center of the den, having the swivel door to the giftshop behind us in case we got overrun.

"You sure this water's gonna work, kid?" Stan asked, cupping the bowl under one arm.

"Positive," I replied, holding out the amulet.

Seven Gideons rounded the corner at that moment, all of which were holding an assortment of improvised weaponry. Staplers, scissors, rulers and other objects you'd expect to find in an office were all within their grasp. Noticing they had taken up arms, I once again ignited the shield, its burning red light pulsing rapidly in a rhythmic pattern.

"You ever gonna explain to me where that came from?" Stan asked, the sinister red reflecting off the lenses of his glasses.

"Is that really a priority right now?" I countered, shifting my stance.

The Gideons charged, but we stood firm, the shag carpet beneath our feet holding us strong. Wendy emptied the contents of her cup first, targeting the closest little menace and dousing him with water. The other Gideons halted their push forward at the sight before them.

Instantly the first Gideon's 'skin' began bubbling and fizzing as if it were melting. He let out a horrified squeal as the puddle from the splash engulfed his short legs from the floor. Within seconds he was reduced to a foaming fizz leaking into the floorboards.

"That's intense," Stan commented, watching the copy of his rival dissolve before him. Despite his remark that hinted at remorse, Stan immediately splashed the second closest paper child without hesitation and within moments, it shared the same fate as the first. The remaining five Gideons' faces contorted in horror, prompting us to push them back into the foyer.

Stan and Wendy quickly filled their cups once more from the bowl and our opposition began to retreat back down the hallway. Wendy, for good measure, kicked the puddle she made in the paper clones' direction, making them jump back even further.

I knew that there was no way we had enough water to take them all down, as there were, without a doubt, a few dozen more clones around the corner waiting for us. Their numbers were too great and we needed to thin the hoarde effectively. The beginnings of a plan started churning in my head. It was risky, dangerous and certainly morally ambiguous, but a plan nonetheless. We made our way around the corner and a sea of Gideons greeted us.

"Keep pushing from this side of the hall," I announced to the two next to me. "I'll push from the other side." And with that, I charged at Gideon for the third time that night, shield raised and head tucked. Somehow the clones didn't see this coming and tried scrambling out of the way. I ran in a straight line down the hall, bashing each clone that was unfortunate enough to be in my way. I felt the rage of the amulet fueling me, but did not allow it to take control. The clones were bouncing off me like rubber balls, but one Gideon however, got caught on the shield. I had anticipated this and kept running further down the hall.

The two of us broke through the stringy party decorations lining the door and crashed into the railing. I took a moment to catch my breath and with a final shove, I flipped the copy over the banister and onto the dance floor. I followed, vaulting over the obstacle and landing next to the clone. Soos, who surprisingly hadn't stopped the music on my bumpy arrival, along with everyone else in the room noticed the sudden commotion and were in complete shock at what they just saw.

I tried not to make eye contact with any of them, making a beeline to the 'contaminated' punch bowl. The shield disappeared and I picked the bowl up and doused some of its contents on the recovering paper clone, making him dissolve on impact.

I raised my gaze from the foaming puddle and everyone had their eyes on me. Jaws were slack and plenty of hands were resting on heads and mouths in disbelief. God I hope this works. "Come on guys, don't you know? Gideon is whack, goooooo Mystery Shack!" I cheered stupidly, wishing that I too would disintegrate. That line was a lot better in my head. A deafening silence followed and then was quickly interrupted by thunderous applause. I took a sigh of relief, glad that they bought the terrible marketing act and realized that wasn't the real Gideon.

God the people in this town are so dumb.

I raced back up the stairs with the punch bowl in hand and resumed the assault on the remaining paper clones. I closed the gap relatively quickly and began splashing Gideons left and right. Stan and Wendy were gaining ground, forcing the clones back to the office. The three of us, pushing from two fronts, were able to 'melt' all the Gideons until only a few remained. Those who were left retreated back to the room that held the real Gideon, and were pinned with nowhere to go.

Of course, despite our growing confidence, nothing is ever that simple.

Gideon had just tossed more paper in the air, an even greater quantity than last time. The menace was standing on top of Stan's desk now, face red in desperation and anger. Once again, Wendy, Stan and I held firm in the doorway, ready for our advasary's next move.

Just then a bright green flash emanated from the copier and time seemed to stand still. The machine itself looked like it was about to fall apart, even more so than when it was initially used earlier that night. It appeared to be buckling in on itself, as if it were being sucked into an inescapable vacuum from within. That's when William and Wen, our clones, came flying through the window, which I just now realized was open. At first I thought they were here as backup, hearing the commotion from outside and coming to assist. But no, they were literally flying uncontrollably through the window. They looked deformed, stretched and distorted. They landed on top of the copier and soon the newly risen Gideons did the same, becoming stuck in that vacuum that they couldn't escape from. Like a magnet, everything made of paper in the room fused together with the copier machine, flying uncontrollably towards it. The real Gideon stood there, dumbfounded, watching all of these replicas of him conjoin to a single point.

Now the paper started to shift and reform. Paper arms and legs became tendrils and paper bodies became rigid and mutated, twisting all the clones into some sick origami monstrosity. Stan and I chucked the remaining contents of our bowls at the machine, but nothing happened. Noticing this, I grabbed GIdeon off the desk by the collar of his shirt and pulled him into the hallway, slamming him against the wall, glancing at the growing creature and then back to him.

"What did you do!" I yelled in his face, his terrified eyes found mine in an instant.

"I-I don't know!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms up into the air defensively. "I think I may have used it too many times!" He was squirming like a worm on a hook, flailing to get free. I shoved him back into the wall, holding his shoulder firm.

"This is what happens when you abuse the supernatural, you idiot!" I gestured to the shield in my hand. "First the amulet and now this!" I let out an exasperated groan. "These things come back to bite you if you treat them as a tool to be exploited!"

"Guys!" Wendy called. "It's moving!"

Gideon and I turned our gazes to see a seven foot tall mangled monstrosity, with waving tentacles and a slug-like body oozing ink in its wake. It had no eyes from what we could tell, but it most certainly had a mouth lined with pointy paper spikes. Definitely don't wanna get a paper cut from those.

Then the bathroom door swings open and Pacifica Northwest emerges. I dropped Gideon and he scampered down the hall towards Wendy and Stan. The door to Stan's wrecked office was in between Pacifica and I, which meant that this thing was either gonna go for her or for me because it was now right in the doorway of the office.

Pacifica saw me first and she armed a snarky remark, but all thoughts of that were dashed from her mind when she saw the paper abomination. She shrieked in terror and I swear she could have shattered a plastic cup with her volume.

The monster snapped its rotund head in her direction and Pacifica froze, ensnared by the invisible chains of fear. The beast flailed its tendrils, almost taking up the entire hallway. Not even thinking, I slid past the monster through the little space it didn't occupy and stood my ground in front of the Northwest heiress. I raised my shield above our heads and the paper monstrosity's tendrils clashed against its red light.

"Listen, Pacifica," I began, craning my head to look at her, "I know you have no idea what's happening and to be fair neither do I, but for the safety of everyone here I need you to run past this thing and down the hall." She didn't respond, completely glued to the hardwood floor. "Pacifica!" My shout caused her to flinch, showing signs of life. "I can't hold this thing forever and we can't let it reach the party!" The creature slammed against the shield once more, trying to break through. "You need to move, now!" Luckily that message seemed to get through to her and she bolted right past the monster. I took a much needed step back, ready for another attack.

"Stan, get them upstairs!" I called, blocking another swipe from a tentacle.

"You got it, kid," he yelled back. "Royalty first, Northwest. Don't want your folks suing me six feet under."

I took another step back, searching for an opening. I grasped the amulet tightly when I found one and dove, head first, narrowly dodging a slam. I collided with the floor, wincing as my elbows slammed against the planks. Wendy, who was a lot closer than I thought, bent down and grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to my feet.

"I really gotta teach you how to roll, dude," She offered, as we ran to the rest of the group.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the paper monster was in hot pursuit of us, completely ignoring the party just the other way. We scrambled up the steps to the attic, hearing the screeching wails of the creature at the base of the stairs, angered at the fact it had lost its prey.

"Everyone alright?" I asked, catching my breath and setting the amulet back in my pocket.

"What the heck was that thing!" Pacifica exclaimed.

"That was a paper monster that came out of my copy machine," Stan replied, crossing his arms. Everyone eyed him due to his oversimplification of the encounter.

"Why would you have a party in this disgusting hut if you had something like that in it!" Pacifica yelled at the con man. The irony in this was absurd, as the Northwests had their own party despite knowing full well a vengeful ghost was ready to make its move. Well, that didn't exactly happen yet, but the point still stands.

"I had no idea that this would happen!" Stan exclaimed. "Besides, that little demon is responsible for this." Stan pointed to Gideon, narrowing his eyes as he did so.

"I took drastic measures because he stole from me! Twice!" Gideon pointed to me. Wow this is really turning into child-like bickering.

"Hey, now," I began, giving a warning look, "you tortured and interogated me and then tried to summon Bill Cipher to rumage through my mind!" The look of enthrallment returned in Stan's eyes at the mention of the dream demon, but he shook his head quickly, pushing whatever thoughts he had away.

"I know you're hiding something, Matthew," Gideon declared, making me roll my eyes. "Has he not been acting suspicious ever since he got here?" Gideon whirled to face Wendy and Stan after the accusation. "Am I wrong?" The other redhead looked at me, not saying a word and quickly glanced down to the floor when I noticed.

"Does any of this drama pertain to the monster that almost bit my head off downstairs?" Pacifica exclaimed, clearing up the argument. "That's what I thought, you losers sort this out after you kill it."

"Liquid was the original weakness for individual paper entities," I explained, "but it didn't seem to do a thing after all the clones fused."

"And just how did you know that weakness?" Gideon asked.

"I don't have to explain anything to you."

Gideon clenched his fists and teeth. "I've just about had enough of you. You deceitful, pale, ignorant-"

"Ya know Gideon," I cut him off, "you sure are talking a lot of smack in the midst of three people who would happily throw you out that second story window over there." I gestured to the pane in question behind me with my thumb and Gideon made an audible gulp. Stan cracked a smile at this and slammed his fist into his palm. "Especially after you caused this whole mess." Gideon didn't reply, only crossing his arms tightly against his small chest. "But Pacifica is right, the only thing that matters right now is taking that thing down before it hurts someone."

"Like you can do anything against something like that," Pacifica stated haughtily.

"Oh I'm sorry, who just saved your ungrateful ass?" Pacifica bit her lower lip and looked away. "Oh, that's right, it was me." I sighed and set my head in my hand and rubbed my eyes. "Whether you like it or not we're working together on this."

"Whatever," Pacifica replied, walking to the corner of the room where a bench was built into the wall. It had red cushions on it, matching the stained glass above it. She sat down and set her bag next to her and pulled her portable mirror from it. "Just let me know when you have a plan." I rolled my eyes and turned back to the group before me.

"Any idea why the water didn't work?" Wendy asked, spinning her hatchet in one hand to keep herself busy. Gideon took a step back from her due to this, more than likely feeling some degree of intimidation. I didn't give him a second look.

"Maybe the paper became too dense due to all the clones converging into one?" I suggested and Wendy contemplated the logic in this.

"But what even caused all the paper to get sucked together?"

"What if it was because-"

A spray from a bottle caused me to turn around. Pacifica was still seated on the cushion in front of the window with a can, fixing sprouting strands of her blonde locks. I was going to mock her about it, but I stopped myself, my eyes fixated on the bottle.

"What," she sneered at me, noticing my stare.

"Is that hairspray?"

Pacifica looked at the bottle in her hand and then back to me. Wendy did the same, perplexed that I even had to ask that question. "Seriously?"

"Let me see that."

"No way, this costs more than you do."

"Of course it does." I glanced at Gideon. "What about you? I know that you of all people have some." Gideon reluctantly pulled a bottle from his coat pocket and handed it to me, muttering something under his breath. I took it and tossed it to Stan, prompting him to raise an eyebrow.

"Kid, I don't think I'm going to need this." Stan inspected the bottle, unsure of what to do with it.

"Do you have a lighter on you, Stan?" I asked, giving him a knowing smile. His eyes immediately went wide and his mouth twisted into a smile. "If water doesn't work on this thing because its too dense, then maybe we can burn it. That monster is made of paper afterall."

"You want a cigar with that lighter, kid?"

"I'll consider it."

Stan smiled at this and set the can in his pocket. "I don't have one with me but there is one in my room," he announced. "We just gotta get past that thing."

"Don't worry, I think I know who is gonna be bait."

All of our gazes, even Pacifica's, went straight to Gideon and he slumped his shoulders and sighed.

#

Stan, Gideon and I made our way to the top of the stairs, the shortest of which was leading the way of course. Slowly he began descending down the stairs, causing each one to creak under his feet. The paper abomination was circling in the foyer, leaving a trail of ink behind it. We waited until it was out of sight to take the final few stairs. The second Gideon's foot went down the final step, he bolted to the back door and threw it open, fleeing from the Shack entirely and abandoning our plan. At least I didn't have to worry about him stealing the journal page back.

"Coward," Stan whispered as the two of us made our final descent. The paper monster was in the den but rushed to the foyer having heard Gideon's noisy exit. The creature couldn't see us but it most certainly sensed our presence, whirling its head around, trying to find us. Wendy made her way down the stairs too, hatchet in hand, leaving Pacifica alone upstairs. I couldn't entirely blame the rich girl. She didn't have anything to do with this situation but she at least had the humanity to help lead the monster away from the party goers down the hall. You have to admire that to some degree considering who she is afterall.

I counted down with my fingers and once they hit zero, Wendy and I leaped forward, bashing and slashing at the monster before us. Stan meanwhile ran down the hallway, barreling to his room in search of his lighter. The lumberjane beside me managed to hack a tentacle off, causing it to soar through the air and squirm on the ground. I parried a strike and managed to slam my shield right below its mouth, forcing it back. A heavy patter of feet came from the hall behind us.

"Hit the deck!" Stan yelled. I grabbed Wendy and set us behind the shield as the column of fire from the hairspray flew past us. The creature shrieked in presumed pain and reeled back, trying to escape the blaze. Stan pushed forward, keeping the flame centered on the creature. Gideon must have used that spray often, because within seconds Stan's flame was sputtering. "I'm running low here!"

"We need more!" I yelled, escorting Wendy to safety behind Stan. "Where do you keep your fireworks, Stan?"

"How did you-"

"Oh come on, you're Stan Pines, I know you have some somewhere!"

"Fair point."

The flame completely disappeared now, the can's contents having been completely depleted. Stan, in a last ditch attempt to slay the now recovering monster, chucked the can which didn't even make a mark. The three of us didn't even wait for the monster to start chasing us, we turned and sprinted down the hall.

"Second door on the right!" Stan exclaimed, holding his thumb ready to reignite the flame. "Take all of 'em!" I did just that, throwing the closet door open and taking the large cardboard box of colorful explosives off the floor. Wendy fished out a rocket and tossed it to Stan, who lit its fuse and hurled it like a football towards the gaining monster. Stan timed it perfectly, the rocket exploding in a burst of bright orange right in the creature's face. This temporarily stunned it, even catching parts of the abomination on fire, however it kept charging towards us, clearly enraged. So, naturally, Stan sent another rocket right at it. This had the same effect as the first, but exploded in a darker purple.

We were losing ground fast, running out of space to run. Either we retreat back to Stan's office and make a stand there or we fall back to the party and scare the daylights out of everyone. At least the latter won't have us completely cornered with an angry monster while we launch explosives at it. We'll just have slightly more room instead of being cornered. On the bright side, the flames burning on the creature were putting sizable holes in it.

Stan threw another rocket, exploding in a brilliant green and exposing a part of the copier machine housed behind the monstrous paper. The three of us were now in the doorway to the party, streamers from overhead landing on our shoulders. Stan noticed the growing hole in the creature's body and took a smaller rocket from the box and took aim at the approaching monstrosity. The thrown rocket made contact, but not with its intended target and instead made the hole bigger, which wasn't terrible either.

"Wendy, when that thing gets close, I need you to cut off as many tentacles as you can," I ordered, prompting her to nod in understanding. "Stan, make that hole bigger, we gotta blow up the machine inside it, that way the monster explodes from within."

"I like your thinking, kid," Stan commented, throwing another rocket. The three of us split up, entering the party room. Said party had been going on as if nothing had happened which was a good sign. I made eye contact with Soos and made a pushing motion with my arms.

"Uh, dudes, everyone please stand back as the, uh, Mystery Crew performs a show for us," Soos announced on the loudspeaker. He's two for two with the improv. Thankfully everyone complied and we had a space to work with and I set the box of fireworks at the center of the dance floor.

The monster came crashing through the banister and falling to the floor, causing the crowd to gasp at its sudden arrival. Wendy wasted no time, slicing as many tendrils as she could with her hatchet. Stan, stuck to the smaller rockets now, trying to avoid a lawsuit, praying he didn't hit anyone with a stray explosion. I tried to hold the creature's attention, giving Stan and Wendy openings for their attacks. By now this monster was a shell of what it once was when it first formed. Due to the growing flames on its body, it had shrunk significantly and lost a lot of power behind its punches. Noticing this, I pushed the creature back to the wall, pinning it, which gave Stan a clear shot. The con man chucked one final rocket, landing perfectly in the hole. I stepped back and raised my shield and watched the monster completely explode in a burning red color. The crowd erupted in cheers and applause and I could even see Lee jumping up and down in excitement near the couch.

"Wow," Soos began, "don't need an applause-o-meter for that dudes, I think we have a winner!" Soos came down from his DJ booth and set the party crown atop my head. "The winner of the party crown is The Mystery Crew!" Mabel ran up to me with a big smile and almost tackled me with a hug. Glad to see she isn't upset with me accidentally winning the contest. Seriously, I had no idea I was even a contender.

"Matt, that was amazing!" She exclaimed. "How did you guys do that?"

"I think that's a story for another time, party rocker Mabel," Wendy remarked. "For now let's enjoy the party."

And we did just that.

#

A couple hours later, the party began to wind down and guests began to leave. Surprisingly, Stan lifted the fifteen dollar exit fee, apparently being in an amazing mood after the destruction of the origami monstrosity. He did land the final blow afterall. I was saying goodnight to Wendy's friends when I saw Pacifica leaving the party, alone. She left the building and I followed suit.

"Hey, Pacifica," I began, catching up to her.

"What do you want?" she replied haughtily.

"Nothing really."

"Then why are you here, my parents will sue you if you lay a hand on me!"

"Geez calm down, I just want to say that I forgive you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I forgive you for the way you've been acting, I know it's not your fault."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The way that you treat people, it's not your fault, I know why you do it."

"You don't know the first thing about me! I can put you in the ground with the amount of money my family has."

"Does that matter? Money isn't a defining trait. I'm pretty sure that you can't reach level 100 death slayer and be nationally ranked by buying your way through it, PlatinumPaz."

"No I-I'm not. I don't even know what that is!"

"Sure you don't. Anyway, can we forget how we met each other and start over. Become friends and all that."

"What, so you can get money out of me? Not gonna happen."

"I don't care about your money, Pacifca. I care about your well being. Sure you're rich and all, and can probably get whatever you want, but under all that cash and credit cards, you're still a human being. You are the heiress to your father's company and I can only imagine the pressure that comes with that. I want to make sure that you are okay."

"Why do you care?"

"Because I want to be friends. Did I-did I not make that clear?"

"Look Mart..."

"Matt."

"Whatever! I'm not your friend and I as a Northwest want nothing to do with you!"

"Yeah I figured you would say something like that."

"Oh wow, you know everything don't you."

"Heh, you'd be surprised. My point is, I'll always be open to talk if you need someone. No matter what, got it? Life can be tough and friends will help you get through a bad patch, can you say that your little posse would do that?" Pacifica shuffled her feet and looked down, refusing eye contact. Whether she realized it or not, she knew that I was right. "I know you're a good person at heart, you went out to a pizzeria without your parents knowing so you could make your friends happy. You put yourself at risk of punishment for them, have they ever done anything like that for you?" She said nothing. "Not to mention you kept everyone safe earlier by not leading the monster to the party like most people would have done."

I handed her the party crown and she took it reluctantly, still refusing eye contact.

"If you ever need a real friend," I started, "you know where to find me." I began to walk back to the shack and she said something that made me smile.

"Like I would listen to some no good Ginger scum."

I turned to face her, my smile not wavering. "You don't know the first thing about me. See you around, Northwest!" She stormed away with a huff but held onto the crown.

I hope I made a little impact on her tonight.

#

"That was some party, eh kid?" Stan asked after I closed the door, returning into the building.

"Yeah that was pretty great, Stan," I replied with a smile. "Sorry we had to deal with Gideon and that paper creature though." Stan laughed at this and hit my back with his hand.

"Are you kidding?!" I raised an eyebrow, surprised by how happy the usual grumpy man was. "Kicking that shyster outta my house and taking down that monster was some of the most fun I've had in a while!" He then leaned in close, cupping his hand to my ear. "I wasn't kiddin' about those cigars earlier. You want one?" Now it was my turn to laugh.

"Have mine for yourself, Stan. You've earned it." He nodded and walked away, flicking his lighter on and off with his wrinkly thumb out of habit. "Oh, and happy birthday." Stan turned to face me in an instant, completely bewildered as to how I knew that information. But he eased, and let a smile form on his face.

"Thanks, kid."

"Soos!" Mabel yelled from across the room. "Let's get this after party started!"

"You got it, hambone!" Soos replied with a smile, rolling a record down his shoulders and allowing it to land on the DJ table.

"Matt!" Mabel exclaimed. "Come meet my new friends!" Candy and Grenda stood beside her giving a small wave.

"What's up you two," I replied, walking up to their small group. "What are your names?" These ignorant questions I have to ask are really getting on my nerves.

"I'm Candy," the smaller girl replied.

"AND I'M GRENDA!" the larger girl exclaimed. I'm glad I prepared myself for Grenda's deeper and stronger voice as it was louder than I had anticipated.

Soos started to play an upbeat song and the three girls instinctively started dancing, still having an insane amount of energy despite partying all night. I however was unable to match their level of excitement, exhausted from running and fighting so I walked up to Wendy who was seated on the couch. I sat next to her.

"Don't get too comfy you two," Stan said, walking up to the two of us. "We gotta clean up that mess inside." He gestured to the interior of the building with his thumb.

"Um Stan," Wendy said, "we can't exactly mop that up explosions and burn marks you know." We laughed, both of us savoring the older man's sudden look of dismay. Despite the need for repairs, Stan couldn't help but chuckle himself.

#

"Why did you call me here?" Dipper asked, standing on the back porch with crossed arms. "My family definitely aren't the biggest fans of yours."

"Just hear me out," Gideon replied, standing before him, "I have something that you may like to hear." Dipper's silence prompted him to continue. "I'm sure you've noticed your older cousin's suspicious actions. You strike me as someone who is very observant."

"You're not wrong there," Dipper replied, uncrossing his arms.

"All I propose is a simple deal. You take back something that Matt stole from me and I'll be able to tell you whatever you want about him."

"Are you talking about the amulet?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no," Gideon clarified. "There are far more valuable things. I'm talking about a paper he stole from me. If you can get that, then we're in business."

Dipper contemplated this for a moment. Sure he had a good relationship with the older teen, but he was definitely keeping secrets. He seemed so open with everyone, trying to gain their trust. What if he's something dangerous? He had to know.

"Alright Gideon," Dipper began, shaking the shorter boy's outstretched hand, "it's a deal."

A/N

Hello there again everybody. I'm sorry about not updating this recently. There are many reasons for this and just few of them are the following; My parents have officially gotten their divorce, I moved a thousand miles away from home, I had to say goodbye to everyone that I've ever known, Went through a full year of college, watched my friend group die and get revived twice and I got my heart broken for the first time, went through a major hurricane and a whole bunch more so yeah, a lot happened in the past year and a half.

Despite all of that though I am happy to continue writing this story. Kinda crazy that I started this over three years ago now and I'm only on the eighth chapter with well over one hundred thousand words along with over 300 favs and over 350 follows. It means a lot that you guys enjoy my writing and from the bottom of my heart, I thank each and every one of you. I definitely wouldn't be doing this without you.

Also, I would like to make a few notes about a couple things in the story

-The shield idea with the amulet came from Destiny 2 from the Titan Sentinel subclass and I will be upgrading it throughout the story. If I refer to myself as a titan later down the line, that's what I'm referring to.

-The dream stone has been completely retconned and taken out of the story due to revisions and Alex will be able to communicate with me whenever he wants.

See you soon (I promise)

-Matt