Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Race against the clock
Search party | Panic attack | “If only we could hold on”
Almost two years ago was the last time they had been here, the shack looking down on them from the shadows of the tree line. It’s almost unnatural shape forming a stark outline against the tree line. The Pines family had decided to spend the summer together, just the four of them for a few weeks! Soos and Wendy were out of town visiting family, so it seemed like the perfect time for a long overdue vacation as a family!
…That was until everything started to go…weird.
Now, Gravity Falls known for being weird, it was kind of its main marketing point to stray tourists! What happened the night two weeks before summerween, however, easily took the cake.
They had all settled in for the night, Dipper and Mabel opting for their old beds in the attic, Stan in his room, and Ford on the couch next to the door, a loaded crossbow at his side. (Stan insisted it really wasn’t necessary, but some habits truely do die hard.)
Neither of them could figure out how, but the younger twins had somehow managed to sneak out in the middle of the night, leaving only a note with a rough explanation that they had heard a noise and wanted to investigate it… why they would do it dispute all their past experiences with the town was beyond Ford and Stan…. But whatever the reason, they had managed to sneak out into the forest. Their exciting adventure didn’t last long, though . As only a few minutes into their journey, a loud BANG could be heard, followed by a neon blue flash of light that shook the entire shack like a nuclear bomb going off.
Now THAT had both of the older twins awake in a second. A rush of panic flowing through both of them, Ford aiming his crossbow at the door, a primal terror flowing through him as deeply buried memories resurfaced in waves. Memories of wars and uprisings from alternate dimensions beyond comprehension. Executions that would haunt his nightmares to the grave. Even if he couldn’t see it, he knew something was VERY wrong with that sound.
Stan, on the other hand, didn’t seem nearly as worried, walking into the living room rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he grumbled out a few incoherent words.
“What’s wrong, pointdexter? Did someone blow up a trash can or something?”
“Stanley… I think something is coming— GET DOWN!!!”
Before Stan could argue, Ford had already grabbed him, shoving both of them forcefully onto the floor. Before either of them could fully comprehend what was going on, another bright flash of blue light shone through the window beside them, followed by another explosion so loud that the window next to them shattered, raining glass down on both of them.
“Wh…what the—“ Stan looked up, slowly getting to his feet, rubbing glass off of his arms in a nonchalant manor that DEFINITELY did not match this situation. Ford was already grabbing for his crossbow again, his gaze locked onto the dark forest outside, bolt aimed with sniper accuracy, scanning for any form of movement that might be the source of the noise and the explosion.
“Go check on the children, they will probably be down here asking questions any minute.” Ford commanded, his gaze never shifting from his vantage point on the couch.
“Alright, alright, but you’re probably overreacting… weird stuff like this happens all the time in this town.” Stan grumbled as he walked upstairs towards the attic.
Ford wanted to shoot back a retort about how no! Something like this doesn’t just happen to anyone! This was different… much weirder than normal… and for Gravity Falls, that was hard to beat. Until this point, Ford had only been mildly concerned about the explosion (granted, his ‘mildly concerned’ would probably be closer to an average person’s anxiety induced panic.) however, that quickly changed when Stan came back downstairs, a look of panic and terror on his face as he shakily spoke.
“Uhm… Stanford? The kids—“
“What? What about them?!”
“They’re- they’re not upstairs. They’re not ANYWHERE in the shack! I think they went outside!”
“wHAT?!—“
“All I could find was this note in Mabel’s handwriting, I think they went to investigate the noise!—”
Stan didn’t even have time to finish explaining before Ford had already ripped the note from his hands, his panicked gaze shifting over the note, worry and fear rising with each passing moment as he read the words written in glitter pen.
‘Dear Grunkles Stan and Ford, we are going out to investigate the weird noises outside! If we’re not back by the time you read this, we probably got eaten— Dipper says I shouldn’t say that. OKAY BYEEE!’ With a small drawing of dipper and Mabel walking heroically towards what Ford could only assume was the explosion he had seen earlier.
“Those idiots…we need to find them! They’re not prepared to deal with that! Come on!!!”
Before Stan could interject, Ford was already throwing the door open, and with a speed that shouldn’t have been possible, he was down the path and running into the woods, Stan running close behind.
“I- slow down! Not all of us are that fit!”
Ford slowed down, though from the way his hands twitched, it was clear he wanted to run as fast as possible.
“I’m sure they’ll be fine! They’ve managed before, what would be different about now?”
“Because before they had help… this time they’re running towards certain death and don’t even know it! We need to find them!”
“What, you want me to go wake the whole town over this?!”
“Well we have to do SOMETHING!”
“They’re 15 now! They’re not children anymore!”
“Stanley, there are things in those woods that could take down a seasoned Hunter with ease! If they aren’t armed… and I doubt Mabel’s grappling hook counts as a weapon… then they’re sitting ducks out there!”
“So… what exactly is your plan?”
“Find whatever made that noise…” he raised the crossbow again, his gaze shifting over the treeline in front of him “—and kill it.”
“Yeesh… alright.” Stan grumbled, roughly throwing on the leather coat he had grabbed on his way out the door.
The two of them walked in near silence for a few minutes, following Dipper and Mable’s footprints down the path until they just… stopped. No blood, no signs of a struggle, just… gone.
“Odd… it’s like they just… vanished.” Ford muttered to himself, hand tracing over the fresh footprints below them.
“Vanished?! But how?” Stan demanded, leaning down next to him.
“I don’t know… maybe a wild vampire bat? Or maybe one of the stray floating eyes?… but they don’t usually eat humans…”
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of foliage rustling beside them. Ford immediately had his crossbow locked and loaded on the target, his heart pounding wildly in his chest as he slowly stalked towards the source of the noise. Once he heard the rustling again, followed by what sounded like a pained whimper, he drew away the undergrowth, his crossbow locked on its target in an instant.
“I- don’t shoot!!! I- I’m warning you!!!”
The figure before them was… strange to say the least. He looked to be a young man, maybe late teens early twenties? His hair was a ragged mess with a layer of mud and… blood? Covering him. There were three deep gashes down his face, they looked fresh and were still bleeding heavily. He wore a bright orange shirt that also seemed to be deeply coated in mud and a thick layer of blood. He had a pair of grey pants that looked to be far too big for him… now that he looked at it, all of this man’s clothes seemed to be far too big for him. They might have fit him comfortably at one point, but that was clearly a long time ago. The most telling thing about him was the thick metal collar that latched around his throat, a bright red light flashing occasionally. His furred midnight colored hands? Paws? Shone faintly in his flashlight. His catlike ears were pinned back against his head, clearly terrified. Ford also noted the strange triangle covering where his other eye should be with glowing blue markings branching out from it across his entire body, their aura glowing a faint blue in the moonlight. Ford didn’t recognize the man… but the voice… he knew that voice.
It haunted his dreams, has terrorized him for almost half his life… had almost killed him
And his family more times than he could count.
“…Bill?”
The name sounded foreign to him. Like a long forgotten tune being replayed. Stan looked between Ford and the strange man in confusion for several moments.
“Bill? Like… the triangle Bill?”
“The very same.” Ford growled, raising his crossbow again, bolt locked right on the strange man’s forehead.
“Is this your doing Bill?! Did you take Mabel and Dipper? Is this one of you stupid games—“
“I-IT WASN’T ME!!!” The strange looking man shouted, his voice catching in his throat, and… holy fuck was he… crying?
“I- he- I was trying to protect them! I couldn’t stop them I-“ Bill’s whole body was shaking, his breath picking up as he started to curl up into a ball.
Stan stated to move towards him, being stopped almost immediately by Ford, a stern look in his eyes.
“This could be one of his tricks. We can’t trust him.” Ford warned, his voice filled with a tone of disgust as he spoke.
“Look genius, I know what a panic attack looks like, and if we don’t help him he could hurt himself.”
“He could be manipulating you! It’s what he does!—“
Stan flashed Ford a warning look as he walked towards the younger man on the ground.
“Just… trust me on this.” Stan whispered, slowly leaning down to Bill’s level.
Stan placed a hand gently on Bill shoulder, causing the smaller man to let out a yelp of terror. He immediately removed his hand at that, but stayed close to Bill, hoping his calming presence would help calm him down.
“Hey… Bill? If you can, take some deep breaths—“
“N-NO! You’re just gonna trick me! I- I won’t fall for it!!!”
Bill curled up tighter, his face entirely hidden by his ragged shirt and pants now, his shaky sobs muffled as he tried his best to become invisible.
“It’s not a trick, I want to help you… you could help us! But you’ll just cause yourself to pass out if you don’t take some deep breaths.” Stan’s voice was a mix of gentle and stern, the same way Ford has been when he had panic attacks when they were kids. He remembered the techniques Ford had taught him from his books
Breathe in for four, breathe out for four.
Find five things he could see, hear, smell, touch, and taste to help ground him in reality.
Placing an ice pack on his wrist or neck to help calm the blood flow.
He walked Bill through each of them, patting him on the back when Bill would allow, and helping him work through his panicked feelings. Finally, after several minutes, the two of them could have a conversation.
“Okay… now, tell me what happened?”
Bill rubbed his nose with his arm, taking a deep breath as he did so before speaking.
“I- I was running away… They… They were right behind me, and then… there was a bright blue flash of light, and… and I was here. I don’t… know what happened next, but I could hear pinetree and shooting star screaming… I tried to help… but they were gone… they were gone and I was alone— again—“ he started tearing up again, Stan pulling him into an awkward hug, while Ford stood behind him, a frustrated grimace on his face.
“So, where did they go?” Ford demanded, his crossbow still latched onto the treeline, surveying for what neither of them could say.
“Uhm… probably… probably the Teraprism… oh no…” Bill’s shaky voice cracked again, the terror written in every feature on his face.
“Where is that?” Ford asked
“And how do we get there?!” Stan interjected
“Uhm… it’s in the therapy dimension, and… through there.” Bill pointed down the path about a hundred feet, where a massive glowing rift about ten feet tall was swirling and twisting in space. Its oddly hypnotizing colors shimmering in hues that shouldn’t be visible to the human eye. The portal was clearly unstable, its size shrinking rapidly, and within five minutes it would be gone.
Before they had time to think, Ford was already shooting off towards it, stopped by Stan grabbing the cuff of his jacket firmly.
“No! We don’t have the supplies! We can’t just go jumping into a random portal!”
“At the rate it’s closing, we may not have a choice Stanley! We need to get the kids back, and I’m going to do it! With or without you!”
“Dammit Stanford! Can you stop and think for two seconds?! Bill is clearly hurt, and the only weapon we have is that crossbow that’s probably as old as we are! I’m not risking all of our lives on it!”
“Fine! But if you want to never see the kids again, be my guest! But I’m not waiting around on you to change your mind! This is a life or death situation!”
The two of them stared at each other for several moments, the silence so tense it could be cut with a knife before Stan finally spoke again.
“…Do you at least have your gun?”
“I- well- uhm…”
“Exactly poindexter, now go grab your gun and the first aid kit. I’ll stay here and make sure the portal doesn’t close. Got it?”
Ford grumbled something under his breath that Stan couldn’t quite catch, before storming off back towards the house with a “Fine!”
—
A few minutes later, once they had all the proper supplies packed into Ford’s book bag, and a few of Bill’s wounds had been patched up, they looked back towards the portal, which was now only about five feet tall, and shrinking rapidly. The three of them looked at each other, a glance passing between them before they took a step forward
“Ready?” Ford asked, hand resting over his magnet gun nervously as he looked between Stan and the portal.
“As I’ll ever be” Stan replied sarcastically, one hand balled in a fist, the other wrapped protectively around Bill.
“Then let’s go!!!”
With that, the three of them leapt into the swirling mass of colors in front of them, the world disappearing behind them, a new one appearing in front of them… bathed in a… dark red light?