Happy Independence Day, America!
You've become a wretched hive of scum and villainy, but you started out with good intentions, and I salute you for it!
Have another chapter to reassure you that I haven't forgotten this story.


"Family meeting! Family meeting!"

It was a matter of seconds before the call was answered by the pitter-patter of little feet, and the children stampeded into the living room.

They were greeted by the sight of Stan lounging in his armchair with a Pitt cola, and Ford standing in the center of the room, in front of a large whiteboard.

On it he had drawn a circle containing ten unusual, but somewhat familiar symbols-with a large, isosceles-or possibly unilateral, depending who you asked-figure in the center.

And as soon as he laid eyes on it, Dipper skidded to a halt, barely even seeming to notice when Mabel smacked into him.

"...Bill?"

His voice cracked, in a way that probably had nothing to do with being on the brink of puberty, and his face lost at least two shades of color as he stared at the image of the demon.

Ford winced; he had read over the childrens' entries in Journal 3 regarding their experiences with Bill, so in retrospect this diagram could perhaps have been displayed a little more tactfully.

He cleared his throat, and tried to give his nephew a reassuring smile.

"...Yes. I…take a seat, please, children. We have important matters to discuss that concern him."

He'd debated with himself over how much this was truly necessary, but at last come to the conclusion that if he wished to continue improving his relationships with his family members, that most likely meant being open and honest should be a precedent with all of them, not just Stanley. Even as he worried about how the truths he was about to reveal might impact his relationship with the children.

If they'd think less of him for his mistakes.

Dipper and Mabel glanced at each other uncertainly, and then at Stan, who rolled his eyes and gave them a "he's being so dramatic" look that was clearly (probably) meant to help relax them. It seemed to be successful, as after a second they meandered over to his chair and climbed up onto the arms, one on either side of Stan.

Once they had made themselves comfortable, Ford gathered his courage and opened his mouth again.

"...Years ago, when I first came to Gravity Falls and began studying the strange and wondrous creatures that lived here, I had a dream of one day uncovering the reason why it is a haven for so many of them. The closest I came to actually finding it was my theory of Gravity Falls's natural law of weirdness magnetism, but I still didn't know why it occurred, or how. And the fact that I didn't know caused me no end of frustration." Just remembering his entries about it in his journals made him cringe at his younger self's arrogance. "...And then one day, I was exploring the caves of Gravity Falls, and I uncovered an unusual painting that seemed like it could help me find the answers I was looking for."


It was even more painful than remembering his eagerness to discover the Grand Theory of Weirdness, explaining to the children what had happened with Bill.

Now that he could see with clear eyes how he'd allowed himself to be tricked by empty flattery, isolated from the outside world by honeyed words reassuring him that he was so much better than those pathetic plebeians who were just not smart enough to really understand him, dazzled by the gifts and the games and the fascinating stories into adoring and even worshiping their giver.

He tried not to go too far into detail about it. Or about how violated he felt when he finally realized the awful truth. But he couldn't in good conscience sugarcoat the gravity of what would happen if Bill managed to get hold of the rift between their worlds.

"...To him-" he pointed to the drawing- "it's all just a game. But to us, it would mean-" he turned the board, revealing another drawing of the Nightmare Realm- "the end of the world."


For a long moment the children and Stan sat and stared at the picture, eyes wide.

Ford wondered if maybe that last part had been overkill.

After a minute, Dipper finally whispered, "...Oh man."

It sounded worried, but not necessarily condemning. And when Ford glanced at him and Mabel, all he could see in their eyes was anxiety as they stared at the artwork.

Perhaps it's simply taking a while for the truth to sink in. Don't get your hopes up.

(Just because Stanley doesn't seem to blame you, at least not for this, doesn't mean nobody else will.)

"Oh man, indeed." He rubbed the back of his neck and pushed away the unhappy thoughts. "I don't mean to frighten you, but I need all of you to understand why this next part is so important." He turned the board back around to the side with the Zodiac.

"Do any of these symbols seem familiar to you?"

"Yeah! That one looks like the one on Dipper's hat!" Mabel pointed to the symbol of the pine tree. "And that one looks like the symbol I put on my favorite sweater, and that one-"

She gasped, and spun around to poke the center of Stan's Order of the Holy Mackerel fez. Stan pulled back with a gruff snort and swatted her hand down, but his expression was more fond than actually upset.

"What is this, Great Uncle Ford?" Dipper asked.

"...I'm not entirely sure," Ford admitted.

Seeing the way Stan's eyes started to widen sarcastically, before his brother could open his mouth he added quickly, "But it's from another cave painting I found, which contains a prophecy that these symbols could together be the key to putting a stop to Bill. I think that, if we can find all of the people bearing them and get them to join together, that might be enough to successfully seal the rift and stop Weirdmageddon before it starts."

"You mean like the Avengers or something?" asked a voice from the doorway.

Ford had really spent too much time becoming complacent since leaving the multiverse; it took all his self control not to immediately reach for his gun, as he quickly assured himself that Stan's employees were not an active threat to him or the others, and neither of their eyes had so much as a trace of yellow in them.

Soos smiled sheepishly as he shuffled into view. "Sorry dude, but we heard you calling for a family meeting while we were restocking the popsicles, and like, we weren't sure if that meant you were including us or not, cuz you probably don't see us as family, but Mr. Pines and the kids are totally family to me-" Stan made a strange noise in the back of his throat- "and Wendy too even if she doesn't wanna admit it."

One of Wendy's feet darted out to give Soos a swift kick to the ankle, but the way her cheeks reddened seemed to confirm the sentiment.

"Of course you guys are family!" Mabel said brightly, beaming at them. Then she turned to look at Ford. "It's okay, Grunkle Ford, they can help with this."

Ford glanced between the newcomers, at the dark green question mark in the middle of Soos's chest and the empty ice bag Wendy had slung over her shoulder.

"...Yes, Mabel, I do believe you're right."


"...So that just leaves us with the stitched heart, the llama, the all-seeing eye, and the spectacles."

"The heart one's easy," Wendy said. "Robbie's been wearing that same dumb hoodie since seventh grade." Soos still seemed a little dazed (and had muttered something that sounded like "Questiony was real this whole time?!"), but she had recovered remarkably fast from the revelation that she was part of an ancient prophecy destined to stop an evil dream demon; the symbol of the ice was a perfect match for her.

Dipper groaned. "And unfortunately, I recognize that symbol too." He pointed to the star with the eye in the middle.

Mabel groaned too. "Oh, come on! Of all the people in this town, why did it have to be him?!"

"Because the universe hates us, sweetie," Stan said dryly.

"Dare I ask who you're referring to?" Ford interrupted the grumble-fest.

"Gideon." The way Stan said it, he might as well have said "toxic waste" or "tax collector".

"He's a psychotic little twerp who tried to go out with Mabel against her will and take over the Shack," Wendy said.

"And he's in prison, so even if we wanted to make him part of the Zodiac-" Dipper began.

"Which we don't!" Mabel cut in.

"Yeah, which we don't-he's kind of inaccessible at the moment."


Oh.

Right.

Ford remembered skimming over that part of Journal 3, but at the time he'd been more invested in studying their dealings with Bill. He made a mental note to go back at his earliest convenience and read all the childrens' entries from beginning to end.

But despite their misgivings, this Gideon fellow being imprisoned was quite possibly the least dire of their concerns-especially if Bill happened to be spying on them and knew what they were planning.

"For now, just focus on finding those last few people that match with these symbols," he indicated the glasses and the llama, "and make sure to round up Robbie and explain the situation to him. Once that's done, bring all of them here."

"What about Gideon?" Dipper asked.

Ford smiled grimly. "Leave that problem to me."


It's disturbing how much describing the ways Bill tricked and manipulated Ford makes him sound like a child groomer.

I know Ford was technically a grown man at the time (albeit one with the emotional maturity of a teenage girl), but considering how old Bill is in comparison? Eeeeesh.
No, I don't think their relationship was quite to that level. But the parallels are there.

Also, I'm now feeling conflicted, because there is definitely room for Bill to step in and try and stop them, but on the other hand I kind of wanted things to cool down now that the main conflict between Stan and Ford has been resolved, and I'm also a little worried that this story has dragged on for far too long already.
Thoughts?