The start of the summer was a bit chaotic for the Pines family, though nothing was out of the ordinary for them in Gravity Falls. The biggest focus of the family was Soos's upcoming wedding to Melody and all the preparations that had to be taken care of for it, as well as the occasional side adventure. But even with all that going on, the family noticed something was a bit off.
"Has it seem like Grunkle Ford's been acting weird lately?" Dipper asked as he and the others helped sort through Soos' RSVPs to figure out the final count for the wedding. Ford was not present currently nor Mabel, but that was because the latter had just recently run off claiming she needed to check something out.
"You mean weirder than normal?" Stan joked before shrugging. "He has seemed a bit more tense than usual lately, but I've just assumed is paranoid braihisis going into overtime in trying to make sure nothing goes wrong at the wedding."
"I wouldn't put it past him to do that," Mike chuckled. "But yeah, he's been spending a lot of time locked in his study the past few days. Maybe we should be worried."
"Or he could just be completely focused on some new idea," Wendy suggested. "We've seen him do things like that before."
"Dude, do you think he's making some sort of super cool sci-fi gadget to make my wedding uber epic?" Soos asked in excitement. "Cause that would be so sweet dawg!"
"Either way… I think it's best if I check on him…" Dipper said, beginning to get up only to get completely distracted by Mabel running back into the room.
"Guys! Guys!" Mabel shouted, waving something that looked like a book in her hand. "I figured out what it is the Grunkle Ford's been hiding. It's this mega creepy book!"
Mabel skidded to a stop in front of them, holding out the book for them to see. It was made of dark leather and almost seemed to exude a menacing aura, but the thing that drew their attention was a familiar triangle-shaped figure inked in a red that looked suspiciously like blood. Everyone tensed as they too in the sight, not quite wanting to believe what it could be.
"That… that can't be…" Dipper said in a mix of fear and anger as he stared at the book. "Can it?"
"It isn't…" Mike shook his head, eyes glowing slightly brighter and voice slightly dazed. "Not from our Bill anyway… but from another timeline… another universe… one where I never came to Gravity Falls…"
Mike wasn't sure how he knew that with such certainty… he just knew. In a move of impulsive curiosity, Mike took the book from Mabel and flipped it open. The others started to protest only to be cut off as Mike began laughing.
"This Bill has to be really desperate," Mike chuckled as he skimmed the contents. "He's throwing anything at me that he hopes will tempt me. Like there's a section in here called How to Bring Back Your Dead Siblings With Absolutely No Consequences I Swear!, can you believe he thinks I'll fall for that?"
The others blinked before laughing themselves.
"Let me take a look," Stan said, taking the book and opening it. "Wow this is amateur, conman stuff… a section on How To Win the Lottery Every Time? I know that's impossible even with a demon's help. Only an idiot would fall for a deal so obviously too good to be true."
The others laughed some more at Bill's pathetic attempts to tempt them and began passing the book around to see what desperate bargains the devil would try and make.
"How To Get Revenge On All Your Exs," Wendy read with a snort when it was her turn. "As if I'm not perfectly capable of getting revenge on my own if I really wanted to."
"Dudes, I can't even read this," Soos said as he held the book. "It's just being all glitchy and I think it said 'He's incorruptible" for a second?"
"It just means you're the best of all of us, Soos," Mike laughed as Dipper took his turn with the book.
"How To Make The Most Popular Ghost Hunting Show Ever," Dipper read, laughing hard. "Kind of a step down from the whole 'secrets of the universe' line he used on me the last time we made a deal."
"My turn! My turn!" Mabel said, snatching the book from Dipper. "Now let's see… A Guide to Everyone Who Ever Had a Crush On You. Ha! Nice try buster! Like I'dBusterfor that!"
Everyone laughed some more as Ford came walking into the room, only to freeze when he noticed Mabel and the book she was reading. Ford began hurrying over in panic as he said, "Wait! Stop! Don't you know that's dangerous…"
Ford trailed off as he realized the others were laughing at what they were reading rather than being tempted by it.
"There you are Sixer," Stan said, getting up and playfully slapping Ford's shoulder. "Were locked up in the lab this whole time because you were stressed out about this stupid thing?"
"No! I… Yes?" Ford said, still trying to find his footing again after seeing the unexpected reactions of his family to the book that had been plaguing his thoughts for the last few days. "I knew I should have thrown it into one of the dimensional rifts that still tend to pop up, but I was worried that might be what Bill wants."
And he was ashamed, both by how he was a bit tempted by the book and because of the mistakes it represented.
"Well that's something we can certainly help with," Stan chuckled. "Let's find the nearest rift and chuck it in. Make it someone else's problem."
"Right," Ford chuckled and relaxed before thinking it over. "Though we should write some cautionary notes in it before we do, just in case someone on the other side does find it they'll be properly warned."
"Ooh! I can try out my new pen with it!" Mabel agreed, running off to gather the writing supplies.
The group spent a few minutes writing various notes, having fun saying how lame Bill was and drawing doodles of Bill getting humiliated. Once they were done, Ford added them to the book and led the group to the nearest right, tossing the book into it with no ceremony.
"And that's that," Stan nodded. "And now we all deserve victory ice cream over this recent defeat of that evil triangle."
"Victory ice cream!" The twins cheered in unison, getting laughs from the others.
As the group began walking off, talking and joking casually amongst themselves, Ford briefly paused to glance back at the now closed rift now-closely, thinking about different his life had turned out than he had expected. For the longest time, he had thought that to be happy he needed fame and recognition. That he needed to create some grand achievement to have his name remembered for generations to come and only then could he be happy in the satisfaction of knowing he changed the world for the better and proved his own greatness.
Ford shook his head ruefully at his own naïveness and hurried to catch up with his family. He found his happiness and it looked like this.