I was hoping I'd never have to talk about this, but given I've gotten 4 or 5 of these, I have to discuss this.
I've been getting PMs from multiple different accounts, saying that they love my stories and are willing to do artworks for them "at a reasonable price." This is my message to those people, if they actually do read my stories.
I AM NOT INTERESTED IN COMMISSIONING ARTWORK FOR MY STORIES!
At this point, I'm considering turning off PMs if these messages continue.
As for the rest of you, I'm sorry about the rant, but I felt it needed to be said.
It was just a typical morning for Wendy Corduroy.
She could feel the sunlight coming through the window. She ignored it, though. She wanted to sleep in. That's what Summer's about after all.
That's when she heard her phone vibrate. Barely opening her eyes, she reached out for her phone. Once she finally got her phone, she turned off her wake-up alarm.
She tried to go back to sleep when she noticed a notification. 'Event Reminder.'
Wendy gulped before hitting the ignore button.
Play Gravity Falls Intro Music
A bus stops in the small town of Gravity Falls. Dipper and Mabel get off the bus. In front of them is the town's star attraction, The Mystery Shack. Their great-uncle, Stan, invites them inside.
The twins look around the shack. They're both curious about everything.
Later, the Pines investigate a strange footprint with four toes instead of five. None of them realize they're standing in a much larger footprint.
DIPPER
Dipper looks around a cave holding a candle for light. He comes across a strange skeleton that scares him. He drops his candle, getting rid of his only source of light.
MABEL
Mabel stands in a room wearing a purple sweater with stars, her name, and a rainbow. She plugs an outlet into her sweater, causing it to glow.
STAN
Stan tells the twins, Wendy, and Soos a scary story. Soos and the twins are terrified while Wendy is completely unfazed. However, none of them notice the scary creature behind them.
WENDY
Wendy sits in front of the cash register, minding her own business. She doesn't notice the nearby jar of eyeballs turning to face her.
SOOS
Soos spins around the living room wearing multiple jewels on his clothes. Mabel shines a flashlight, and the light reflects off of the jewels creating a beautiful lightshow.
Dipper and Mabel lay in their room. Mabel reads a girl magazine while laying on the floor. Dipper reads a journal while laying on his bed. After a second, everyone and everything begins to float off the ground. Dipper is the only one who notices something off.
End Intro
One Cruel Summer
Chapter 9
Reaching Out
After getting dressed, Wendy headed to the Mystery Shack as usual. She entered the gift shop and sat in front of the cash register.
She looked around. The only person in the room, other than herself, was Soos, who was busy dusting the shelf like he usually did.
Knowing it'd likely be a while before any customers would show up, Wendy put on some earbuds and started to play some music, something that could keep her distracted all day. She then leaned back and drifted off to sleep.
"Wendy!" came Dipper's voice. Wendy bolted awake to see Dipper coming in. "We have a problem, and it could distract us all day!"
Wendy jumped out of her chair, excited. "Tell me all about it and don't spare a single detail!"
Dipper led Wendy outside. There was a trail of pig tracks that went from the shack to the woods.
"Stan says he took Waddles outside for some fresh air, and he ran off," Dipper explained. "We need to find him before Mabel finds out, or she'll be devastated."
"I'm in," Wendy said with no hesitation. "But do you really think Stan was telling the truth when he said he was just 'taking Waddles out for fresh air?'"
"No. I have a good idea what really happened."
Flashback
Stan led some customers to a new attraction covered in a tarp.
"Folks, I present to you," he said before pausing for dramatic flair. "A unicorn made out of corn, the corn-icorn."
Stan removed the tarp to reveal an animatronic endoskeleton in the shape of a horse, with a few eaten corn cobs around it. The crowd gasped at the horrific site.
Stan was shocked to know what was happening, before he noticed Waddles eating some of the corn.
"What a ripoff," one of the customers whined. "Kids, we're leaving."
The customers turned to the exit.
"No, no!" Stan yelled before angrily turning towards Waddles. "YOU!"
Stan carried Waddles outside.
"Just ten minutes without this pig in the house," he said. "Is that too much to ask?"
Stan set Waddles down, tied a rope around him, and nailed the other end of the rope to the ground.
"There. Oh, and if Mabel asks…" Stan placed a dollar bill next to Waddles. "This never happened."
He turned around and headed back to the shack.
He started to imitate Mabel. "'Oh, but Grunkle Stan, it's not safe out there. There's predators.' Oh, brother. She can be so irritating, am I right?"
Stan turned around to see that Waddles somehow managed to free himself, and was running into the woods. He quickly realized he made a huge mistake.
End of Flashback
Meanwhile, Mabel was watching TV. She couldn't really enjoy what she was seeing knowing the pain Dipper was going through.
"Poor Dipper," she said to herself. "Having to deal with Wendy dating Robbie, unable to face his fears."
"Fears are for chumps," said Stan. "That's why I don't have any."
Stan was busy working on a new exhibit. He tried to get glue from the high shelf. He had trouble reaching it.
"Want me to get the ladder?" Mabel asked.
"We don't have a ladder," Stan replied.
"What?"
"You know, studies show that keeping a ladder inside the house is more dangerous than a loaded gun. That's why I own ten guns, in case some maniac tries to sneak in a ladder."
Mabel wasn't buying it. She mimicked the show she was watching earlier. "Grunkle Stan, why you ackin' so cray-cray?"
"You're the one ackin' cray-cray! I gotta go now."
Stan left the room. Mabel continued to think to herself. "Why would Grunkle Stan be so afraid of ladders?" An idea popped into her mind. "Of course. He has a secret fear of heights. I'll have to test him to be sure, or I could leave him alone." It only took a second for Mabel to make her choice. "Nah!"
Dipper and Wendy followed the tracks deeper into the woods. Wendy held out an ax she brought with her and looked around for any threats. Dipper skimmed through the journal.
"We gotta be careful," he said. "There could be anything lurking around here. Werewolves, bigfoot, gnomes…" He shuddered as he remembered that experience.
"Slenderman!" Wendy shouted.
"Yeah, that too."
"No, look!" Wendy grabbed Dipper's hand and forced him to face the direction she was looking.
In front of them was the slenderman. He was a tall slender figure with no face. He wore a black suit and tie.
"Don't panic," Dipper said as he turned to the page about the slenderman. "We just have to…" He noticed Wendy running towards the slenderman. "Wendy, what are you doing?"
Wendy charged towards the demon with her ax ready. Tentacles sprouted from the slenderman's back, and they reached towards Wendy. Wendy was faster, and she used her ax to slice off the tentacles. The slenderman fell to his knees in pain. Wendy held out her ax as if about to slice his head off. The slenderman backed away and ran deeper into the woods.
"Wendy, what was…?" Dipper was about to ask.
"Woo-hoo!" Wendy cheered, raising her ax in the air. "That was fun!"
Dipper wanted to ask why Wendy was acting the way she was. He quickly shook his head. He needed to focus on finding Waddles.
"Okay," said Mabel. "It's time to begin Operation Get Stan Over his Fear of Heights. I came up with that name."
Mabel approached Stan, who was asleep on the couch. She handed him a present.
"Happy Great Uncle's Day!" she shouted.
Stan bolted awake, confused. "I haven't heard of Great Uncle's Day."
"Of course it's not a day I made up!"
Stan opened the box to reveal high heels. He smiled. "High heels? You shouldn't have." His face turned serious. "Seriously, what is this?"
"What's wrong? Are you saying these heels are TOO HIGH for you? Do they make you uncomfortable?"
"Maybe." Stan went to fix the TV.
"Admit it! Admit you have a fear of heights!"
"What? That's why you bought me these? You should be ashamed of yourself, and on Great Uncle's Day no less!" Mabel felt a bit of guilt. "But no, I don't have a fear of heights."
Stan fixed the TV to see it was playing a recording of someone skydiving. He quickly backed away from the screen, screaming, "Turn it off! Turn it off!" He realized he gave himself away. "So I have a fear of heights. Is that really so cray-cray?"
Dipper and Wendy followed the tracks deeper into the woods. At some point, the tracks just stopped.
"Where did the tracks go?" asked Wendy.
"I don't know," Dipper replied. "They just stop here."
"What are you talking about?" asked a third voice.
Dipper and Wendy turned to see Robbie standing there, a familiar pig in his arms.
"Robbie, what are you doing here?" Wendy asked.
"I'd ask you the same thing," Robbie replied.
"We were looking for him," Dipper explained, pointing at Waddles.
"You mean tonight's dinner?" Robbie said nonchalantly.
Dipper couldn't believe what he just heard. "You're telling me you plan to eat him?"
"Why are you making such a big deal out of it? It's just a pig, it doesn't matter."
Images of Mabel killing herself in gruesome ways flashed before Dipper's eyes. He got angry. "He is not just a pig! He is my sister's friend!"
"So what? Your sister likes animals or something?"
That was the last straw for Dipper. "You are a horrible person, Robbie! I don't know what Wendy sees in you that makes her want to date AN ASSHOLE LIKE YOU!"
Dipper gasped and covered his mouth. Many bad memories flashed before him.
"You know, you are so hard to bear sometimes!"
"That's rich coming from you! You're a horrible person! I don't know what I saw in you that made me want to date AN ASSHOLE LIKE YOU!"
He turned to Wendy, who had a shocked expression on her face. The look on her face reminded him of how he felt that infamous night. It made him feel horrible. He wanted to take back everything he said. He reached out his hand. "Wendy, I…"
Wendy's look of shock turned to one of rage. She slapped Dipper's hand.
"Get away from me!" she demanded. Robbie approached her. Wendy quickly shifted her wrath onto him. "Both of you!"
Wendy ran away, crying.
Robbie angrily turned to Dipper.
"This is all your fault!" he said before tossing Waddles to Dipper. "You can keep your stupid pig! I don't want it anymore!"
Robbie stormed away.
Dipper wanted to find Wendy and apologize to her, but given how she acted, he realized that would be a bad idea. He picked up Waddles.
"Come on, Waddles," he said. "It's time to head home."
Stan was busy chugging a can of cola, minding his own business, when Mabel snuck up behind her.
"Hey Grunkle Stan!" she greeted loudly, causing Stan to spit out his drink. "How would you like to go take a walk nowhere in particular while wearing a blindfold?"
"Beats just sitting around being old," Stan replied as he stood up. He then got suspicious. "Wait a minute. You're not planning on taking me somewhere high up, are you?"
"Grunkle Stan, I would never." Mabel put on a red sweater with a hand holding the peace sign. "Scout's honor."
"Alright, let's go."
Stan walked out. Mabel turned around, revealing the back of her sweater showed a hand with the index and middle fingers crossed. She used her hair to cover that part of her sweater.
After what felt like hours, Dipper finally returned to the Mystery Shack.
He brought Waddles inside. Dipper could tell Waddles was traumatized knowing someone tried to kill him, so he gave him a blanket to warm him up.
He looked around. It didn't seem like anyone was around.
"Mabel? Grunkle Stan?" he called out, just to get no answer. He sighed. "They probably went out or something."
Dipper went back outside. He noticed Wendy's hat lying on the ground. He gasped, worried what might've happened to her.
He then noticed a trail of human-shaped footprints. He picked up the hat and followed the tracks.
As he ran, he worried what horrible things Wendy would do to herself. He felt all this grief knowing if she did hurt herself, it would be all his fault.
Wendy sat at the edge of a cliff. She looked down and saw a great view of the land around her. From anyone else's point of view, it would've been a great way to take your mind off of your problems, but for Wendy, all it did was remind her of it.
Seeing this cliff for the first time was the last happy moment she had with her family before disaster struck.
The arguing.
The front door opening.
The gunshot.
The memory played over and over, with no sign of stopping.
Wendy knew there was only one way to get rid of them forever.
She lifted one foot and hung it over the edge of the cliff.
Dipper followed the footprints until he found Wendy. At first, he was relieved to see that she was okay, but then he saw that she was about to jump.
He ran as fast as he could and grabbed Wendy's hand.
Wendy snapped out of her thoughts. She looked down and realized what she was about to do. She quickly backed away from the cliff.
Dipper wrapped Wendy in a tight hug.
"Wendy, I'm sorry for saying all those things!" he apologized. "I wasn't thinking straight! I was angry at Robbie and worried about how what he'd do to Waddles would affect Mabel, and I lashed out without thinking!" Dipper calmed down a little. "I understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore. I wouldn't want to be my friend either."
"Dipper, I understand you didn't mean it," Wendy assured as she took her hat and put it back on. "I wasn't in the best mood today, anyway. I guess your argument was the last straw."
Dipper pulled away from Wendy. "If you were upset, then why'd you agree to help me?"
Wendy sighed. The topic was painful, but she mustered the courage to speak.
"I don't talk about this because it happened, like, a long time ago, and it's, like, totally not an issue anymore, but, uh…" Wendy pulled out her phone, and revealed a notification that said, 'Event Reminder.' "Today is the anniversary of my mom passing away. That's not an excuse for what I did, like I said, it happened a while ago, so I…"
She turned to Dipper. It looked like he was fighting the urge to hug her again.
"Didn't want to bring it up," she continued. "She always brought me and my family flowers on our birthdays, so after she passed away, we started picking flowers for each other, then we'd visit her grave, and we'd spend the day together. It was nice, but over time, we all started to drift apart. My dad's so caught up in his work, and my brothers are too busy picking fights with each other to even acknowledge anything else. When you told me about the problem with Mabel's pig going missing, I don't know." Tears formed around her face as she continued. "I felt I needed a distraction. I thought that joining you on your adventure of the week would've helped me forget everything, but I was dumb. I'm sorry."
Dipper hugged Wendy a second time.
That's when they both heard screaming coming from further away. Dipper ran to investigate.
Wendy tried to follow, but her legs were wobbly. She fell on her knees.
Dipper turned back.
"I don't know what traditions you used to do with your family," he said, blushing. "But I'll help you pick some flowers and we can do something together."
Dipper continued running towards the screams.
Flashback
30 Minutes Earlier…
Mabel led Stan to the top of the water tower. Stan was blindfolded.
"You can remove the blindfold now," Mabel said.
Stan took off the blindfold. He looked down to see all the tiny houses and trees.
You'd expect a narcissistic and greedy man like Stan to brag about how everything looks tiny from where he was at, but that's not how he felt. He felt more terrified than ever.
"That's pretty much what I was expecting," he said as he held onto the rails.
"You're doing better than I thought," said Mabel. "Now let go of the rails."
Stan tightened his grip. "No."
He shivered and shook as he tried to keep his hands on the rails. His shaking caused the tower to shake as well. As a result, one of the legs of the tower was starting to collapse.
Mabel could feel the place falling apart.
"We're safe, right?" she asked.
"Of course not!" Stan snapped. "This thing is on stilts high, high up!"
They both screamed and called for help.
End of Flashback
Dipper reached the water tower. He saw Mabel and Stan hanging on for their lives.
"Don't worry guys!" he shouted. "I'll get you down, once I figure out how to fix this!"
"We're gonna need some plywood!" came Wendy's voice.
Dipper turned around to see Wendy with a hammer in one hand and some wood in another. She set them down on the ground and approached Dipper.
"Thank you for listening to me," she thanked. "I can't wait to pick flowers with you."
Wendy kissed Dipper on the forehead. Dipper stood there and blushed brightly. He quickly brushed it off and got to work.
Wendy applied some of the wood onto the broken part of the leg. She held it steady while Dipper hammered a nail into the wood.
They repeated the process a few times until the leg was all fixed.
The two then high-fived, satisfied with their work.
Mabel and Stan opened their eyes once they felt the place stop shaking.
"I survived," Stan realized before getting excited. "I survived and I feel great! Wait, let me do a cocky dance just to make sure!" He did a cocky dance, and he was completely fine. He laughed. "Deal with it, world! Stan Pines has cured his fear of heights!" Stan was about to climb down until he noticed Mabel wasn't moving. "You coming down, Mabel?"
Mabel shook her head. "No."
"What, you got a fear of heights now?" Stan realized that that was, in fact, the case. "Uh-oh."
Later that night, Dipper met up with Wendy at the cliff with some dandelions in hand.
"Find any good ones?" he asked.
"Nope," Wendy sighed, looking at the petalless flowers she was holding. "What about you?"
"All I could find were dandelions." Dipper showed the dandelions.
Wendy held the dandelions and smiled. "Those were her favorite flowers. I don't know why I didn't think to look for those. My head's really on backwards today. Now what?"
"Make a wish."
Wendy didn't believe in wishes, but she went along with it. She closed her eyes, and blew the dandelions. Their fuzz flew away.
"Do you think they'll reach her in the afterlife?" Dipper asked.
"It probably doesn't work that way," Wendy replied. "But it's a nice thought."
Wendy returned home. She was about to head to her room when she felt someone wrap their arms around her.
She turned around to see her brothers and father standing around her. They all hugged her one at a time.
Wendy was surprised at first. This was the first time in so long she really felt like she and her family were together. In the end, she accepted it. It was nice to know that they were all there for her.
A.N.
This is my first original chapter of this fic, and I definitely had fun writing it.
While I never planned on it, my patience waned and I decided to watch some videos explaining what the Book of Bill has to offer before somebody spoils it in the comments. When I learned about Wendy losing her mother and the possibility of Dipper and Mabel's parents having marital problems, I decided to incorporate both of them into this story.
Speaking of Wendy, she was a character with a lot of potential. I read on TV Tropes that Alex was planning to write an episode centered around Wendy, my favorite one being the road trip one that focuses on the strained relationship between Wendy and her father. It sucks we didn't get any of that, and as a result, Wendy's reduced to that one girl that Dipper has a crush on. Some fanfic writers out there have tried to flesh out Wendy, like Cowboy Alchemist for example. I decided to give my own two cents.
Thus, we got "Reaching Out", the first, and possibly only, Wendy-centered chapter of this story, not counting her involvement in the "Irrational Treasure" rewrite, an episode inspired by the Owl House episode of the same title that focuses on Wendy and how she handles the loss of her mother and how it affected the relationship between her and her family.
I did incorporate the Fight Fighters subplot of Mabel helping Stan conquer his fear of heights. I felt this was needed to strengthen the bond between the two.
Since it wouldn't be a Gravity Falls episode without something supernatural, I did include the slenderman for one scene. The way Wendy attacked it was out of character, I know, but I felt it'd make sense for Wendy to act out of character so she could take her mind off her problems.
Yes, Wendy does kiss Dipper. Before any potential Wendip shippers get the wrong idea, this doesn't mean I changed my mind about the pairings. Wendy is still gonna reject Dipper, and Dipper's still gonna end up with Pacifica. Wendy just gave Dipper a kiss as a small thank-you for comforting her. There are many stories out there that have a scene where one character kisses another, usually as a thank-you, but it's not meant to mean anything romantic. I'd list examples, but then we'd be here all day.
I was originally planning for Dipper and Robbie to form an alliance and they'd both comfort Wendy, and pick flowers with her, then in the end they'd agree to tolerate each other for Wendy's sake. I scrapped Robbie's involvement because to me, he is not the kind of person that takes accountability for his wrongdoings. He's more likely to play an electric guitar and sing a rock n roll cover of Toxic Gossip Train by Colleen Ballinger.
Speaking of which, the Fight Fighters episode had this whole reveal that Wendy hates it when people fight. It was played for laughs in canon, but I decided to give it a more serious role. I'm gonna hold off on the details until later, but Wendy's parents had an argument before the mom died. It wasn't Manly Dan that did the deed, but someone else. Stay tuned.
The conflict that Wendy tried to use to distract herself was pretty simple. Waddles went missing, so Dipper wants to find him before Mabel finds out. I did take some liberties and move the whole "Stan kicking Waddles out" thing from the "Land Before Swine" episode to sooner. I have no plan on doing that episode, mainly because it's overall a boring episode. I know it's meant to help strengthen the bond between Dipper and Soos, but there are many better episodes that are more worth rewriting in my opinion.
The reason why I didn't have Mabel join Dipper and Wendy, other than the whole subplot, was because Dipper's worried about what Mabel would do to herself if she found out Waddles was missing. Needless to say, the vision of Mabel killing herself was traumatizing for Dipper.
I'll admit. Robbie finding Waddles and trying to eat him was cruel, but I couldn't think of a better way to start an argument between Dipper and Robbie.
You could consider this an original chapter that replaces "Little Dipper" too. I have no intention of doing that episode either. I know it helps with establishing Gideon as a major threat to the Pines family, but overall, it's one of the lower episodes in my opinion. I wouldn't say there's such thing as a bad Gravity Falls episode, but this is one of the closest you'd get to one. The way Alex tries to justify Mabel's behavior towards Dipper with that whole "YoU aCtEd ThAt WaY tOwArDs Me" speech was just stupid.
At the time of writing this, I just bought Marcy's Journal, The Lost Legends, Journal 3, and The Book of Bill from my local Barnes and Noble. I have watched videos and read articles about them, but they haven't told me everything. I can't wait to read them, because I know I'm gonna enjoy whatever surprises (or doesn't surprise) me.
Wait. Why am I feeling this headache? Ah, AH, AAAAAAAAH!
He he he. It's nice to finally have a new body.
Ah! Bill, how are you in my head? I haven't even opened your book yet.
Silly kid. You bought my special gold edition with the additional pages. You don't have to open that one to release me. Now I can finally set my plans in motion. First, I gotta find my way back to Gravity Falls.
Jokes on you. Gravity Falls doesn't exist in my world.
It doesn't? Oh, that's no big deal. I can always just torment you with all the creepy stuff in your head.
Oh no. Well, until I get this new situation under control, I'll have to stop it there. Thanks for reading.