Tales Of The Flame & The Ax: A Shooting Star Falls Story

Part Thirty-Seven: Follow You

It was Mabel's turn to open the door and as she placed her hand on the knob, she hoped that it was a more pleasant memory for her mother and father. Although it had been horrific to witness for the first time herself, she could only imagine what it would be like to relive what was most likely the worst moment of their lives. Taking a deep breath, she turned the brass knob and pushed forward. She was met by a torrential downpour in what appeared to be the Gravity Falls Cemetery. "Hopefully this isn't what I think it is..." the fifteen year old thought to herself as she stepped through the doorway and felt the rain begin to drench her. Soon to follow were her twin sister and parents, who also dreaded what they had entered. "Let's just find the next door and get the hell outta here..." Wendy grumbled over a crack of thunder that rumbled above. Dipper took off his flannel shirt and held it over his wife in a well-meaning, but feeble attempt to shield her from both the rain and the potential sight of her unconscious body. "Hey! I think there's somebody over there!" Pacifica shouted over the rain, which seemingly fell with the might of Niagara Falls itself. "Damn it..." Dipper thought to himself. The last thing he wanted his teenage daughters to see was their mother propped up against a tombstone with a half drank case of beer and a grisly wound that would almost claim her life. He quickly scanned around to find something to draw the curious teens away from their destination. A large rectangle stood at the crest of a nearby hill. "What's that up there?!" Dipper shouted as he tried to divert the girls away from the gruesome sight. "I-I think it might be the next door!" Pacifica said as she tried to shield her eyes from the rain with her hand. Trudging through the mud, the quartet made their way up the hill towards the next portal. He could hear the younger version of himself and Tambry arriving at the scene of Wendy's attempted suicide in the background and was relieved that they could avoid having to see it for themselves. "Thanks..." Wendy said to her husband in a soft tone that was full of relief. This journey was already trying the mental health of the ginger woman and the sight of her in that state may very well have pushed into a downward spiral once more.

Their silver haired daughter was first to reach the door and quickly pushed it open; eager to get out of the torrential rainstorm they had found themselves in. Much to the relief of the entire family, they were greeted by what appeared to be a sunny spring day in Gravity Falls. The smell of flowers wafted through the air as the quartet began to explore their surroundings. They were once again at the Mystery Shack, but it appeared to be hosting a private event instead of its usual activities. It wasn't unheard of, as Soos had turned to occasionally renting out the attraction for dances, reunions and the like after noticing a lack of venues offering the services in the small town. "OH! I JUST LOVE WEDDINGS!" Mabel called out as she practically sprinted down the aisle. Dipper walked behind his wife and wrapped his arms around her waist before resting his head on her shoulder. "It seems like just yesterday..." he said to his lover in a soft tone. "I know... Where has the time gone?" she agreed as a soft smile came across her face. "Is this your wedding?" Pacifica asked as the two were shaken from the moment. "Yeah. And it's just as wonderful as I remember it..." Wendy replied as they noticed people beginning to arrive for the ceremony. The quartet stepped to the back as they watched the ceremony unfold. Dipper had managed to hold it together until the moment he lay eyes on his bride. She stood there in a brilliant emerald green dress, which complemented her eyes and contrasted both her fair skin and auburn hair. "You're so pretty!" Mabel commented. "Absolutely stunning..." her father agreed. The trio looked towards Pacifica, who was uncharacteristically emotional. "What?!" she sniffled in response before wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. Mabel wrapped her sister up in a reassuring hug. "It's just that we never see you like this... It's refreshing, if I'm being honest..." the redhead candidly said.

The family watched the newlyweds drive off in Dipper's beloved 1969 Fjord Stallion before resuming their search for the next portal. Wendy froze in her tracks and let out a yelp as she looked as though she had seen a ghost. "Wendy, what's the mat-" Dipper began to ask before realizing why she had reacted the way she did. "You guys alright?" Pacifica asked as she walked up to her parents. "That's a funny looking rock..." Mabel commented as she approached a triangular formation. "It looks like it's got a hand! Let's shake it!" she continued while extending her arm towards it. "MABEL! NO!" Pacifica shouted as she sprinted towards her sister. She lowered her shoulder and tackled the ginger teenager before she could touch the rock with her hand. "OW! YO! WHAT THE FUCK, PAZ?!" Mabel screamed at her sister while grabbing her midsection. "YOU WERE ABOUT TO SHAKE HANDS WITH BILL CIPHER!" her twin replied while getting up from the ground. "Oh... Is that what this is?" the redhead remarked as she got up; a look of frustration from the other members of her family forming on their faces. Wiping the dirt and moss away from the formation, a large eye and brick pattern appeared. "Yeah..." Pacifica said with a sigh. "We should really blow this thing up... I'm talking a nuke or something..." Wendy said before walking over to the terrible triangle; a kick from her sneaker clad foot displaying her disdain for the petrified physical form of the dream demon. "I-I'm not sure if that would free him or not..." Dipper remarked. "Yeah... I suppose that's true" Wendy said before spitting on the entombed terror known throughout the multiverse as Bill Cipher. "Where do you think the next door is?" asked Mabel, who continued to hold her aching midsection. "It seems like they're close to a location that's important to us... Hmmm... Let's see. Middle of the woods? Past the Shack? Maybe it's this way?" her mother replied before heading off towards the tree line.

The quartet arrived at an all too familiar clearing and sure enough another portal awaited them. "This is a nice spot..." Mabel proclaimed as she took a seat on a fallen log. "Yeah... It's really peaceful out here" her twin sister agreed while joining her. "I have a lot of good memories when it comes to this place" Dipper remarked in a wistful tone. Wendy placed a caring hand on the shoulder of her lover. She knew both the pain and joy that the clearing brought to the thirty-three year old man. She decided to try and lighten the mood a bit. "I almost lost an eye out here when I was just a little older than you guys..." the ginger woman said with a chuckle. Dipper covered his mouth with his hand as he tried to stifle his laughter. Pacifica and Mabel were a bit confused by the reaction of their parents, but assumed there was some sort of funny story about their mother being either a klutz or careless in the woods. Wendy approached the door and hoped that another pleasant memory awaited them beyond the threshold, as the previous experiences had trudged up events that were better off left in the back of their minds. Taking a deep breath, she turned the knob and pushed forward. They appeared to be in a gym of some sort, as numerous pieces of exercise equipment filled the room. Dipper let out a sigh as it dawned on him where exactly they had arrived. "I-Is that Dad?" Mabel asked as she spied a man standing on a treadmill between a pair of handrails; a blonde woman who was wearing a pair of purple scrubs spotting him as he did so. "Mason, you don't need to be so aggressive... You've already made so much progress..." the woman pleaded with the headstrong man as he continued to gingerly walk on the treadmill. "Jill, I know you're doing your job, but I need to get back to normal so I can help Wendy when the girls arrive" Dipper said between breaths; the exercise clearly taking its toll on the recovering man. "Then stop pushing yourself so hard. All this work we've done will be for nothing if you end up hurting yourself by trying to rush back. Most people with your injuries take over a year and a half to fully recover" she tried to reason with him. Of all the patients she had dealt with over her four year career as a rehabilitation specialist, Mason Pines was by far the most relentless. "I put that poor woman through so much hell..." Dipper remarked. "It was coming from a good place..." Wendy reassured her husband.

The Pines family continued to watch as the session carried on; marveled by the tenacity of the young man. "Alright! That's time right there" Jill said as she turned off the treadmill. Dipper, who was wearing a pair of purple athletic shorts and a grey t-shirt emblazoned with 'Piedmont Highlanders Athletics'' on it, let out a sigh. "Five more minutes..." he said before wiping the sweat from his brow. "Nope. Not risking my job over it. Sorry bud..." she answered. "It's been three fucking months... I-I just wanna be able to walk again. This sucks so much..." Dipper said in a defeated voice as he sat down in a wheelchair Jill had brought over to him. "You will. You've got the motivation. More importantly, you've got the willpower. I've met a lot of people in a ton of different situations. I can honestly say that none of those people had a tenth of your drive to get well. I think you just have to remember how much you've been through. I mean, you got hit by a car for crying out loud. You're doing so well. Just hang in there and keep going... But we have to do it in a safe way. If you stick to the plan your doctors and I have come up with, you'll be almost as good as new about a month before your wife is due" the blonde woman explained to the upset man. "You promise?" Dipper asked in a hopeful tone. "As long as you hold up your end of the bargain, I do" she replied. "Alright then, let's get after it..." he said in a determined voice. While Wendy had been aware of the physical trauma her lover had gone through, she hadn't witnessed his rehabilitation sessions. The Pines women were reminded of just how much he was willing to put himself through for them.

Dipper looked around the room, but failed to spot the next door. "Do you remember that mirror having a door knob sticking out of it?" Pacifica asked while pointing towards it. "Nope" was all he could respond with. The silver haired teen walked over and opened the door towards their next destination. "How many more times do we have to do this?" the thirty-three year old asked in an exhausted tone. "Well, each time we find and walk through one of these we move forward in time, so..." Mabel pointed out. "This was fifteen years ago. It seems like more time passes each time we reach a new one, so maybe it will skip a few years..." Wendy added. "Let's hope so. I'm getting real tired of reliving the past. I just want to get to wherever or whenever it is that we're supposed to wind up at" Dipper replied. The family walked through the doorway to find themselves in what appeared to be the emergency department of a hospital. The doors opened up and a stretcher flew past them; a team of doctors pushing it like a bobsled as they rushed their patient towards the operating room. Following close behind were Mabel and Wendy Pines, who were covered in blood. "Not this again!" Mabel said as she put her hands on the side of her head and let out a deep breath. "Mom, I'm so sorry!" she could hear the young woman say to her mother as they disappeared around a corner. "Let's just get outta here..." Wendy said as she saw a door at the end of the hallway. About halfway down the corridor, they saw the stretcher stopped just outside the operating room. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! MY LITTLE GIRL IS DYING HERE FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!" Wendy shouted at the doctors and nurses that attended to the gravely injured Pacifica. "We have to prep the room. It'll be ready any moment now" a nurse calmly replied. The auburn haired woman let out a huff and continued down the hallway, where another door appeared.

"Please let this be the last one..." Pacifica said to herself. Dipper opened the door to find themselves back in the white room they had started the journey in. "Look! If you're trying to torture us, you'll have to try harder than that! I've literally been through hell! I've danced with the triangle devil and lived to tell the tale!" Wendy shouted into the cavernous room. A pair of figures appeared in the distance; their identities hard to determine at such an interval. "C'mon! I dare you to come closer! If you think that chainsaw was rough, I have some truly fucked up things in mind for y'all this time!" the redhead continued as a smirk formed on her face that seemed to drop the temperature in the room quite a bit. Wendy had tapped into and even dared to embrace a darkness inside that caused her to become someone that even those closest to her couldn't recognize. The figures began to walk forward as Wendy conjured a large axe into her hands. Dipper thought of a flaming katana and soon one appeared in his grip. Mabel thought a bit outside the box and crafted a pair of kukri blades attached by a thick leather strap. Pacifica had a large bayonet appear where her arm once was and also took the opportunity for a wardrobe change. She now wore a black tank top, a black belt with silver studs, black skinny jeans and a pair of black boots. It drew looks from the rest of the family. "WHAT?! Can't a girl change her look up before a big fight?" she remarked in an incredulous tone. The Pines braced for an unforgiving battle with a pair of dream demons. "It's gotta be them..." Dipper said as he choked up on the grip of his sword.

The light in the room shifted and the family nearly dropped their weapons in response to what they saw before them. It appeared to be Mabel Ariel and Pacifica Elise. "It could be a trick!" Wendy warned. "Dipper... It's been too long..." the voice of the brunette teen girl said in a soft tone. "I wanna believe that it's you, but how do I know for sure?" he asked the person who resembled his late twin sister. "Hmm... Let me think a minute..." the young woman said as she tried to think of a way that she could convince the professional skeptic that it was indeed her. She recalled a time that she had to make a similar judgement call and decided to take the same route. "Mason... Look into my eyes. Am I really a demon?" she asked with absolute sincerity in her voice. Dipper took a long look into the hazel eyes of the teen. It took him a moment, but he could see that certain little sparkle that made Mabel Ariel Pines the person she was. The brunette was afraid that her brother's paranoia would take over, but was pleasantly surprised when he sprinted forward, wrapped her in a tight hug, lifted her off the ground and spun her around. "Mabel! I missed you so damn much!" he said before putting her down; tears running down his face as he did so. "I missed you too, bro-bro..." she replied before breaking down. Wendy loosened her grip on her large axe and it soon fell to the floor below; resulting in a loud thud echoing throughout the room. The action was soon repeated by Mabel Elise and Pacifica Kathleen restored her hand where the sharp blade had been.

Pacifica Elise walked towards Wendy and placed a hand on the thirty-six year old woman's shoulder. "You've done great..." she remarked while looking her right in the eye. Wendy took a moment to figure out what the blonde girl had meant, but when she did it hit her like a ton of bricks. "Thanks..." was all she could respond with as her emotions overtook her. Pacifica Elise walked over to Dipper as a slight blush came over her formerly porcelain cheeks; her heart beating out of her chest with every step she took. She wondered what she should say. It had been almost two decades since she had last spoken to her former lover. "I... I..." she began before being wrapped up in a hug; the blonde heiress soon reciprocating. Wendy watched as the former lovers embraced and a slight bit of jealousy began to percolate beneath her calm and cool demeanor. While she understood the unique dynamic the three of them would share for eternity, the sight of her husband in the arms of another woman didn't sit right with her. Pacifica Elise could feel the tension that was quickly filling the room and removed her arms from around the waist of her former lover. "You went and grew up on me, Mason..." she remarked while taking a good look at the thirty-three year old man. He was taller, more muscular and had shed his boyish cuteness for a more manly ruggedness. "Yeah... I suppose I did..." he replied while rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous way. "Wendy is one hell of a lucky woman" Pacifica Elise continued. "I'm the lucky one. I've met and fallen for the two most wonderful women in not only Gravity Falls, but the entire world" he said in a grateful tone.

Mabel walked over to her sister-in-law and placed her arm atop her shoulders. "You're doing great..." she said to the auburn haired woman. "I made a promise to you guys. I will never break that promise... Even if that dumbass tries his hardest to get himself killed, like, all the time..." Wendy said with a chuckle. "Ha! Yeah... He does like to get into dangerous situations from time to time, but that's not what I was talking about, sis..." the seventeen year old replied. "Huh?" a confused Wendy asked. "I meant the whole Pacifica situation going on over there..." Mabel Ariel said while motioning to the former couple, who were sharing a laugh. "Oh... Yeah... I mean... Um... What are you gonna do? Ya know? Besides... She's kinda dead, so it's not like she could steal him back from me..." the ginger woman said in a somewhat defeated tone. "No, not really. I'm kinda glad that I was single when... When I left. I get to hang with hotties all the time here!" the brunette said in a cheerful voice. It caused a smile to form on the freckled face of Wendy, as she was glad that her late friend was living her best afterlife. "So I take it that you're doing... Well... You know... That thing we talked about the time we walked to the hospital?" she asked in a coy tone. "Oh yeah! Like, all the time! That's the thing about this place. You can do whatever you want, whenever you want and however you want! It's like that bubble that Bill trapped me in, except that I'm really in control. You weren't kidding. It's so great!" Mabel Ariel excitedly replied. "That's awesome!" Wendy said before offering a high five, which her late sister-in-law quickly accepted. "Especially..." Mabel began before leaning into her sister-in-law's ear and whispering something that made the cheeks of the older woman turn bright red. "You should try it sometime..." she continued. "Um... I'll keep it in mind if we need to spice things up in the bedroom..." Wendy replied in a polite tone while trying to process what the young woman had disclosed to her.

Mabel Elise and Pacifica Kathleen looked on as their parents continued to reconnect with the late teens. "I know we've watched all the tapes and seen all the photos, but there's just something different about seeing them in person" Mabel Elise said to her twin sibling. "I know, right? They were just a bunch of kids having fun. Then Mom and Dad had to grow up almost overnight..." Pacifica Kathleen agreed. They walked over to their mother and the late Mabel Ariel Pines. "Hey dudes! Isn't this so awesome?!" Wendy said to her daughters. "Yeah. It's really cool. Why'd we have to walk through all those doors and see some of those things though?" Mabel Elise asked. "Trust me, that wasn't our idea. It was the Oracle's. Something about having to recognize the past to appreciate the present and future or some junk like that. To be honest, I was only paying half attention. She kinda likes the sound of her own voice sometimes..." Mabel Ariel replied. "Did you just mention the Oracle?" Pacifica Elise asked as she walked over to her best friend. "Yeah. Lil' Mabes here was wondering about the doors..." the elder Mabel Pines replied. "Ugh! Yeah, the doors... Sorry about that. I tried to explain about how it wasn't a good idea and all, but she was so dead set on having you go through that..." Pacifica Elise apologized. "Not your fault. So, where exactly is this Oracle?" Dipper asked as he looked around the featureless room. "She said she'd let us catch up for a bit before you guys go to see her" Mabel Ariel explained. "Well, that was nice of her" Mabel Elise agreed with her namesake. A glowing green whirlpool opened up in the wall as the Pines family stood in wonderment. "I think she's ready to meet with all of you..." Pacifica Elise said in a sullen tone. "I take it that you're not coming with us?" Dipper asked. "Look, Dip, I wish we could... But we had to beg the Axolotl to even make this happen. Usually, post-vessel beings can't interact with the living, except in the mindscape. But the Axolotl knows what your family has done for the multiverse, so it made an exception" the blonde seventeen-year-old said as tears began to fill her sapphire eyes. "Our family. You're a part of the Pines family. Never forget that" Dipper corrected his late girlfriend. "Of course..." she replied as streams of tears cascaded down her rosy cheeks. After a very emotional farewell, the living members of the Pines family stepped through the portal and wondered just what awaited them on the other side.

Author's Note: This was supposed to go a completely different way, but I like how it turned out. The Pines family sure have been through a lot over the years, haven't they? What awaits them when they get to meet with the Oracle? Is the fight finally over? Can the family go back to their everyday lives? Answers to all these questions and more in the next installment of Tales of The Flame & The Ax: A Shooting Star Falls Story. Also, thanks again for all the reviews, follows, fanart and everything else you wonderful readers do. I can't even begin to explain how much it means to me that this idea I had a few years ago resonates with so many people from all over the world. You all rock! Until next time... -iKLOT

Playlist for this chapter:

Bring Me The Horizon - "Teardrops"

Manafest / Redlight King - "Save You" (Made me think of Wendy)

Slipknot - "Unsainted"

OCTAVIO the Dweeb - "Someday I'll Be Happy"

Twenty One Pilots - "Holding On To You"

Bleachers - "Stop Making This Hurt"

Young The Giant - "Something To Believe In"

Starset - "ECHO" (Made me think of Dipper)

CHVRCHES - "He Said She Said"

Saint Motel - "It's All Happening" (Fits this part of the story)

Imagine Dragons - "Follow You" (Made me think of how both Wendy and Dipper are always there for each other, no matter how bad things may get)

Tetrarch - "I'm Not Right" (This came on when I was writing Dark Wendy and it just worked so well)

SHAED / Two Feet - "Part Time Psycho"

Madi Diaz - "Nervous"

Wavves - "Sinking Feeling"

MGMT - "Little Dark Age"