Chapter Text
The moon shone in the inky black sky. It casted a blue hue over the lush forest below. Strands of silver light glowed through a stained glass window; protruding into a small attic bedroom, which held two young souls. One of them slept soundly, covered by a fluffy pink blanket. The sleeping child was surrounded by plush animals and boy band posters on the worn, wooden walls.
The other side of room held crumpled pieces of paper; littered across the floor, chewed pens, and stacks of mystery novels. The scrappy blue blanket was thrown off of the bed. The child on this side of the room was far from asleep; he was wide awake. The boy grabbed a worn brown backpack, inside he stuffed a red flashlight, a black notebook, pens, and a wooden crossbow (along with a decent amount of arrows, of course).
The fourteen year old pushed open the stained glass window He looked left and right before climbing out. He landed on a wooden platform. On the platform was an old faded umbrella, which stood tall, next to it was a blue torn lawnchair, and a red cooler. The teen opened the cooler, only to find it empty. He let out a breath and moved his brown curly bangs out of his face.
“Guess I’ll just have to go and buy some,” he mumbled to himself. The brunette proceed to climb down the side of the old wooden shack. Once his feet hit the grassy floor he made a beeline for the trees, he couldn’t be spotted again.
He’d been banned from exploring the woods alone, and it would’ve been worse if he was found out at night. But, he wasn’t exploring, he was just meeting a friend, big difference, right? It was a perfectly valid reason to go against his guardian figure and meet a friend, who mind you, needed help. As long as he made it before everyone in the household woke up, he’d be fine. Nobody had to know. Besides, rules are just suggestions, he doesn’t really have to follow them.
The brunette slowed his pace as the shack made its way out of his view. He looked at the towering trees and overgrown vegetation. The teen shivered and pulled is unzipped navy blue hoodie closer. He kicked a lone pebble with his worn down brown combat boots.
He really hoped she was okay. He knew her parents weren’t the best, and with that divorece and all. He really just wanted to be there for her. The boy frowned, staring at the ground. He saw how bad her dad can get when he’s angry. He picked up a stick and smacked a couple trees as he idly made his way through the forest.
The brunette looked to the sky. He looked for the different constellations. Then he found the Ursa Major, the Big Dipper. The brunette unconsciously touched his forehead.
He continued till he reached a metal fence. Which marked the end of his forest exploration. Beyond it laid the town of Gravity Falls. The brunette easily jumped the fence; having grown a bit since his last encounter. He walked along the empty, dimly lit streets. The lifeless stores sat on their respective side of the sidewalk. The teen continued walking past the closed shops.
Gravity Falls was an old town in the middle of nowhere; therefore everything has this charming old and run down atmosphere. Which of course the brunette had become used to; having been shipped down to this old logging town and living with weird great-uncle every summer since he could remember. No, two great-uncles (or Grunkles, as his sister called them), he reminded himself. Man, that had been a strange day. He could still remember how he felt; confused, lost, and a bit itchy. He shook his head.
Sooner rather than later, he made his was to a twenty-four hour mini-mart. The glass doors slide open as he walked inside. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Said a gruff voice from the cash register. He turned his head, there sat a man; he looked tired. He couldn’t be any older than fifteen. His silky black hair sat unmade on his head, he wore a purple t-shirt with some sort of band on it. The man’s tanned skin gleemed in the false lighting in the shop.
The darked haired boy reminded him of someone he knew but, Robbie was shipped off to some college a couple weeks ago. His girlfriend, Tambry, was understandably distraught. They’d been dating since he was twelve.
The brunette grinned at the unknown boy, “Well, I was just participating in some good old teenage rebellion, you know as you do. I might go and vandalized something or start a fire, I don’t know.” The other boy rolled his eyes, then frowned.
“Wait, I think know you.”
“...What?”
The other boy nodded; his eyebrows knitted together. He was lost deep in concentration, as though he was trying to recall a memory. “Yeah, you’re Dipper, right? Dipper Pines?”
The brunette, Dipper, frowned. Who was this guy? Gravity Falls has always been known as a place where unruly delinquents were shipped off to, often to straighten them up.
“...Who are you?” Dipper asked, tone harsher. He narrowed his eyes to the stranger; there are hardly any strangers in Gravity Falls, at least to him. Dipper knows everyone.
“I’m Brian, I was sent down here to stay with my Aunt who runs this place. You are Dipper! The one who stopped that lake monster the other day, right?!” Brian looked excited. The tanned boy grinned at Dipper in awe. So, that’s what this was about. Some new guy amazed by a daily occurrence. “You know, when they said that this place was weird and full of monsters I thought that it was some stupid marketing scheme! But, to know that this is all real it’s just- I can’t- oh my god-”
“Hey!” Dipper tried to calm him down before he quite literally exploded. “This stuff happens all the time; I wouldn’t get too excited.”
“Yeah, right. Sorry, but could you maybe show me some more stuff? If it’s not a hassle of anything. I’ve read some forums for this place online.” Brian looked nearly ten years younger at this point. He was like an eight year old rather that the fifteen year old Dipper had first thought. His appearance had suddenly shifted from moody teen to hyper child.
“Maybe another time? I’ve gotta meet someone soon” Dipper glanced at the clock behind Brian, it read 1:00 am, he had about a half an hour. “I just gotta go get some stuff-” Dipper trailed off; slowly backing away to the aisles.
“Yeah, okay, totally.”
Dipper turned and disappeared in the third aisle. He really hated when this happened; some random new person would waltz into town, not listening to any of the warnings, and freak out because they were too narrow minded to believe anyone before hand. At least this guy was taking it well; until he sees anything worse that “river monster”. The brunette bet that Brian would be running for the hills if he saw literally anything else in the town.
The teen grabbed a case of Pit-Cola, chips, and some gummy koalas. He blames his sister for getting him hooked on that last one. The brunette smuggled some chocolate bars and M&Ms when he was sure Brain wasn’t looking; he knew that camera was just for show. Dipper went up to till to pay.
When he was half way through the door Brian called out, “Is Saturday okay?” Dipper stopped and weighed his options. He could show him around and become all buddy-buddy with him and smooch off some free snacks, until he leaves (because face it, he won’t last), or not go and have the possibility of him exploring on his own and dying. The brunette really did not want to hang out with him; and the snacks would only last while he’s here.
“Nah, I’m busy that day.” The fourteen year old replied before running off; he’d take his chances. Wasn’t his problem if he dies.
Dipper sprinted down the streets; diving into alleyways and climbing up and over fences. He slowed down when he spotted a girl with long blonde hair sitting on the side of a curb on one of the old abandoned roads. The blonde was wearing a lilac off the shoulder shirt and a black skirt. They were muddy and her usually perfect hair had twigs and leaves weaved into the strands. Her icy blue eyes bore into his. Her gare could turn people into ice. But, not Dipper.
He grinned and probably showed too much teeth. “Hey, Paz!” He knew how much she hated nicknames. The brunette waved at the girl.
“You’re late.” She stated harshly. Dipper plopped down next to her; still grinning. “Where were you?” She continued. The blonde looked down and frowned. Her face became softer and more sorrowful rather than angry, “I didn’t know if you were going to show up.” Dipper looked more serious, his playful mood gone. He hadn’t meant to scare her.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I took that long. Actually, I went to the shop to get some stuff and got caught up with some newbie, guess I lost track of time. I’m sorry for worrying you Pacifica.” She looked up at Dipper. Pacifica smiled, he liked seeing her smile.
“I know I’m just worrying for nothing, it’s just that with everything going on at home and with that whole apocalypse thing I hadn’t been thinking straight.” Dipper knew it was hard. He had trouble himself, guess that’s why he liked causing trouble for others. He remembers what happened during those years; but, many didn’t.
Everyone who survived was granted full memory of the event, while those who passed only knew that it had happened. Dipper had estimated that only around 10% of the human population had survived, which meant only 10% remembered. That included him and Pacifica. No one in his family remembers, no one in Pacifica’s, or even in the town. The only other person he knew was Pacifica.
Dipper took the bag of gummy koala’s out of the plastic bag and began shoveling them down his throat. It was around the time where he and Pacifica would take turns talking about their issue and the other would offer subpar solutions. Pacifica talked about how her parents were harsher; how her dad would flip out over the tiniest imperfections. Dipper spoke about how his insomnia had gotten worse and how his schizophrenia had him staring at the wall for hours at end. Then went back and forth for hours at end. Slowly eating up the snacks Dipper had brought.
“Hey, why don’t you stay at the shack again?” Dipper offered, it wouldn’t be the first time the blonde had stayed there while her parents were having a fight.
She look away. “I did something.” Dipper waited for her to continue. When he realized she wouldn’t, he asked her what she meant. “It was bad, I shouldn’t have done it.” Pacifica looked distraught. She was shaking. “It wasn’t a good idea.” For the first time in ages the blonde had lost her composure. Tears ran down her face. Expensive mascara make streaks down her cheeks. “They’re going to be so mad.”
“Pacifica! Calm down, just breathe.” Dipper wrapped his arms around her. He rubbed circles into her back. The blonde’s shaky breaths became firm and slowed down. Dipper pulled away just enough so they could face each other. “Okay, can you tell me what happened?”
Pacifica hesitated before answering; “I-I made a mess. It was in the-the basement, there was this thing and it looked funny, but it started to eat m-mother’s old gown and she’ll- she’ll-” Pacifica trailed off. Pacifica’s icy blue eyes met Dipper’s mix-matched blue and green ones.
“I’ll help you fix it; don’t worry. We’ve been through the end of the world together. I think we can handle fixing some stupid overpriced rag.” Pacifica gave a weak laugh. That’s all Dipper could hope for.
They both continued chatting till they saw the sun peek out from its hiding spot. They waved each other goodbye; promising to meet each other later in the day. Pacifica said that she’d show up around 4:20pm to sew up the gown.
Dipper started his trekk home. He retraced his steps, taking extra care not to be spotted near the mini-mart. There was no chance Brian was there, but it was better safe than sorry. He climbed up the metal fence and walked through the forest. He could hear the early birds chirping away. Dipper walked till he had the shack back into view.
He climbed up the side of the house and slipped through the window. Dipper kicked off his boots and crawled into bed. He swallowed a few of his sleeping pills and fell asleep.