Chapter Text
The sunlight on the horizon slowly crept up into the dark sky, the starry night shifting to a pink, orange and yellow canvas. The town of Gravity Falls ever so gently woke up, beside the few towns folks who were already on their way to work. Some ended their night shifts, and instead were heading back home for some much needed rest. The forest, despite its peaceful look, also was rising up; magical creatures woke up and started their days, while the nocturnal one retreated in the trees or caves until the moon was back up in the sky. Two different worlds, and yet mornings seemed to be the same for everyone.
It was something Dipper enjoyed a lot, to just watch life shift and change all around him like the lights in the sky. With the years, he had learned almost by heart these woods; every secret passages, crevices, rivers, as well as the tensions and the alliances, territories between creatures, and the places he needed to stir clear from. There was a time the woods held some kind of mystery and danger when he was young. Now, it held peace, comfort and sense. It was a world he was familiar with, even more than the human’s world.
He hadn’t left it, of course not. His twin sister, Mabel, still was a big part of it. She had agreed to live with him in this town, and she often helped him along with his studies of the magical world, but she found a peaceful job that she actually enjoyed with their race. She had become a kindergarten teacher for a year now, and even thought she was still young and wasn’t all that experienced, children loved her. Which kid wouldn’t? She had such a bubbly and a goofy personality, she fitted perfectly alongside them. She even taught them some games she invented, and apparently she was a huge hit with everyone, even with the parents.
Honestly, Dipper was really proud of her. She found a job where it made sense for her to act like such a goofball. And yet, she was good with authority as well when it came to it. Maybe it had something to do with beating an all mighty demon when they were only eleven years old…
As for him, he followed his uncle’s footsteps like he always wanted. After a long talk with his sister, they agreed to finish their high school together, then come back to town for Dipper to start his own personal one while Mabel finished her own studies online. It helped that most colleges had online courses that she could take in the comfort of her home. For once, their plans worked perfectly.
For years Dipper worked relentlessly to absorb everything that Ford had to give him. He was like a sponge, taking everything in, and then at night, studying to make sure he didn’t forget anything. It was hard and exhausting, but thrilling at the same time. Especially when it came down to practice; he absolutely loved their time together in the forest, mapping the place or searching for some anomalies they had recently detected. Everyday was a new chance to learn more, to understand more, and to explain more. Their mysterious world around them was shed in a new light, one that made the mysterious, not so mysterious anymore.
One might thought it would make things less interesting, but with every questions answered, even more followed. It was an unending study that Dipper understood why Ford needed an apprentice. He was too old, and there was still too much to discover, to learn, to document.
Dipper would be the one to pursue their researches. And maybe one day, he himself would need someone else to push forward their progress. Knowing he could be a part of something bigger than he ever could imagine was absolutely exhilarating.
The young man, close to his 23th birthday alongside his sister, made his way down the pine tree he had been sitting on. It was one of the biggest in the forest, and had a thick branch that could easily hold his weight. He found it was a perfect spot to watch the sunrise above the forest, and beyond, the town. It was something Ford showed him during his first year, and this place held a special place in his heart.
The man luckily still looked like he had some time, and fight left in him. For the summer, Ford left town to explore with his brother an anomaly spotted deep in Mount Arethusa, situated in Alberta, Canada. Normally, the younger man would have pushed him to go, even go as far as hiding in his car the night before their departure, but for this year he wanted to stay with his sister. A break, if you would call it like that. He would still continue his smaller researches on the side, but he definitely planned on spending more time with Mabel. After all, she missed just having a day to themselves without any work or mystery.
Dipper made his way back to the shack, following his mental map he had memorized by heart. Strangely, with the years passing by, the shack had hardly changed. Their business, the Mystery Shack was still up and running by Soos, who took pride in his work. Wendy actually still helped, but only on Saturdays despite having her own job now. Even if she denied it, Dipper was convinced she was nostalgic and couldn’t leave the place that changed everyone’s life years ago. Really, he understood her; he was the same.
When Soos needed it, Dipper was glad to do his part in keeping the attractions clean and functioning. He didn’t mind the work, after all, it was paying for their roof over their head and their meals. Stan helped as well, but the man was losing some of his charms. He did teach everything he knew to his uprising, but couldn’t keep up with the long days anymore.
For this week, the Mystery Shack was closed. Soos had left town for a week to go on a trip with Melody. She herself was working in the mystery shack, and even brought in some good ideas to attract more people. Over the years, the woman had become an amazing baker, and Soos only encouraged her by opening a cupcake bar in the shop. Soon the Mystery Shack became famous for both their attractions, but also the delicious baked goods.
So, for the week, Dipper was alone in the shack, beside the recurrent visits from his sister which were mostly during evening and night time. She did have an apartment since the kindergarten was closer this way, but really she didn’t used it as much as she should. She still had her bedroom with Dipper, and she obviously prefered to stay with some company than staying alone. She mainly used her place for her longer days, when she was too tired to make her way back to the shack. Either way, he loved her company, and she would always be welcomed in the shack.
The young man was pulled out of his train of thoughts when he passed a very familiar statue at the base of a tree. He slowed down his walk to a halt, staring down at the sole stone eye. It starred back into nothingness. Vines crept around the triangular form all the way up to its outstretched hand, like it was reaching for the sky, reaching for someone, reaching for freedom.
If Dipper stared long enough, he could almost feel like its eye was pleading. Desperate. That thought was enough to calm down his night terrors and his panic attacks. If he wasn’t dead, he hoped that wherever he was, he was suffering.
Bill Cipher. Despite his best effort, he couldn’t get the darn demon out of his head. Wherever he looked, whatever he was studying, Bill was always at the back of his mind. He had been deeply scarred by him, and he didn’t mean the scars on his hand when the demon had stabbed it again and again with a fork for his own sick amusement. No, he was mentally marked, and even thought he was a lot better than years ago, he hardly believed he could forget him. He had talked about it with Ford, since the man was on the same page, perhaps even more so; he apparently didn’t take down the demon shield around the shack and even kept a handful of unicorn hair in the basement. “Just in case, you never know,” he had told him when Dipper found him stuffing the rainbow hair in a small bag. The younger boy hadn’t complained, heck, you couldn’t have too much protection. But he was convinced Bill’s chapter was over.
After watching for a few minutes the statue of the former all-powerful demon, Dipper made his way back to the shack. He opened the front door, creaking and whining as he did so and stepped inside the comfort of his home. The place was so old, and it desperately needed a makeover. It apparently wasn’t a priority to anyone working there, but maybe it would finally be done once this place crumbled to dust.
Dipper directly made his way upstairs to his room, not taking the time to remove his shoes or his coat. He admittedly didn’t sleep at all last night… Or the one before that, and it was finally catching up to him. He apparently couldn’t stop Ford’s old habit to stain on him as well. More than once did Mabel walked in the basement to find the both of them passed out on their respective desks, half-drunk mugs of cold coffee resting beside them.
He set his glasses on his night table once he was in the attic, his bedroom, and laid down in his bed. Just an hour of sleep, that’s all he needed. If he slept too much, he would completely mess up his biological clock, and the last thing he needed was for his sister to yell at him because he became nocturnal.
The young man grabbed his old phone, set up his alarm for an hour, and promptly passed out, still fully clothed.
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A loud gasp left Dipper’s throat as he sat up on his bed, looking around in alarm. His face and body was covered in sweat, and he was heaving like he had run a marathon despite trying to rest for once.
This time, it hadn’t been a nightmare. He remembered it clearly; Ford, Ford had called out for his help in his mind.
“Dipper, Dipper listen to me, I don’t have a lot of time!” he had exclaimed in his dream, and even if the young boy was in pitch darkness, he could feel the familiar warmth of the man, and in an instant he knew he was in his presence.
Dipper had tried to answer, to communicate back in any way possible, but he couldn’t feel his own body, couldn’t feel his mouth or throat, even less his limbs. It felt like he was just floating around in his own mind without being able to interact with anything.
“Listen, if you can hear me, I’ve been trapped in this other dimension, if you can even call it like that…” the man trailed off, thinking of a better way to explain the situation. “Remember when you were possessed? And you were out of your own body? Like this, but my body has completely disappeared.”
Dipper remained calm, and made sure to listen attentively. “I need you to make me temporary body so I can go back and find Stanley before the creature gets to him as well. I think I know how to stop it, but we can’t waste another minute!”
Ford proceeded to give him a list of ingredients and objects to get and how to use them, then described with the best of his capabilities the magical circle to draw underneath the human-sized doll he had to make. It was a long list, but doable. Finally, a few words to recite. Anishta Nafisko Okk Ihj Hinghar. He had never hear this language, nor did he knew where it came from, but he didn’t think much of it.
Once he was awake, Dipper didn’t waste a second. he grabbed his notebook on the night table and wrote down everything that he remembered, frowning in concentration to make sure he didn’t forget anything. His mentor, his uncle needed him, and he absolutely couldn’t fail him.
The young man grabbed his glasses and headed back downstairs without a moment too soon. No time to change his clothes, to take a bath, or even eat for that matter. He ran to the candy machine in the gift shop and entered the password, failing two or three times when he tried to hurry too much. He had to take a deep breath and slow down. He was as good as useless if he started to panic and mess everything up.
He jumped in the elevator, and pressed the ‘down’ button. Once in the basement, he headed over to the vast array of ingredients in their cabinets and shelves Ford had accumulated over the years. He knew he had most of the elements required, if not all of it. But first, he had to make a human-sized rag doll that would contain all of these ingredients.
He grabbed a few blankets they kept to cover their machinery so they wouldn’t get dusty, and sat down on the floor with a small box for sewing. The last time he remembered using it was for a birthday gift to mabel. He had tried to sew up a doll for her, and it ended up looking like an ugly monster coming straight from the depths of hell. Even so, she loved it.
For now, the simple shape of a human would suffice. He knew how to do that, didn’t he? Two arms, two legs and a head. Easy peasy.
Turned out, easy peasy ended up taking him two whole hours. Sewing was not a career choice for the young man, and he dearly hoped he would never have to do it again. His fingers were covered in small pinpricks, but luckily it didn’t bleed much.
Once this was done, it was time for the filling. He had left a hole in the back of the doll ready to be sewed up once he was done. Salt, sulfur, phosphorus, iron, fairy dust, white snakeroot, eucalyptus, sundrop, and nymph’s tears. He was lucky to find everything right there in the comfort of his basement, instead of needing to adventure out and delaying the process a few hours longer. He shoved everything in there and sewed it shut. He thought hours too late that maybe he could have just used hot glue. Damnit.
“Now the hard part,” Dipper breathed out, grabbing a piece of chalk resting on the desk. Just having a description of a magical circle was going to be annoying to get right, especially when they needed to be spot on to work. He let out a sigh and passed a hand in his dark brown hair, rereading his uncle’s description noted down.
Three circles - small one in a medium one, medium in big. A triangle, passing through the medium, not the big. Second triangle in 180 degree, only in small. His notes weren’t too clear but he understood himself. And this was an easy enough step one.
He got to work, crouching down and making the first three circles, big enough to fit the ragdoll inside. It was followed with the first triangle, reaching the edges of the medium circles. Then, the other one in the small circle, flipped over from the first one. So far it looked okay.
The next step however proved to be harder to decipher. This would prove to be a series of trial and errors as he had to draw three latin symbols in each extremity of the medium triangle, and one in the middle of the small one, but he didn’t get the order. Dipper grumbled under his breath as he drew the four of them in a random order, then placed the doll in the middle.
Six candles were place all around the circle, lighten up and creating a warm ambience in the normally cold basement. Dipper took a few steps back, and with his notebook in hands, recited the small incantation. He paused, looking around. Nothing.
The next almost half around was Dipper reorganizing the symbols on the circle until finally something happened. As soon as the last word left his mouth on his 7th try - out of 16, wasn’t he lucky? - an invisible wind picked up around him, blowing off the all the candles at once. Everything stood still for a few seconds, the clock ticking quietly in his back, and Dipper wondered for a moment if it was just another failure.
A yelp escaped his lips as the doll he made burst in a bright, yellow fire. He had to take a few steps back from the harsh heat, worried that his uncle would get burnt himself if he appeared right there and then in the doll-like body. His eyes widened when the burning cloth slowly turned into a silhouette, apparently unharmed by the extreme heat. He watched as his uncle slowly stood up.
He was skinnier, and taller than he would have thought. Dipper took a few steps forward, unsure if he should extinguish the fire himself, until he saw the figure make a cane appear in his hands.
Dipper froze.
“My my, it feels so good to have a body again!”
The fire vanished, leaving in its path a blond man casually stretching his arms, standing too tall for his liking. He had a simple black eyepatch over one of his eyes, and wore a classic, yet elegant black and yellow suit with golden buttons along with expensive-looking black leather shoes. In his hand was a tall black cane with a golden orb at the top.
The man flashed Dipper a grin, showing his too sharp teeth in his direction. “Nice to see you again, Pi-”
He couldn’t finish his sentence. Dipper threw a box of tools that was right behind him on the table straight at his face, and made a run for it. He could hear behind a loud swear, followed by a ‘I just got this new face!’, but he didn’t slow down a second. He started up the elevator, tapping on the ‘up’ button like his life depended on it, and saw at the last second the man walking toward him before the elevator disappeared upstairs. He needed to get out of here, and now.
Once he reached the gift shop, Dipper pushed out the elevator, and in the room. He could see from his peripheral vision the man who appeared out of thin hair in the gift shop, stumbling for a second before noticing the younger man running out the door. “For crying out loud, wait a second-!” Dipper grabbed the door handle and basically ripped it open, the old worn-out door splintering from its hinges and falling flat on the porch.
Panting and tense as a plank, Dipper made sure he was a good few meters away from the shack before turning around in time to watch the man hit face first the magical wall around their home. The same magical ring that Ford refused to remove in case the demon would show his face again. The same magical ring that Dipper was convinced would be useless.
But there he was, in the flesh this time. Trapped in the shack, but back to this reality. Bill Cipher.