Shard Falls
By: Bubbajack
Co-Authors/Editors: Icysnowsage, Antagonist, Loamy Coffee, and First Hassan/Darklord331
Special Consultant: Heliosion
Obligatory First Chapter Disclaimer: We Do NOT own Worm by Wildbow or any Disney related property.
Special thanks go out to my Super Tier patrons Alexander Murry, Bobby Glass, Jareth Norris, NeroSolas, Selmephren, and my Supreme Tier Patron Lucas White. And a heartfelt thanks goes out to all my other patrons as well.
Arc 1-1: Reawakening.
Mason Orion Pines, better known as Dipper to those around him, eagerly stuck his head out of a Greyhound bus window. After nine long, grueling months, he and his sister Mabel were going back home. To Gravity Falls, Oregon. "Bro bro, get your head back in here before it gets hit by a car or something." Mabel chided him from her seat next to him as she continued to work on her current sweater, Waddles, her pet pig, laying dutifully on her lap.
Dipper pulled his head in, But still bounced eagerly in his seat. "Sorry, Mabel, I'm just so excited to see everyone again. It's been a long nine months."
"You'd think you didn't send emails to Grunkles Stan and Ford, Soos, Wendy, and Pacifica every week." Mabel replied, elbowing him gently in the arm as she did so.
Giving his mess-up twin a sideways look, Dipper said, "OK, I'll bite. What's with the emphasis on Wendy and Pacifica?"
Giving her brother a sly look, Mabel said, "Ohh, come on brotato, I know for a fact you're still carrying a small torch for Wendy and I think Paz has a thing for you in a sexual tension kinda way. Question is which one are you going to go for?"
Mason gave his sister a weirded out look, "I think you're reading too much of mom's housewife porn, Mabel."
In response, Mabel shot him a raspberry, "It's not housewife porn, they're called romance novels!"
"Do the characters end up taking their clothes off in the end?"
"It's part of the plot." Mabel defended playfully, slapping her brother on the arm.
"Right, plot." Mason, drawled back. "They had to get naked and have crazy monkey sex for the sake of the plot."
"It's called building tension, and there's more than one way to do that in books!" Mabel said weakly as she pulled her sweater up above her face. "It's not like you wouldn't want to see what Wendy looks like naked, right?"
"I'm not going to dignify that with a response, Mabel." Her brother said, even though his cheeks turned red at the thought.
"Your mouth says no, but your face says yes."
"Stupid teenage hormones," Mason muttered under his breath.
"You're telling me," Mabel agreed with her brother. "I can't even look at a guy and not go all squishy in my guts and weak in the knees anymore."
To which her brother none too helpfully reminded her, "You were like that last summer, too."
Mabel made a sickened face and said, "Ugh, don't remind me, broseph. What I saw in Mermando at the time still eludes me."
"Me too, considering he had the lower anatomy of a fish."
Mabel, flush in embarrassment, slapped her brother on the arm and chided, "Mason! I wasn't thinking about… About that! Not at the time anyway. But since you brought it up. You actually make a very good point."
"Well, I guess if worse comes to worse, there's always Lil' Gideon. Who knows, maybe he's reformed and become a decent person in the time since we've been gone?" He said semi- hopefully and half-jokingly.
"Let's just stick a pin in that and say wait and see." Mabel said, making a none too pleased face at the prospect of seeing Lil' Gideon again. While she honestly hoped he had reformed, she also kind of hoped he stayed away from her. Especially since if push came to shove, she got a restraining order against him once she got back to Piedmont. She honestly hoped she didn't have to use it, but she was willing and able to do so if it came right down to it. Deciding to get back at her brother, Mabel poked him in the arm, feeling a mass of built up muscle under there that he had been working on for the past nine months and said, "So you mean to tell me all this muscle you've been building had nothing to do with impressing Wendy or Pacifica?"
"No, it honestly had nothing to do with either one of them. This is just in case another freaking apocalypse happens. I wanted to be ready to survive. I realized just how horribly out of shape I was during those three days."
"Ah," Mabel said, going quiet for a moment, "Well, I'm sure they'll appreciate your new physique either way."
Mason looked out the window as he rolled his eyes, "Yeah, sure… You know it's not your fault, right? Weirdmageddon? That was all Bill. Praying on your weakness just like he did Grunkle Ford."
Mabel looked down at her unfinished sweater, her hands no longer moving as she nodded, "I know, but still. It'd be wrong if I didn't feel anything for all the people who didn't make it out of Weirdmageddon, right?"
"Of course it would be, that would make you a sociopath. You're a lot of things, Mabel, but you're not a sociopath."
"Thanks, Mason… Wait, what do you mean by a lot of things?" In response, her brother just started whistling innocently. "Don't just drop the conversation, say what you mean. What do you mean I'm a lot of things?! Don't ignore me! Fess up bro bro! Explain what you mean."
Mason was saved by the Greyhound conductor's announcement, "Next stop, Gravity Falls, Oregon."
"That's us. We'd better get our things and get ready to get off." He told his two minutes older sister who shot him a look, warning him that this wasn't over, before packing her knitting away and hefting her pet pig into her arms, while he reached towards the overhead compartment for their bags.
(...)
The two teens and pig stepped off the bus and looked around, but no one was there to greet them. They didn't expect Grunkle Stan or Ford. They knew that two were off at sea doing brotherly things. But they kind of expected at least Soos or maybe Wendy. Mason took a breath. "Well, I guess we're walking."
"Sure looks like it," Mabel agreed as she hefted her backpack more securely on her shoulders, as she placed Waddles on the ground. "Wanna go straight to the Shack or go through town first?"
"I'd like to cut through the woods to the Shack, if it's all the same to you. There's something I want to check." He told his sister.
"Sure, let's go," Mabel said as the duo set off. Mable trailed a step or two behind her brother with her pet trotting beside her as they walked through the familiar woods of Gravity Falls. The smell of pine needles was heavy in the air. And a thick scent of mystery, if it could be called that, also wafted in the air. These woods were always after Weirdmageddon, they were less, but also more so. They knew strange creatures lived in these woods, and that most of them were harmless. That is if you didn't count the unicorns and the nightmare stare inducing Gremloblin. 'Stupid unicorns.' Mabel thought to herself. She still hated the darn things. The two soon came to a clearing and Mabel realized exactly where her brother had brought them.
Bill Cipher's stone body had moss gathered on it, but he was still sitting right where they had left him after his ultimate defeat. His hand was outstretched as if to try to make a deal with them Even in his death throes, he wanted to make one final pact.
Mason breathed a sigh in relief before he looked back at his sister and said, "Sorry, Mabel, but I needed to check. The first thing I promised myself I would do when I got here was to make sure he hadn't gone anywhere."
In response, Mabel came over and hugged him from behind, "It's ok, I understand. I still dream about Weirdmageddon. Well, more like having nightmares about it."
"Me too. There's really no coming back from that as a normal person, is there?"
Mabel just laughed, "Normal? We left normal behind a long time ago, Bro bro. Somewhere between finding the journals and all the craziness that came with it."
"Yeah, you're not wrong… So Mystery Shack now?" He offered as a compromise.
Mabel heartily agreed, "Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing Soos and Wendy… and I know you're looking forward to seeing Wendy. Right, Macetadon?"
Over the school year, he finally convinced Mabel that, now that they were teenagers, she should leave his nickname behind and just call him by his name. It didn't stop her from coming up with other annoying nicknames for him, though. So he just shook his head and sighed, "You're just not gonna let that go, are you?"
"Bro, you have a type, and it's athletic, action girls, who may or may not be redheads," Mabel declared, pegging his type on the spot.
"Whatever Mabel, let's just get to the Shack and see Soos."
"Me thinks thou doth protest too much," Mabel sing-songed as Waddles followed along and gave the statue a wide berth.
Hefting his backpack back on his back, Mason fired back. "And I think you joining the drama club this year at school was a bad idea," before he expertly led them through the woods towards the Mystery Shack.
Noting he wasn't using a compass or anything and only occasionally looked up at the sun, his sister couldn't help but ask "How are you doing that?"
"I took a couple of survivalist courses over winter break, remember?" He reminded her.
"Oh yeah," She said, sounding slightly put out. Christmas was rather lame that year because he wasn't there to open presents with her. But ever since coming back from Gravity Falls, he seemed driven about something. He started taking swimming lessons, joining the swim team, the boxing team and for Christmas, he took a survival class. She was starting to think his obsession with surviving Weirdmageddon had done something to him. And Mabel couldn't help but blame herself for it. She wasn't a genius like her brother, but she also wasn't an idiot. She knew the signs of PTSD when she saw them. And Mason's head was messed up. Her twin was handling them in odd ways. It's as if he was preparing for the next apocalypse. But there wasn't going to be a next apocalypse.They'd handled it. They'd survived. And yet he kept on preparing anyway. 'If he keeps acting like this, I'm going to have to talk with Grunkle Stan and Ford. Maybe they'll know what to do.' Mabel thought resolutely to herself as they arrived at the Mystery Shack.
They seem to have arrived during a tourist rush as the place was more packed than a can of sardines. Which explained why no one was there to get them at the time they arrived. People are going in and out buying cheap junk. And the twins decided to take a load off outside and wait till the rush was over before introducing themselves to their old friends. "Seems like business is booming. Good for Soos and Melody." Mason said as he took his backpack off and sat down on it.
"Yeah, they seem to be doing alright for themselves," Mabel agreed. Her mind, still on her brother and his obsessions with prepping for the next apocalypse.
Shooting her a confused look, Mason asked."You all right, Mabel? Your head seems to be in the clouds?"
She waved him off saying, "I'm fine bro-bro, I'm just looking forward to seeing everybody. Wondering how Candy and Grenda are doing honestly."
He nodded along quickly enough, "Ah well, if you're planning on having any slumber parties, let me know so I can find other accommodations for the night."
"Sure, no problem. I thought you might not want to sit up and listen to us girls talk about boys. Or Grenda to talk about that Duke she started dating."
He paused momentarily, rubbing his chin before thinking aloud, "Honestly, the whole Grenda dating a Duke thing does sound kind of interesting. Like what's his country like? What is their culture like? What kind of food do they eat?"
Mabel rolled her eyes and said jokingly, "I'll make sure to give you all the deets when I ask Grenda about it. M'kay? I'm sure she'll be thrilled to know you're so interested in her boyfriend."
"I'm not interested in her boyfriend. I'm interested in her boyfriend's culture because I've never heard of… What's his name and where is he from again?"
"I think his name was Ferdinand and I can't remember where he's from myself to be honest."
"Well, let's hope World War III doesn't start if he gets killed in a car bombing," Mason said with a bit of dark humor.
Which earned him a punch on the arm by his sister, "Not funny." She said, trying to be stern even though she chuckled a little as she said it.
He held his palms up defensively and said, "Just don't tell Grenda. You hitting me I can stand. Her turning my spine into a pretzel? Not so much."
"I won't tell her anything, but you owe me some flapjacks from Yumberjacks." Mabel said, holding out her hand to seal the deal.
"Resorting to bribery already? How cunning of you." Her Mess-up Twin said as he shook her hand. Seeing the last of the rush leave the Mystery Shack, He said. "Ready to see everybody?"
"Heck yeah, let's go."
The Mystery Twins walked into the Shack, their home away from home, Only to see Soos and Wendy running around in a panic.
"Ohh my gosh dudes, I can't believe we forgot to go pick them up?! Like what if they got eaten by Werebears or something?"
"Forget Werebears, I'm worried about the freaking unicorns, man. Those things are vicious!" Wendy shot back as she was looking around for something. "Where the heck are the keys to my truck?"
"I'm sure the twins are fine. You two." Melody said, trying to be the voice of reason to the two panicking adults. ' Well, adult manchild and responsible teenage woman.' She adjusted in her mind.
"I don't know dude, where'd you put the keys to your truck?" Soos asked Wendy as she kept looking around for her car keys.
"I don't know Soos, the rush was huge. I might have dropped them somewhere," Wendy replied, "Shit, we don't have time for this. We should have picked up the twins like half an hour ago. I swear, if they get eaten by a Manotaur or something, I am getting my axe and chopping my way through the lot of them." She said as she started to look under things.
Looking down, Mason noticed a key fob in the shape of a pine tree with two keys on it. One looked like a house key, and the other like a key to some type of vehicle. Picking it off the floor, he walked over to Wendy, who was looking under the counter at this point, and said, "Hey, Wendy, I think you dropped these."
When she looked up, saw her keys and beamed, "Thanks man, I appreciate that. Now I can go get Dipper and Mabel."
She started rushing out the door before she paused, noticing just who gave her keys. "Dude, you're here!" She ran over and wrapped Mason in a hug. Before pulling back and looking him over to make sure he wasn't hurt at all. "You're not hurt or anything, are you?"
"I'm fine, Wendy, thanks for asking. And we walked here from the bus stop, by the way, we're fine."
"You walked here, through the woods. From the bus stop?" Wendy asked with fear, lacing every syllable she spoke. She hugged him again. "Thank God, you're alright."
For his part, Mason was immediately put on edge. "Yeah, why? Is there something going on that we need to know about Wendy?"
"This place has gotten even weirder since we defeated Bill, if you can believe that. Weird things have been showing up at night, from the forest. With abilities we can't even begin to explain. Strange creatures, even stranger than the ones we've learned about last summer have been sighted. You guys need to be extra careful this summer and stay out of the forest. Alright?"
He just laughed and said, "You're sounding a lot like Grunkle Stan there, Wendy."
But Wendy just shook her head, "You don't understand, Dipper, these things are dangerous."
For the first time since the Bunker, he saw Wendy genuinely scared, "What happened, while we were gone, Wendy?"
She looked away, "We didn't want to worry you guys, so we kept everything hush hush. And we knew if we told you what was really going on, you'd try and rush back here. But there's something going on in the forest and it's changing the creatures there. The woods itself is becoming dangerous. Even more so than before."
"Sounds like we've got yet another mystery on our hands."
Wendy took him by the shoulders and gave him a little shake, "No. Listen to me, Dipper. This is not a mystery you need to solve."
Though he may still be carrying a torch for the redhead, he wasn't the dumb preteen he was nine months ago who couldn't handle anything without her help. So he didn't feel bad standing up to her. "That's not for you to decide, Wendy."
The lumberjill took a breath and said, "I guess I'll just have to show you then. But I'd rather not argue on your first day back. Can we just put a cap in this for later?"
"Yeah, Wendy, let's stick a pin in this for now. I'm just glad to be back and see you again." He offered the Mushka cap off his head and said. "By the way, I think this is yours."
She beamed and got up before reaching behind the counter, inadvertently giving the teen a great view of her ass in jeans before she came back up holding her prize, his old pinetree cap. "And this belongs to you."
Plopping the hat on his head, he felt complete. Like he could honestly say he was back. "What now?" He asked.
"Now, we party dudes!" Soos said. "Shotgun!" He called running out to Wendy's truck.
(...)
"Dudes, I totally called shotgun," Soos huffed from the backseat of Wendy's rust and patina covered truck she affectionately called Mater. He was sharing the back with Melody and Mabel, while his Pterodactyl Bro was up front with Wendy.
"Now Soos, Wendy obviously missed Dipper," Melody reminded him. "She's only been fretting about them coming back for over a week now."
"Aww, you missed us!" Mabel wanted to lean forwards and give her pseudo-big sister a hug but knowing her seatbelt would choke her if she tried, she abstained.
"Of course I did, dudes. You're like, my best friends, Soos notwithstanding."
"What about Tambry, Robbie, Nate, Lee, and Thompson?" Mason asked.
Wendy's expression soured a little bit, "Ah, well after that whole debacle with Cupid last summer, we all did some soul searching and realized that we weren't as close as we thought and our group kinda just… fell apart. Nothing bad, we just all kinda went off to do our own things."
"I'm so sorry, Wendy." Mabel apologized. She just wanted everyone to be happy, she didn't mean to break up her friend group.
"Nah, it's fine. We realized that if we couldn't actually be ourselves around each other that we weren't really friends to begin with… Well, me and Thompson are still cool and he's stopped doing dumb stuff to fit in but other than that, me and the others don't talk much."
"That's too bad. Are Tambry and Robbie still dating?" Mason asked conversationally.
Wendy shook her head, "No. Robbie is… well lets just say he has some fetishes that are a real turn off for a girl and leave it at that." Wendy said diplomatically in a tone that said this line of conversation was closed.
"So you and Tambry still don't talk, huh?" Mabel sounded sad at that.
Wendy glanced at her in her rearview and shrugged, "Eh, we're not as close as we used to be, but we still talk on the phone on occasion."
"Isn't that like, the only way she knows how to communicate?" Mason joked.
Wendy chuckled a bit, as she put her truck in park in front of Greasy's Diner. "She's not as phone obsessed as she used to be. Surviving Weirdmageddon had some silver linings, it seems."
The group piled out of the truck and headed into Greasy's Diner. The bell overhead rang as Wendy pushed the door open. Lazy Susan greeted the group. "Hello, welcome to Greasy's Diner. Take a seat anywhere and I'll be right with you," She turned to walk away, only to pause when she noticed two extra additions that weren't normally there. "Well, butter my biscuit! If it ain't the Mystery Twins!" She said, getting everyone's attention. "It's nice to see you two, coming around again. You two go on and have a seat and I'll send our new waitress right over."
The group did just that, while Mason couldn't help but wonder who the new waitress was. 'Maybe someone actually moved to Gravity Falls? Nah, couldn't be. They'd leave within the week.'
"Hi, my name is Pacifica and I'll be taking your order today. What can I get for you?"
"Pacifica?!" Mason asked, turning his head so sharply his neck snapped. Much to his shock and surprise, yes, it was indeed Pacifica Northwest. She was standing there in a blue waitress' uniform complete with a white apron, her golden locks kept up in a hairnet, pencil and notepad at the ready.
"Dipper, Mabel, you guys are back!" The blonde heiress reached over and hugged him abruptly before doing the same to his sister.
Mabel, who returned the hug with a lot less shock than he did, asked, "Hey Paz, you work here now?"
"Oh yeah, I guess this is a bit surprising," She said with a bit of a laugh. "After my dad sold the mansion to Mcgucket, we moved into a smaller place. and I decided to start working. Greasy's just happened to be hiring. And I've been working here for the past eight and a half months."
"Ohh wow. Good on you, Pacifica." Mabel said, giving her kind of sort of friend a thumbs up.
Pacifica returned the gesture with a smile."Thanks, Mabel. Anyway, what'll you have?"
"Cheese omelet please." Mabel requested.
Soos spoke up next, "Open-faced ham sandwich as usual."
"Chef Salad," Melody said.
Wendy, deciding to be adventurous, asked "What's on special today, Paz?"
"Roast beef with potatoes, carrots and mashed potatoes and gravy." The young waitress was quick to reply.
Wendy's mouth watered at the thought, "I know what I'm having, sign me up."
She then turned to the one person who had yet to speak an entire word since she showed up. "And how about you, Dipper?"
The Pines boy gave himself a shake, as if he had just come out of some kind of trance, and gave the menu a quick once over, "Ohh hmm… Greasy's has nachos now. Are they any good?"
"They're not half bad. Not something you'd find in California or actual Mexico, but still."
"I'll have that, thanks." he finished, politely handing her his menu.
"All right, got it. You guys want drinks with that?"
"A round of pit colas, everybody?" Soos asked, receiving a round of nods in response.
Jotting that down, Pacifica replied, "Got it. Coming right up."
As she was walking away, she heard Dipper call out, "Oh, and, uh, Pacifica, you look nice in that uniform."
She turned around and beamed at him, her face a little flushed, "Oh, thank you, Dipper. That was kind of you to say."
"It's Mason, actually. My name, it's Mason. Mabel always called me Dipper because, well…" He bit the bullet, took off his hat and lifted up the tuft of his hair, revealing his birthmark. "Yeah, that's why."
"Ohh wow, it looks like a constellation. That's so cool!" Pacifica said, leaning in to get a closer look. "I don't think having a cool birthmark like that has anything to be ashamed of, but I could see how the nickname would get annoying after a while."
'Is it hot in here or is it just me? Or maybe it's her?' Mason noted, feeling a little warm as Pacifica got so close to him.
"I get off in an hour. Are you still going to be around when I do, Pines? I'd like to catch up with you. The two of you, I mean." She corrected herself at the last minute.
Mabel just grinned and answered for her brother, "He'll still be here. I guarantee it, even if I have to tie him to the booth."
"Mabel, stop it!" Mason said, giving his sister a kick in the shin.
"Great. I'm really looking forward to catching up with you. I'll get your orders in." Pacifica said as she walked away, a small smile on her face.
"I knew it. My Pterodactyl Bros got game!" Soos said with pride.
Mason just rolled his eyes. "The only game I've got is a Game Boy Advance and I left it in Piedmont."
"Dude, come on. You mean you didn't feel the, uh, you know, the magic in the air at the time? Like, Paz was really excited to see you specifically?"
In response, Mason narrowed his eyes and stared at the Hispanic handyman, "Who are you and what have you done with Soos?"
"I stopped being Soos and became Mr. Mystery. It's a harder job than you think, dude. Paying bills and keeping the shack up and running, ensuring everyone gets paid, and Keeping the Unicorn hair barrier up around the shack to make sure nothing creepy gets in around nightfall. It's a big job, man."
That last bit threw Mason for a loop."Wait, what about the Unicorn hair barrier at nightfall?"
"I told you, didn't I? Man, Gravity Falls gets really creepy at night more so than usual" Wendy said as she stretched and placed her folded hands behind her head. "It's gotten to the point where nobody goes out anymore after sundown. And I think the shack is safe only because before he left, Ford set up another Unicorn hair barrier around the shack."
"What kind of weird things? Like Weirdmageddon level weird or those gnomes shouldn't be bathing in a birdbath full of squirrels, weird?" Mason asked as he took out a leather bound journal and pencil preparing to take notes.
In truth, during this summer he fully intended to do as much as he could to restore the destroyed three journals that Grunkle Ford had spent a good twenty years writing. He knew he wouldn't be able to do it in one summer, but he'd be able to at least get a start on it. Now was as good a time as any, considering he was researching a new mystery.
"Creepy things like monsters slithering out of the look like they're made of flesh and other odd bits. Things that shouldn't have abilities have abilities now and… I don't know, it's just really weird. That's why we don't want you going into the forest, especially not at night." Wendy said, crossing her arms, arms under her chest as she talked. Clearly she'd run into one of these things and it still creeped her out.
"You said it was some kind of flesh monster thing?" Mason inquired. "And it had super powers like telepathy or telekinesis or?"
"It was on fire, and it was spontaneously setting things around it on fire. And the ooze it was leaving behind it as it crawled along the ground was on fire. All the fire." Wendy said, giving a brief description of the creature. "It also had eyes where normal things did not have eyes, like on its back, and like on eye stalks, But then when it reared up on its… Well, when it reared up it had a mouth full of teeth and it tried to eat me."
"Wow, Wendy, I'm sorry. I'm glad you're ok though." He reached across the table and grabbed her hand and a show of support.
She nodded and gave his hand a squeeze, appreciating the gesture, "Yeah, I'm fine."
Noticing her tone, he couldn't help but ask, his brow furrowed in worry, "What's that mean?"
"Later," she told him as she noticed Pacifica was coming back with their food.
(...)
After the group had finished eating, and Soos had paid the tab, they sat around the table chatting amicably for a bit, mainly waiting for Pacifica to get off her shift. She clocked out, then came over to the table and sat right next to Mason. "Another day, another dollar. I never realized how hard making money was until I actually had to work for it."
"One of us. One of us," Both Soos and Wendy dismally intoned.
Rolling her eyes, Pacifica said back, "Kali ma, Kali ma."
Everyone at the table had a good laugh. Before Pacifica turned to Mason and asked, "So how is your school year? In fact, what's Piedmont like?"
"Piedmont? Well, it's like any other area you'd find in California, I guess." He said with an honest shrug. "And school is school. It sucks, we hate it, but we have to do it anyway. It's like prison for children."
"Here here." Mabel said, raising her glass, causing everyone to clink glasses.
"Well, I actually got to go to public school for the first time this year. It was nice. Nobody had a stick up their ass, talking about how rich their parents were compared to everyone else's." Smiling fondly at the memory, Pacifica continued, "It also helped that I knew Wendy, who is apparently the most popular girl in school."
"Wendy is the most popular girl in school? Ouch." Mabel said when her brother kicked her in the shin under the table.
"In high school," Wendy corrected, adding, "And I don't consider myself too cool to not hang out with middle schoolers. We survived Weirdmageddon together. We all gotta stick together, you know?" She then said to Pacifica, "Maybe you can convince Mason to not go sniffing around in the woods. I've already tried and nothing's worked so far."
"Mason." Pacifica said his name sharply, getting him to look her directly in the eye, "Don't."
Seeing how severely Pacifica was looking at him at the moment, he asked, "Is it really that bad?"
"YES!" Pacifica and Wendy yelled at him at the same time.
Taking his hand in hers, Pacifica said, "Listen, Mason, this isn't like Bill. There are things out there in the forest now that don't need to make a deal with you before they cause you great physical bodily harm."
Wendy promptly took his other hand and continued, "Yeah, seriously man, take our advice. Don't go running through the woods. You'll end up eaten like Little Red Riding Hood or something."
Hearing this, he couldn't help but joke, "Oh my grandma, what big eyes you have?"
But that seemed to be the wrong thing to say because it set Wendy off. "Dude, this is not a joke. This is not a laughing matter. People are getting hurt!"
"I'm sorry, Wendy, I didn't mean it like that. I just… Seriously, what the heck is going on? You guys keep saying that but you haven't shown any proof. Is this seriously something worse than Weirdmageddon? We survived that just fine. How much worse can this be?"
Pacifica sent Wendy a look, "You didn't tell him yet? Like seriously, Wendy, that should have been the first thing you told him."
"I know, I know, it's just not something I like to talk about. It's hard for me, alright?" She said, brushing off the blonde's accusations.
"I know it's not easy, but these are the Mystery Twins we're talking about. This is the first thing you should have told them to really hammer home just how dangerous things are right now."
"HEY!" Both Mason and Mabel said at the same time. Only for Mabel to continue."We're right here, you know, and we're not idiots."
Her brother finished by saying, "Yeah, It's not like we go looking for things that try to eat and kill us, not always in that order, they usually end up finding us."
"They aren't wrong, dudes, except for that one time Mabel was put in charge of the Mystery Shack. The little dudes have never gone looking for anything," Soos recalled the time Mason went looking for the Grimoblin.
"That's true," Pacifica conceded, "But this is a lot more dangerous than even Weirdmageddon last summer. And it would mean a lot to us if we knew you guys wouldn't go looking for trouble."
To which Mason retorted, "We didn't go looking for trouble last summer either. It just found us. Gravity Falls is just a weird place. It's a magnet for trouble."
"Again, he's not wrong." Wendy was the one to concede the point this time. "Paz is right too. I should have shown you guys this from the jump. Come on, we got to make a pit stop before heading home for the night." The lumberjill said as she slid out of the booth.
"Where are we going?" Mason asked, following in her wake.
Wendy replied as she dug around in her pocket for her keys."Gravity Falls General Hospital, Weirdness, Anomaly, and Freakishness Ward."
(...)
As Wendy pulled her truck into the parking lot of a three story building. Mason beheld Gravity Falls General Hospital, for the first time. It was covered in glass and gleamed in the twilight of the evening. "They built all this in nine months? That's pretty impressive." He couldn't help but comment as they strode towards the covered entrance.
Well, Weirdmageddon changed some people's minds about things, mainly Pacifica's dads." Wendy noted. "And he actually started investing some money into the town. So now we actually have a hospital." She explained as the group walked through the automatic double doors. The scent of antiseptic clinging in the air, as flickered and buzzed overhead. Wendy walked confidently over to the nurse in charge and said, "Hey, Mrs. Gleeful."
Carla Gleeful. or Nurse Gleeful as she was known these days, gave the young Corduroy girl a small smile. "Wendy, here for your typical visit after work? Oh, and you brought the Pine Twins. Nice to see you two back in town."
"Hello, Mrs. Gleeful, sorry about Gideon." Mason didn't know why, but he felt the need to apologize to the woman about her son.
She just waved him off. "Don't, don't apologize. Gideon made his choices a long time ago."
Mabel asked worriedly, "Did they send him back to supermax after Weirdmageddon?"
"Actually, he got out on parole for good behavior about three months ago," Carla told the older of the two Pines twins.
Mabel took a breath, "Right. Thank you for letting me know, Mrs. Gleeful."
"I've already warned him to stay away from you, but his father and him hardly listened to me, even though I am the only one bringing any money to the house these days. What Bud was thinking, joining the Blind Eye Society and wiping people's memories was beyond me but," She shrugged and continued. "That tanked his car selling business. After all, how can you trust someone to sell you a car if they can just wipe your memories of them selling you a lemon?"
"Lady's got a point." Mason couldn't help but note. " But, umm, I guess we're here to see someone?" He said with curiosity in his tone.
Mrs. Gleeful looked at Wendy with surprise and asked, "You didn't tell them, Wendy? About what happened to your father?"
The redheaded lumberjill shrugged and said, "They'll see it for themselves soon enough. Hopefully, that will get them to stay out of the forest."
Mrs. Gleeful looked down at the kids worriedly and told them, "Oh yes, kids don't go running around the forest anymore this summer. It's very dangerous out there. Your uncles would never forgive us if they came back and found out something happened to the two of you."
"Do I need a visitor's pass, Carla?" Wendy asked, on a first name basis with the woman at this point.
But the former housewife just shook her head and said, "No, I'm assuming you know where to go?"
Shaking her head, the redhead replied, "Yep, second floor, left at the hallway, and third door on the right, "C'mon, Mystery Twins, we've got a patient to visit."
As the trio got onto the elevator, Mason couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't you tell us something happened to your dad at Greasy's?"
"Most in town know that he's been hurt and I don't want everyone to know how bad of a condition he really is in. We're already a little bit pitied as it is. What with our sole income being from chopping down trees, and now we're having trouble even doing that," Wendy said a bit defensively, hands in her pocket as she leaned against the side door of the elevator.
The male Pines twin was quick to apologize."Sorry, Wendy, I didn't mean to offend you."
She ruffled his hair through his hat, "You didn't, man. I'm just explaining things, we're cool," She assured him as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. As she led the way down the hallway, she explained. "Trying to find out why going out into the woods anymore this summer is a bad idea isn't hard." As she walked down, a wing called. Paranormal, Anomaly, and Weirdness. Going into the third door. She knocked before letting herself in. Smiling sadly, she spoke quietly and said, "Hey Dad, it's me."
Manly Dan was laying on a hospital bed. He seemed perfectly normal. He greeted his daughter with a smile and a wave, "Girl, why are you always so quiet and sad every time you come in here eh? I'm not dying." Manly Dan seemed as boisterous as ever.
Wendy just rolled her eyes and said, "How's your other arm doing, Dad?"
In response, Manly Dan raised his other arm that the twins couldn't see until then, and saw that it had mutated into some sort of fleshy clawed mass. Pinkish, raw, and veins seemed to be pulsing out of two puncture wounds in his left arm. Where something seemed to have bitten him. "Well, it's not getting any better, but it's certainly not getting any worse. Up to my elbow today. The infection, and I mean worse things worse. I'm thinking about just chopping the damn thing off and being done with it."
"Can you chop down a tree with just one arm, Dad?"
He smirked at her in response and said in defiance, "What do you think, girl?"
Wendy shook her head and said, " Right, stupid question. I'm sure you could chop down the whole dang forest with one arm tied behind your back if the boys didn't slow you down."
"You're darn right!" Manly, Dan said boisterously, before noticing she'd brought extra guests for once. "Well if it isn't the Pine Twins, how are you two doing? Back for another summer of fun, adventure and monster hunting, aren't we?"
"Hello, Manly Dan, Sir, what the heck happened to your arm?" Dipper couldn't help but ask. He wanted to get closer and possibly sketch it or make some diagnostic notes, but he didn't want to be rude either, especially to the girl he still kinda had a crush on.
"This ugly fookin' snail thing came up and tried to bite Wendy when she was out in the woods. I just so happened to be nearby and pushed her out of the way and the damn thing bit me. My arms been turnin' into this horrible mass ever since." He motioned for the male Pines twin to come closer. "Come on boy, get a good look, we both know you want to. If you take good notes now, maybe that great uncle of yours, Ford, will be able to do something when he shows back up."
"Yes, Sir." Mason said before he took a chair on Manly Dan's left side and began sketching in his notebook. "Does it hurt? Is it inflamed at all?"
"It itches worse than the time I got poison oak. But other than that I don't feel much of anything. It feels heavier, kind of like when your arm falls asleep. But other than that there's no real symptoms to complain about. Well, other than that oozing puss that's coming out of it." He gave his arm a slight shake and yellowish ooze came out of what would be a normal person's sweat glands.
Putting on a pair of gloves. Mason touched the substance in case it was corrosive. Then he sniffed it. "This stuff smells like sulfur. It's highly flammable. That could be how that thing was on fire in the first place. If it bit you and infected you, that means your arm could go up in flames, if it's ever exposed to a spark. You need to be very careful, Mr. Corduroy." He told the lumberjack as he wrote notes down in his journal.
"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Pines." Manly Dan said with an approving nod. "Any other observations you can make at the moment?"
"It would probably be best to keep your arm cold with ice packs or something so it doesn't exude this stuff. If you're not hot, you won't sweat, and if you don't sweat, that stuff won't come out." Mason couldn't help but note. "As for the whole feeling like your arm is asleep, it could be taking more blood flow than your body can produce at the moment. But this is just conjecture on my point, I'm not a doctor."
The lumberjack didn't complain though, and just nodded along with the prognosis, "Better answers than anyone else here has been able to give me. So I'll thank you all the same. Ice packs will at least stop with the sweating. I'll let Carla know when she comes around in about an hour for dinner."
"In order to give you a better idea of what's going on, we might want to lance off a chunk of that stuff and take it to Mcgucket. Maybe he can analyze it. Let us know what it really is and what we can do to treat it, maybe." At this point, Mason was talking to himself, theorizing out loud and such.
"That's the best idea anyone's had since I've been put up in this place. Anybody got a scalpel or a knife?"
Wendy coughed into her hand to stop her dad from doing anything too crazy, she said, "I think maybe you should just wait for Carla to come back and ask her to get a sample for Mason here."
Manly Dan's brow furrowed for a moment as he asked, "I thought your name was Dipper?"
And in response the boy sighed, and revealed his birthmark, explaining, "No, it was just a nickname, Sir."
"Ah, good, I thought your parents were a bit loony naming you Dipper of all things. No offense meant."
He just shook it off like water on a duck's back. "None taken, Sir."
Fixing the mystery twins with a glare, Wendy said, "Anyway, now you guys see why it's a good idea to stay out of the woods this summer. It's dangerous."
Manly Dan just shrugged and replied, "Eh, it's no more dangerous than last summer, when the fooking apocalypse happened."
"Dad, you're not helping," Wendy deadpanned.
"I never said I was trying to help, girl. Matter of fact, I'm on their side," He pointed at the mystery twins. "Fact of the matter is, we're not going to find out what's going on in this forest by not going into it. If we want to figure out what's going on, we have to actually go into the bloody forest. No two ways about it."
"Yeah, but it shouldn't be these two doing it."
"And why the hell not?" Manly Dan challenged. "If you'll recall, they're the reason we defeated Bill and all the other creepy crap last summer. If anyone should be leading the charge to figure out all this summer's freakiness, it should be these two. If not, then their great uncles who aren't here at that moment." His usually gruff, demeanor softened a bit as he said, "Listen, Wendy, I know you're worried, but I'm fine at the moment. I don't feel like I'm turning into anything really freakish and I've got all my memories and I don't feel an odd hunger for human flesh or anything like that. So quit worrying, and let these kids do what they're good at and solve this damn mystery."
"But what if they get hurt?" Wendy said, a bit of hesitation in her voice.
"Well, if you're with them, you won't have to worry about your future boyfriend and sister-in-law getting hurt, now will you?" Manly Dan said, unleashing a hearty chuckle as he caused his daughter's cheeks to go as red as her hair.
"Dad!" Wendy exclaimed, using her crimson locks to hide her face.
"What? It's obvious you have a thing for the boy. For God's sakes, you got suspended from school for a week because some dumbass punk tried to steal your hat. And you sent him to the hospital with three broken ribs, a jacked up nose, two missing teeth, and both eyes blackened."
"You promised me you wouldn't talk about this."
To which Manly Dan shot back, "That was before you turned into a Lily livered pantywaste, girl."
"I'm going to go get a pit cola from the vending machine, I'll be right back." Wendy said shortly, slamming the door behind her before anyone could say anything.
"Looks like Soos was right Bro-bro, you really do have game." Mabel couldn't help but tease her younger twin.
"I don't know how to feel about this." Mason said after a moment of introspection, " I mean, she told me last summer I was too young for her and now I hear she's beating the crap out of people because they tried to take the hat I gave her."
Manly Dan piped up at that point, "Take it from me, Pines, the Corduroy women are not to be trifled with. I was five years older than her mother, but she could scare me with her temper. That said, as her father, you break her heart and I will find a way to snap your spine like a twig."
"I don't intend to break her heart, I'm just very confused about the situation at this point, Sir."
"Course you are. She told you last summer you were too young for her, and now this. You two will figure it out. Don't worry about it. But right now? You've got bigger fish to fry, or rather, monsters to hunt down. Good luck, Pines." Manly Dan said, giving him a salute with his good arm.
Mason nodded, still a little bit confused about what he just learned. But he decided to focus on the task at hand. Relationships, new and old could come later, "Thank you, Sir. Is there anything else you can tell us about what's in the forest at the moment?"
"Not much else to say, but there is one odd thing. Not too long after the attack, they found a person outside the city limits of Gravity Falls. A young girl. No identifying markings of any sort, not in any type of database. So they couldn't find anything on her. There's nothing wrong with her as far as anyone can tell. They just can't wake her up, so she's just been put in the room across the hall from me. Might want to take a look at her."
"Thanks Sir, I'll do that before I, uh, leave," Mason told the man before he opened the door and left with the tip of his hat.
The room next door was sparse and quiet because the occupant on the bed wasn't moving. She was asleep with an EKG machine modeling her vital signs. With the steady beep of the machine. This unknown Jane Doe had stark white hair, looked to be around Wendy's age, if not a little bit older, and had an athletic only thing that really stood out was the silver white hair. He looked at her medical sheet. "Name Unknown, no known physical symptoms for coma. Unusual features: No fingerprints, DNA shows no traces in national database, and wounds or scrapes heal almost instantly."
He checked the palms of her hands and sure enough, she had no fingerprints. "Well, you're just a mystery all by yourself, aren't you, Miss Doe?" She didn't answer, of course, and he didn't expect her to. But this was something else new to the Falls. Were they connected? He had no idea at the moment, but he had a hunch they might be. After all, she shows up and then not even a few weeks later, Manly Dan gets bitten by a strange new creature? Coincidence? Maybe, but unlikely. He had a feeling in his gut that this was somehow all connected. He just needed to figure out how.
"Brobro, have you found anything in here?" Mabel asked her twin from the room entrance. Sighing as he finished taking his notes, Mason replied with, "Just another piece to the puzzle, Mabel. Just another piece to the puzzle."
As the two walked down the hall to find their missing driver, Mabel said at length, "Soo, are we not going to talk about that whole Wendy thing that happened in there?"
"No, because what's happening to the town right now is a lot more important than who I am or am not dating. And we both know it." Mason replied, looking straight ahead before glancing sideways at his sister, and adding, "And you learned well enough last summer not to interfere in things like this, didn't you, Mabel?"
"Yes, Mason. Mabel will be a good girl this summer." She said while looking down at the floor like a dog who had been told that she was bad. Before glancing up and smirking a bit and saying, "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to tease you about it!"
"Of course not, that would be too much to hope for on my end," He said this, but he smiled good naturedly as he did it.
They found Wendy punching the crap out of a vending machine and cursing under her breath loudly as she did so.
"Stupid fucking hunk of junk stole my money, and didn't give me my Pitt Cola?" She punched the side of the machine, leaving a dent in it, "As if today couldn't get any worse."
"I'd offer you a penny for your thoughts, but from the sounds of it, you could use a whole quarter, Wendy."
The lumberjill glanced at the mystery boy, her cheeks still rosy as she said, "Hey man, sorry about my dad in there, he was just… Being my dad."
He just laughed it off and told her, "I'm pretty sure it's every parent's God-given right to embarrass their children at any given opportunity, so just don't worry about it, ok?"
Wendy sighed in relief. "Thanks, man. You're ready to get out of here? I need to drop you two back at the shack before heading home for the night."
The mystery twins nodded and Mason spoke for the two of them, "Yeah, let's get going. And we need to remember to tell Carla to get a sample of that stuff so we can bring it to Mcgucket tomorrow."
The trio headed out, and they found Soos and Melody making out in the back seat of Wendy's truck. She knocked on the glass of her Back seat. They at least had the decency to look embarrassed, "Umm, sorry dudes, we didn't expect you to take so long or get back so soon."
"Soos if you end up making a mess in the back seat of my truck. You are not only buying me a new back seat, you're cleaning it up."
"Dude, we wouldn't do that in the back seat of your truck. We'd do it in the truck bed of mine."
"Soos, don't say that around the kids!" Melody said, slapping his arm.
Mason just shook his head, "Don't bother. Mabel already reads mom's housewife porn."
Once again, Mabel slapped her brother on the arm, "I thought I already told you. they're called romance novels. Not housewife porn, romance novels."
Mason just nodded along robotically, "Uh-huh. Sure. Whatever you say, Mabel."
This time, though, Mabel had ammunition of her own, "Right, like the only thing you do on your computer all day back home is look up stuff about the paranormal all day like you've never been on certain adult websites."
As usual, Mason, being the smarter twin, had the smartest comeback. "Why would I watch porn? That's like voyeurism and I'm not into that?"
"I… you… that. I can't think of a good rebuttal of that." Mabel said after a moment.
"You two are a laugh riot," Melody said after a moment, before she burst into chuckles. "Oh, by the way, I meant to bring this up earlier but just this morning we got an email from your great uncles. They said they're going to be landing the "Stan of War II" in the port of Portland in a couple days."
Mason breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. While he could try and solve this mystery on his own, he was. Thankful to hear that he would have Ford's help in the coming days. All you had to do was wait and get as much research done into it as he could until his Gunkles got here. All he had to do was wait and hope nothing got too chaotic in the meantime. Who was he kidding? He knew darn well this was Gravity Falls, and it was only a matter of time before the other shoe dropped. 'Chances are it's not going to take two days for the other shoe to drop.' Mason thought to himself. 'By the time Grunkle Ford gets here, we're probably going to be in full red alert.' He silently hoped that wasn't the case. Though he wasn't going to hold his breath.
(...)
Word Count: 9263. Number of Pages: 21. Date Completed: 7/5/2024.
(...)
AN: Hello everyone and welcome to my Gravity Falls x Worm fic. I hope you all read and enjoy it. I did my best to add some suspense to this chapter. I hope I did a good enough job. Anyway, here's my editors/co-authors/the peanut gallery.
Snowy: Welcome to the Gravity Falls story hopefully this will help the muse with Rise of Orion. I like the premise of this story and don't worry folks. It is going to get dark. Something is stirring and Escalation will RISE!
First Hassan: Something is coming, I believe it's not gonna be a good one cause everything in gravity falls, nothing can be good when there is aliens and supernatural forces. I can only hope Mason be prepared for what's coming…Hello everyone! First Hassan here and today we ar bringing you a new story one created by one of Bubbas mad muse(it's out of control) what makes this story unique? Well I can only say one thing, Mason has done something that will mess up big time and I mean a huge one! Thank you guys for reading our story, if you want more or want to be a chapter ahead, head to Bubba' account or his SubscriberStar where it hasn't been edited by yours truly. I'll see you guys later! (Turning around while blue flames surrounds Hassan before disappearing)
Antagonist:I do wonder what new mysteries Mason and Mabel will encounter this time around in Gravity Falls. Who is this mysterious stranger in the hospital? How is she connected to the new mysteries that will appear.
Loamy Coffee:Ooh yeah, makes me want to bingewatch the series again.
But I'm oh so curious to see what the Pines will find in an even more dangerous Gravity Falls~
Thanks again for reading. This has been an Inkblot Bros Production. Peace!