Disclaimers: I do not own Gravity Falls
Author's Notes: Again I know it's been a while, I have been dealing with a lot of changes in my life and finding time for my multiple stories is a lot harder than I would like to admit. But we are here and another chapter is here!
With that said, here we go.
Thanks for reading and please review.
(Back with Dipper…)
Dipper Pines officially hated Bill's since of fashion, now don't get him wrong he didn't think bill was lacking in fashion. In fact it was actually the complete opposite, Bill looked good in everything he wore. He was confident and handsome…wait did Dipper just think bill was handsome? Dipper shook his head at the thought and sighed in frustration as he watch Bill continue to get ready.
See the problem with Bill's fashion was that he took a lot of pride in his looks, and as a result took forever to get ready in the morning. At the moment he was in front of the bathroom mirror styling his golden locks with such care as if they were actually made of real gold.
"Seriously Bill?" Dipper groaned. "We're going to actually be late!" He argued.
"You can't rush perfection Pine Tree." Bill argued, "Besides I'm not the one still in bed."
Suddenly Mabel comes rushing into the bathroom in a panic. Her skirt, shorts, rainbow covered shirt and shoes were already on, but she was struggling to pull one of her long-sleeved pink glittered sweaters over her head. To make matters worse the laser puppies yapped and tussled at her feet the entire time.
"Out of the way, you guys! I'm already running late, and I don't need any more distractions!" Mabel shouted at them. She ran for the sink and proceeded to use her hairbrush and toothbrush in the wrong locations. When she finally realized what she was doing, Mabel froze up before swapping them out as she talked a mile a minute.
"Okay, Mabes, calm down. No need to panic because you overslept again. Ooh, where's my headband?!" As she continued brushing her teeth and hair, she tried tearing through the stuff in the bathroom in search of her trademark headband, even as the puppies started firing lasers everywhere.
"I don't know why you guys are freaking out so badly. We got plenty of time to make it to school." Bill said as he watched the chaos unfold, silently noting how weird it was to be the one looking at the chaos from the outside for once instead of being the cause. At this, Mabel stood up, shook off some things she got in her hair, and looked at Bill.
"This isn't about education, Bill Cipher! It's about love!" She said before getting a dreamy smile on her face.
"Mabel no!" Dipper squealed.
Mabel however never listened to him before and he wasn't about to do it now. "Every day at 7:59 AM, we have to make it to school so Dipper can head to his locker and wait for Wendy!"
"Seriously?" Bill growled. "You force me to rush in the morning so you can see Red?" He cannot believe his ears. "Do you know how hard it is to look this fabulous with the time frame you've been forcing me to work with here?" He fumed. "And all so you can see Wendy? I thought you got passed the whole being a creep and crushing over her from a distance."
"I did!" Dipper exclaimed. "At 8:00 AM, Wendy comes by my locker on her skateboard, she shows off some moves. We say 'hi' and give each other a high-five." Dipper explained.
"Oh that's actually cool." Bill admitted. "But why didn't you want me to know?"
"Because I thought you would try to play match maker and rush it." Dipper exclaimed.
"Oooh." Bill said, suddenly getting it. "You really should ask her out though." He advised. "I mean it's been weeks since your last date." He reminded him.
"And technically it wasn't even a date because Pacifica had the dance canceled with her stupid party!" Mabel exclaimed.
"We went to the bounce lounge!" Dipper argued.
"You acted awkward and sweaty the whole time man." Bill reminded him.
"I know okay." Dipper fussed. "I'm just…not ready to tell her how I really feel." He admitted. "I just don't know how to act around her."
"Dude Wendy is Awesome, and I know if you were honest with your feelings and asked her out she'd say yes." Bill said. "And before you say I have no idea what I am talking about, you're wrong. I dated Jana for four weeks. Before we decided to just be friends." He reminded Dipper. "So I know how human girls and dating work."
Dipper smiled, he was actually kind of bumbed when he found out Bill and Jana had broken it off. He honestly thought they really hit it off. Bill however, said it was a mutual decision that happened just before the Blood Moon Ball. There were no hard feelings, they just didn't click on a romantic level. Dipper accepted their decision, after all, Jana still hung out with them regularly so it was obviously true that no feelings were hurt. "No offense Bill, but you and Jana barely knew each other. "I've known Wendy since the day after picture day in Elementary School. I've had a crush on her for years. It took me forever to work up the nerve to talk to her!"
"I get it." Bill assured him, trying to help Dipper calm down. "Look we still have plenty of time to get there." He assured him gesturing at the clock.
"Oh, crapbaskets! It's 8:58! We'll never make it in time!" Mabel screamed.
Before Dipper can express how being late wasn't that much of a big deal chaos ensued!
"Wait a minute! I can just freeze time." Bill said. "That way, everything is fixed." He assured Mabel. Doing exactly what Dipper said he would do, try and play match maker.
"Bill its fine." Dipper urged, "Wendy will understand…"
TOO LATE!
"Easy peasy time freezy'?" Bill declared with a wave of his cane.
Okay, Dipper actually laughed, because that was not the actual Time Freeze spell their Great Uncle Ford had taught them yesterday. "Alright Bill, you had me going there." He admitted. Unfortunately he found himself celebrating far too soon, for just then his Cane glowed a bright yellow as a magic, ticking clock effect appeared over the teens. In an instant, the barking puppies began to slow down before, finally, freezing in midair. The teens looked around in confusion as their brains began to process what just happened. They looked at each other and then at the puppies, who remained frozen stiff. Even the lasers one of the puppies shot out were frozen like a statue.
Against her better judgment, Mabel stepped forward and touched one of the lasers the puppies fired. She immediately regretted it, as her finger burned from the white heat of the laser. Instinctively, she recoiled her finger before putting it in her mouth to cool it off.
"Um, what just happened?" Mabel asked.
"I think...I think I froze time," Bill said. Even he was a little surprised that it actually worked. He was obviously joking around." The teens then tentatively stepped out of the bathroom and began to look around the house. Downstairs, Stan had been busy unpacking his gear from his to go bag. Having just returned from a mission with Ford. Ford himself had a parchment in hand, the writing was in a language that not even Dipper had seen before from their many studies together. Both Stan twins were stiff as a board.
"Whoa," Mabel said as she looked around in awe. In all the time she'd come to know Bill and seen him do things that defied the laws of physics and reality, this had to rank among the craziest things. "You did it. You, you crazy genius. You actually did it."
"So it would seem," Bill said as the shock wore off.
"But how?" Dipper looks puzzled. "That wasn't the proper spell."
Bill shrugged.
"Maybe it has to do with Bill's powers of imagination." Mabel theorized. "Technically with his powers he can make anything happen."
Dipper looked deep in thought. "Of course he knew Mabel was most likely right, only beginners actually had to say incantations at all, more advanced magic users like Dipper rarely needed to. They just thought the words needed for the spell. And Bill with his powers could theoretically take it one step further and make up spells as he goes. In fact most of the spells he used on a daily bases were just made up on a whim right on the spot. But to make a spell up for a task that already had an incantation. That was new.
"Pine Tree, do you know what this means?!" Bill suddenly exclaimed.
"We can get to school on time?" Dipper said dumbly.
"Forget school!" Mabel shouted while waving her hands around. "It's a ~freeze day! We can do whatever we want!"
"Exactly!" Bill agreed. "Come friends! Let's go do all the things that we can never get away with!" Bill and Mabel race out the door chanting.
"Freeze Day! Freeze Day!"
"Guys! We can't just keep time frozen!" Dipper yelled after them. "Time Baby, the Time police!" He shout racing to catch up.
"Relax Dip we'll unfreeze time as soon as we have a little fun." Mabel assured him.
"Yeah learn to have a little fun." Bill lectured and with that shenanigans ensue.
First the teens went to the local park where Bill insisted on using magic to paint mustaches on everyone. After that, they took everyone in the park and stacked them together to create everything from a pyramid to a swing set made out of interconnected people and played on them.
Of course Dipper was against all that and took the time to right everything as soon as he convinced Bill and Mabel to "Move on"
Next he followed them to the mall where Bill and Mabel proceeded to help themselves to everything. From trying on expensive clothes to eating an outrages amount of food. Again Dipper wasted all his chances to have fun by cleaning up their mess.
Finally Bill decided they should stop by the Dojo, where they found Gideon mid-leap into the air. Mabel hung him by his underwear from the nearest coat-hanger before Bill wrote the words "I'm a loser" on his face. And Dipper had to admit that was funny and actually let it be! And from then on Dipper was kind of into this new found game.
At the school, they found Robbie in the middle of giving a poor kid a wedgie, so they freed his victim and returned the favor to the brute before having a picnic on several cars along the freeway. After that they swung back home and slept for as long as they wanted before continuing their antics. Dipper even managed to get ahead in all his school work for a year. Something he was starting to fall behind on with Bill's constant chaos. Meanwhile Mabel and Bill found Tad coming out of a portal. The two took turns posing with the skull hat he wore before drawing a mustache on him and giving him the mother of all wedgies.
Before too long days had turned into weeks!
"Oh, man. That has to be the funniest two weeks of my entire life!" Mabel said as she and Bill entered the basement. Having done as much as they could do around town the two had dropped by to see if Dipper was ready to call it quits on this time freeze.
"I know, right! I'm pretty sure half the stuff we did would end with us getting arrested!" Bill said as he remembered some of the fun and potentially illegal antics they indulged in. "We should do this again sometime and invite the whole gang," he suggested.
"If you mean your demon friends I advise against it." Dipper said closing a book. It was titled "The complexity of Creating Spells" Having finished school work and studies for his classes and Ford. Dipper wanted to look more into Bill's strange ability to create his own spells. As a beginner and a student who was struggling with real spells. Bill shouldn't be able to do something as complex as make his own spells. Yet, his powers may meant he had a knack for it.
"Boo boring Dipper is back." Mabel whined.
"Nah Pine Tree is right." Bill said using his scissors to cut open a portal to the school where they stepped in. "That's enough fun for a while I think." He admitted. "Besides more important things need to happen." He gave Dipper a wink.
"Look!" Mabel squealed and pointed ahead at Wendy, who was just about to skate by on her board, making her way to Dipper's locker.
"There she is, right on time, like always!" Dipper exclaimed getting ready by his locker, which was nearby.
"Looking good bro!" Mabel yelled.
"Ready yet?" Bill asked.
"Oh yeah." Dipper said leaning against his locker, trying to look all cool. "Feel free to start time whenever you want."
"You got it!" Bill said as he held up his cane. "Easy Peasy Time Unfreezy!" He shouted!
NOTHING HAPPENED!
They looked around and saw that everything remained frozen in place.
Bill tried again. "I said, Easy Peasy Time Unfreezy!" Still, nothing happened. Bill began to look around at everything nervously. "Uh oh."
"Bill, why isn't anything moving?" Mabel asked nervously.
"Um, Dipper, how mad would you be if I told you that I may have broken all of time?" Bill reluctantly questioned.
"Bill!" Dipper screamed. "I knew this would happen! I can't believe I allowed you two to rope me into this."
"Now, hold on, Dipper. I think I remember reading something about this in Bill's spell book." Mabel assured her brother.
"You read my spell book?" Bill asked.
"Axolotl is very friendly and interesting to talk to." She told him.
Bill shrugged. "If you say so."
"All right, guys focus." Dipper said, taking charge. "Let's try and fix time before we die of old age or something dumb."
"TO THE SPELL BOOK!" Bill exclaimed.
(Back At the Shack…)
Once they got to Bill's room they pulled out the spell book. Grunting as he opened it up, Bill then began to turn the pages in search of his magical teacher.
"Alright, Axolotl. I know that we're not scheduled to do magic lessons today, but we've got a situation, so I don't want to hear any..." Bill opened a page of the book to find the Axolotl fast asleep, hugging onto a giant stuffed teddy bear, frozen in place just like everyone else.
"Great," Bill complained. "The one time I need Axolotl, and he's frozen like everyone else!"
"Great we're screwed!" Dipper exclaimed.
Bill closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He couldn't rely on Axolotl's help, or, elder Gods forbid, the aid of his Dad. He was on his own. Wait a minute! "I think something Pine Tree said the other day could help!" Thinking fast, Bill began to turn the pages of the book, frantically trying to find what he hoped would be a solution.
"Something I said?" Dipper asked. "You mean Time Baby? Are you nuts? He'll roast us for this!"
"No this here!" Bill showed them the page he finally found. "It says here that to get time moving again, we need to head to the Plains of Time and restart the Wheel of Progress," Bill pointed to an illustration that showed off a giant hamster wheel. "Time Baby created it to mark the track of time." He revealed.
"We must have stopped the wheel somehow!" Dipper exclaimed getting it. "If we can get it moving again…"
"We'll fix this whole mess!" Mabel concluded.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get a move on!" Dipper exclaimed taking charge once more, and with the help of the dimensional scissors they arrived at the Plains of Time with ease. As they stepped through the portal, they found a breathtaking, if not weird, sight awaiting them. Standing before them was a vast desert, punctuated by a sparse few rocks, trees, and rivers. Above them, the sky was purplish with strange, spiraling patterns, blanketing the land in perpetual twilight. The strangest thing, though, was that the entire landscape contained countless melted clocks, resting on the sands, the rocks, and even in the branches.
"Wow. This place is amazing." Mabel marveled "It's like one of those deep meaningful pieces in the art museums."
"Honestly I expected a little more." Bill admitted.
"Guys focus!" Dipper said. "We need to find the…"
"Wheel!" Bill exclaimed as he sees it. "I found it! I win!"
The three race for it and soon realize the thing is a lot bigger than they had previously thought.
"Well, this is going to be a challenge!" Mabel admitted as she confidently stepped onto the Wheel. Putting one foot forward, Mabel tried to get the giant Wheel started...only for nothing to happen. She tried once more, putting a little more effort into it. Again nothing happened.
"Come on, you stupid Wheel! Work with me!" Mabel grunted in frustration. The only reward for her efforts was her slipping on the unmoving spokes and then landing upside down, with her head caught between two of the spokes. "Um, a little help?" Mabel said in embarrassment.
"Coming Mabel." Dipper climbs up and helps her back to her feet. He then looks thoughtful. "Maybe a spell can help us get it started." he reasoned.
"Oh I got this!" Bill said. "Supersonic Hamster Rotation!" A blue stream of magical light shot out of the Wand, bouncing around the Wheel for a few seconds, narrowly avoiding hitting the twins before it boomeranged off into the distance.
"What?" Mabel exclaimed. "How did that not work?"
Dipper looks just as frustrated. "Maybe it's resistant to magic." He reasoned.
"But I stopped it with magic." Bill argued.
"Actually you stopped me." A voice said. "Your friend is right by the way, magic won't work on that. You've gotta use the magic of toesies!"
The trio turned around to see a giant, bald man in some sort of track suit, sitting on the ground. He had a clock hanging on a chain like a medal, and glasses.
"Who are you?" Mabel asked as they walked over.
"Me? Oh, I'm Blendin Blandin, Master of the Time wheel!" the big man said as he introduced himself. "It's not really as glamorous as it sounds." He admitted with a nervous laugh. "I just run on that wheel there for Time Baby." He gestured to the wheel the teens stood beside.
"So, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that you're the one we pushed off." Dipper guessed.
"Yep. Been on that thing for...a while." Blendin admitted. "A hamster use to run on it until I messed up an assignment." He explained. "I caused a time anomaly on my first day on the Time Force." He revealed. "Time Baby sentenced me to the wheel, been on it ever since."
"Wow your boss is a jerk!" Bill couldn't help but point out.
"Shhhhh!" Blendin exclaimed. "He may hear you!" The man looked around fearfully.
"Bill you are not helping." Dipper exclaimed.
"What the guy is probably frozen like everyone else." Bill said.
Dipper gave him a cross look.
"What I don't get is why didn't you get back on?" Mabel asked.
"And spoil the first break I've gotten in hundreds of years?" Blendin asked. "No I think I'll enjoy it a bit longer." He said basking in the warmth around them.
"Hundreds of years?" Mabel exclaimed.
"Okay yeah, he's a jerk." Dipper said, changing his mind.
"See told you." Bill said, then he turned to Blendin. "Look I know we're asking a lot, but we need you to get back to moving time."
Blendin however just shrugged him off and began to look at all the things around them. "I never actually got to see the sights around here before." He said as he went.
"Why won't he listen?" Mabel growled, frustrated.
"Well, duh. This is the first time he's been off that thing in like forever. He's not going to listen to people when there are so many new and exciting things to be seen!" Dipper told them.
"Well, I don't see you coming up with any good ideas, wise-guy." Mabel shot back at him.
"Yeah Pine Tree." Bill said. "You're supposed to fix my mistakes."
"No I'm supposed to be teaching you to not make them in the first place." Dipper corrected him.
"Then you failed really hard here!" Bill laughed, despite the situation they were in.
Dipper scowled at him, but decided that they were right, they had to fix this before Time baby caught on. "Look dude, you gotta get back on that Wheel." Dipper shouted over to Blendin who was walking around like they weren't even there.
"Yeah Without you, rainbows can't shimmer across the sky!" Mabel called out as well. "And we'll never know how our shows end!" Mabel pleaded. "And none of our friends will be able to move again!"
It was no use, though. Blendin just covered his ears and started running away, the teens followed him, trying to catch him and force him back on the wheel.
When Blendin finally came to a stop in front of this hourglass with a pair of doors, they felt relieved, but then the door opened, and Blendin did this weird dance as he went inside, with the three arriving just as it closed. As Bill tried to pry the door open with his bare hands, they heard a shout in the distance that caught their attention. Looking around, they saw Blendin riding across the Plains of Time on a very, very fast tortoise.
"YOLO! Anything is possible!" He shouted in glee as the teens looked in confusion.
"I got nothing to explain this," Bill said before spotting something. "Hey, look!" he said to the twins before pointing to a giant hare that looked ready to ride. Right before Bill could hop on, though, Mabel put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head no.
"If this place works like I think it does, then that thing's going to be super slow like an actual tortoise," Mabel pointed out.
"But it's so fluffy!" Bill said, clearly wanting to get on the rabbit anyways.
"Guys focus!" Dipper warned.
"Ugh, fine!" Bill conceded before pulling out his cane, and then tapping the ground. "Summoning Cloudy Charm!" With a blast of glitter and a birdlike crow, Bill's faithful spell Cloudy appeared.
"Hey, Bill! Hey, Dipper, Hi Mabel!" the cloud spell said happily. "Hop on!"
The teens were happy to hitch a ride, "Alright, Cloudy! Follow that giant and strangely fast tortoise!" And with that, Cloudy took off. It wasn't long until they caught up.
"There he is, Bill!" Mabel cried out, pointing out the big man on the ground. Unfortunately, this distracted Bill and Cloudy from paying attention to their surroundings. Thus, none of them noticed the giant, floating clock they were about to hit until it was too late. With a loud *SLAM*, Bill, Dipper and Mabel were unceremoniously forced off of Cloudy and fell to the ground below.
"AAAAAHHHH!" Mabel screamed as she felt her body instinctively brace for the impact. Bill, though, was too fixated on Blendin to hear her screams. Watching as the guy leaped across a river filled with clocks before continuing to run again.
Dipper was now more determined than ever to catch the guy, and he landed on his feet with more grace then Bill thought the awkward teen actually possessed.
The teens raced straight for the river clocks laid across the water like a bridge and the teens began to cross it without much thought.
For a moment all is fine until…
Mabel turned around to look at the river in time to see Bill hit the banks with a loud splash.
"Oh my God, Bill! Are you okay?" Mabel cried out in concern as she ran to the edge of the river to help.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Bill assured her as he comes up out of the water. "I just slipped." He told her holding his hand out for her help. But Mabel looks astonished at him and Dipper's face is now a deep crimson. "Dipper, what's wrong?"
"Um, uh, uh, look, river, in," Dipper fights to form words in his brain.
Bill looked down at himself and had to do a double-take as he saw he aged into his mid-20's.
"Holy cow," Bill muttered to himself as he saw his adult form. He was now at least a foot and a half taller, and his body, already muscular for his age, was now even more buff with almost no body fat to speak of. And his hair, oh gods it was more golden than ever before. The bottom line was, he looked amazing.
"It's my dream body!" Bill exclaimed. "I knew obsessing over my looks would payoff someday." Bill said as he basked in his hotness while Mabel and Dipper continued to look at him in awe. "Shooting Star, quick! Take a photo of me before this ends up wearing off!" Bill began to strike some poses while Mabel mumbled to herself as she did as he asked. Unfortunately for Bill, the effects of the water wore off in seconds, returning him to his natural, teenage body.
"Aw, man! But I was so hot!" Bill complained.
Dipper slapped himself, getting a grip. "Guys let's move!" He reminded them. Thankfully they seemed too distracted to notice how he had freaked out.
Thankfully, Blendin had not gone far, as they were soon able to catch sight of him again. The chase continued for some time before, at last, they came across this giant, palace-like structure standing on a hill in the middle of the Plains of Time.
"I think he went in there! Come on!" Bill said as he rushed into the building with the twins not far behind. As they got inside the structure, they stopped in the center before looking at their surroundings. Every wall of the place was lined with dozens of TVs with countless images flickering on them with each passing second.
"Whoa. What is this place?" Bill asked aloud as he stared at the various images before them.
Mabel stared intently at the screens, trying to discern their purpose. As she did so, she saw images that looked very...familiar to her. A grainy image of a man in a bulky suit stepping off a ladder. Someone dancing and singing inside a massive stadium. An old man was happily addressing a crowd while saying, "Excelsior!"
Dipper gasped seeing it too. "Guys I think this is the history of the Universe we're seeing," he told them. Just then the ceiling opened up, and out came a long tube that extended down to their level before producing a giant, pink and red mechanical eye. The eye stared at Bill with an unnatural level of focus, like it wanted to discern everything there was to know about him. For his part, the boy was unsure as to what he should do.
"Okay, I have no objections to being on camera since I'm so awesome, but this is a little creepy," Bill thought out loud as the eye continued to stare at him.
"Hey, Bill. Look!" Mabel said as she pointed at the screens. As the eye continued to stare at Bill, the images on screens suddenly changed to show an infant with golden blond hair.
"Hey that's me!" Bill grinned as he figured out what was going on. "All right, magic eye thing, let's take a little trip down memory lane!" And with that, the teens began to watch the screens.
In the castle back in the Nightmare Realm a newborn Bill Cipher is seen crying and wailing as a Doctor swaddles him into a small, yellow blanket while gently rocking him back and forth until he calms down. He is then presented to his parents, where his dad shows him a stuffed toy of a three head demon hound.
"Oh I remember that toy." Bill exclaimed. "I think I still have it somewhere." He admitted.
Bill now 3, can be seen whizzing through the castle halls on a little wagon, dodging past servants and furniture. All the while, the guards are trying to catch him before he hurts himself or breaks something.
Shooting forward to a preteen Bill, he is barreling through the countryside while driving the royal carriage. His demon buddies can be seen laughing as the royal guard once again try to catch up with him. Eventually, the carriage is seen in a ditch, missing a door and wheel, and Bill's being angrily scolded by his father.
Next Bill and his buddies run from a group of Monsters while carrying a chest full of treasure that they stole, they all look very pleased with themselves while a younger Tad shouts and rants at them.
Then Bill's seen exploring the Forest of Certain Death with the Royal Guard members, who teach him survival techniques and how to fight. As the screens continued to catch up to the present day, Bill looked at all the memories and began to smile to himself.
"Good times." He said, content with everything.
Suddenly the eye switched to the twins and the screens switched to reveal their lives.
Two newborns are seen being held by a much younger Ford and Stan and the twins realize for the first time just how long they have been with their great uncles.
"Wow, I never knew." Dipper admitted.
"We were so little." Mabel muttered.
"What about your parents?" Bill asked.
"They…never talked about it." Dipper told him. "Too painful Ford would say."
"Oh…" Was all Bill could manage.
A few years later in preschool, Dipper is seen playing alone in the sand box. A younger Robbie and his goons destroy his sand castle and kick sand in his face. Preschool Dipper runs away crying and moments later Mabel is seen kicking Robbie's butt.
Now in Elementary school the twins are getting ready for picture day.
Dipper sneezes. "Darn allergies." He complained.
"Done!" A very colorful Mabel exclaimed. "A thousand slap bracelets! And look pigtails! I'm going to have the best picture day ever!"
"Fat chance!" a younger Pacifica says putting her gum in Mabel's hair. "Brat!"
"Oh no Dipper what do I do?" Mabel cried.
Dipper looks unsure. "I…I" He looks around and decides there is only one thing to do. He snatched more gum from Pacifica and shoved it in his mouth.
"Hey!" Pacifica yelled.
Dipper spits out the gum and puts it in his own hair. "Look now we match!" He exclaimed.
Mabel laughs. "You're insane."
Later on Stan is seen with scissors trying to get the gunk out of their hair. "Seriously it was just picture day how was gum even involved?"
The twins just shrug.
The next day, Dipper is trying to hide his embarrassing new hair cut as he walks through school.
Everyone is laughing at the huge bald spot where the gum use to be. He bumps into a younger Wendy riding her board. "Whoa dude." She says, then noticing his teary face she softens. "Rough day?"
"The worse." Dipper cried.
"Hey I think it was cool what you did for that girl." Wendy said. "Your sister right?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah, we're twins." He muttered dumbly.
"No kidding." Wendy laughed. "Names Wendy." She told him.
"D-ipp-er." Dipper stuttered.
"Well Dipper I think you're pretty cool." Wendy said, offering him her hat. "Here you can borrow this until your hair grows back." She jumps back on her skate board and wheels away. "See you around dude!"
Dipper blushes as he puts the hat on.
"Wow even younger Dipper talked to Wendy better then you do." Bill teased.
"I was more worried about my hair that day Bill." Dipper admitted as they continued to watch.
A few years later it's Valentine's Day and everyone is looking in their bags.
"Mabel how many did you get?" A young Candy asked.
"Eleventy thousand!" Mabel bragged dumping her bag of cards. "How many did you get Dipper?"
Dipper dumps his bag and frowns as he sees it's empty.
"Ha! Ha! Dip stick didn't get any!" Gideon sneered. This makes all the kids laugh at him, and Dipper runs away embarrassed.
Later he is seen crying in the Janitor's closet. When a make shift card made out of several cards is slid under the door beside him. Dipper picks it up.
'To the Best Brother Ever!'
Was written in rainbow marker. Younger Dipper smiles.
Finally its freshman year and Mabel is in her room at the shack, a new friend has joined her and Candy, it's Grenda! The girls laugh and gossip about boys.
The screen cuts to Dipper reading alone…
"Wow Pine Tree I never realized…" Bill was lost for words. Who was he kidding, of course the thought crossed his mind! The thought that Dipper seemed to only hang out with Mabel and Her friends. Bill just thought the twins were just tight that way. However, now it was becoming very clear to Bill that Dipper hung out with Mabel and her friends, because he had no friends of his own.
No one but Bill…
Before any more can be said on the matter Mable exclaimed, "Guys look!"
The two boys whorled around to look in the direction of the entrance. Standing there, to their surprise, was Blendin, messing with a spring door stopper like it was the coolest thing ever.
However before Mabel could move to catch him the giant eye turned to look at Blendin and began to play back his life on the screen.
They first see Blendin standing before Time Baby in Time Court.
"Blendin Blandin, you have been found guilty for your heinous crimes against the laws of Time." Time Baby shouted. "You were tasked with stopping a simple time anomaly, and now you've turned it into a paradox that will take ages to correct!"
Several time agents booed around him.
"You are here by sentence to turn the Wheel of Progress until it is fixed!" Time Baby shouted over the crowd.
Next Blendin can be seen first getting on the Wheel of Progress and beginning to run. And then he keeps running...and running...and running...and running some more...and running...and running...every minute of every day for all of time. And as the Universe continues to grow and progress, Blendin can only wistfully watch as everything's going on around him while he can't join in on the fun.
"Wow he looks so sad…" Mabel said.
"Okay, how is this a just punishment?" Dipper asked. "He's been on that wheel for eons. There's no way they haven't fixed the time paradox he accidentally caused."
"It's not." Bill snapped. "Knowing Time baby he just "Forgot" All about him. He does that."
The fact that Blendin, were a solemn face only managed to confirm Bill's words and tug at their heartstrings even further.
"Well, I might as well go and get back on that Wheel and get things moving again," Blendin said with a weary sigh. "After all, it's only for the rest of eternity." The poor man then began to walk to the exit, his head hung in resignation.
"Yeah, screw that," Bill said out of nowhere, making Blendin stop in his tracks.
"Huh?" Blendin asked.
"Look, I get it, alright. You messed up, so you've got to run on that Wheel to keep the Universe going, but that doesn't mean you should get screwed over like this."
"But what's the alternative?" Dipper asked. "Magic doesn't work on the wheel remember?"
"I've got it!" Mabel suddenly exclaimed. "Guys follow me!"
The group obeyed and moments later having returned to the Wheel of Progress, Mabel exclaimed. "Does anyone remember what was use to control the wheel?" she asked.
"Oh it was a hamster!" Bill exclaimed surprising Dipper. "What I can listen, I just choose not to."
Dipper was about to express the point of the demon's confession when Mabel continued. "Exactly! This wheel is stuck here because it was built for a hamster, but humans need more." She explained. "If we get the hamster and hook the wheel up to it like a sled then Blendin can still see the sites and get a much needed break for all his hard work.
"And the wheel will be moving again!" Dipper exclaimed. "Mabel that's genius."
"Alright guys let's get that hamster!" Bill declared.
The giant animal in question was easy enough to find and dismantling the wheel also too no time at all. Bill tied the critter to the wheel, and Mabel used what she could find to make a comfortable seat for Blendin to sit on.
"What do you think Blendin?" Mabel asked.
"This is the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me." Blendin looked like he was close to tears "Thank you guys." He embraces them.
"Yeah and you can always take a break and watch the screens to catch up on the world." Dipper told him. "It's not like anyone will notice."
"Happy to, uh, help," Bill grunted.
"It's not a problem, big guy. No one deserves what you went through," Dipper added.
"I wish to repay your kindness." Blendin said.
"No it's okay." Mabel assured them.
"Please let me finish." Blendin said, and the teens got really quiet. "I'd still be on this wheel if it weren't for you kids. And I know it was for a selfish reason, but then you showed up and tried to fix it. Your memories playing on those screens reminded me that while this job is crummy it serves a greater purpose. So before I followed you here I snagged this." He takes something out of his pocket, it's a picture of Mabel, Dipper and Bill, and they appear to be at a beach.
"Wow, cool!" Mabel too it and exclaimed. "Is this from the future?"
"Yep." Blendin said. "Now I'm not supposed to tell you things like this, but it's gonna be a rough year." He said his eyes falling on Bill. "For all of you." He added. "But I just want you to know that when you it's all over you kids are gonna be on a beach, somewhere…smiling." With that he jumped atop the seat and waved good bye. "Thanks again, you guys. But do me a favor and don't freeze time again. It's fragile and can break easily if it's messed with too much."
"We'll remember. " Mabel said as Bill took the picture from her.
He looks at it feeling a great since of…fear. A rough year? What could that mean? At first he's tempted to go back to the screens and look for himself, but Dipper places a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey remember what he said, time is fragile." Dipper warned.
"I know it's just, if we know what happens we can be ready." Bill reasoned.
"We don't need to know." Dipper said taking the picture from him.
Mabel is holding up a peace sign and Bill has his arm around Dipper, smiling his usual smirky grin.
"Look at us, we're happy." He told Bill. "You're my best Bill and as long as we're together then that's all that matters."
Bill looks at the picture again, and his eyes fall on Dipper's smiling face, it's a smile he's never seen on the kid before. And for some reason seeing Dipper that happy, doesn't make him feel so afraid any more. "You know you're right, we got this."
"You did a good thing, Bill," Mabel complimented him.
"Yeah, I'm proud of you." Dipper told him.
Suddenly Mabel screamed "GUYS! THE WHEEL'S MOVING! WE GOTTA GET TO SCHOOL!" She cried out.
"CRAP!" Bill wasted no time plunging his hand into his pants pocket, he dug out his Dimensional Scissors and quickly opened a portal to Gravity Falls High. "Let's move it people! Move…move…MOVE!"
Back on Earth, time began to resume like normal, with people returning to their morning routine. Each of them was unaware a time freeze had occurred. A portal opened up next to Dipper's locker, and out came Bill and The twins.
Wendy is still paused skating towards them and Dipper runs his hands through his hair real quick.
Then times moves and Wendy holds out her hand. "Heads up Dip!"
Dipper puts his hand up on instinct and she jumps off her board to high five it as the board does a 360.
"Sup dude." She said.
"HI Wendy." Dipper says shyly before she lands back her board.
"Best High five yet! See you in class dude!" Wendy promised as she skate off.
Bill whistled in the background, impressed. "Okay I take back what I said, that was awesome!"
Dipper bit his lip, with a big gulp of air he yelled. "Wendy Wait!"
"Yeah?" She asked stopping.
"I…" Dipper suddenly gets nervous. "We… we were thinking of hitting the theater after school want to come?"
"Yes! You know there's the new Slayer's five that just came out." Wendy exclaimed. "Everyone says it's a total dud."
"Want to watch it and make funny commentary about it." Dipper asked hopefully.
"Totally." Wendy said. "I'll meet you guys outside the bus Ramp after classes." She told them. "Bye Dipper!" She called, skating off.
"And we are once again invisible." Bill joked.
Dipper looked like he was going to fall over from the whole ordeal. "I flaked, I totally wimped out." He said.
"No you didn't; you asked her out." Mabel said.
"Yeah as a friend." Dipper whined.
"So It's baby steps." Bill retorted. "It's still progress, and I'm still proud of you."
"Me too bro." Mabel agreed.
Dipper smiled. "Tha-nk—s gu-ys!" Time suddenly grinds to a halt once more.
Meanwhile back on the Plains of Time, Blendin was happily frolicking through a field of flowers as the hamster took a short break beside him. "Nobody said when I was allowed to take a break." He laughed knowingly. Finally after stretching out his legs a bit more he hopped back on the Wheel and got things moving again. And the best part was that time had stopped twice now and Time Baby was none the wiser.
Bill was right the rest of the Universe would never notice!
-To Be Continued