Chapter Text
White.
There was no place to flee as the mind of Stanley Pines crumbled around him, faded into blinding, burning white. They'd tricked him.
He couldn't help the flare of amusement. Who would have thought some dumb fleshbags could ever beat him? He sure hadn't!
But as the memories of Stanley Pines disappeared around him, as he begged and pleaded with that s̜̣͇t̺̞̝͞ͅú̥̺p͍͝i̞͘d͇ ̷͈m̞̙̩̱̰̠͖o̫̥r͍t̥̻̼al͕̦ ̥̝̤̣͕̲̥w͇̖ho̙͈̹̞̗̣ͅ ̝̘͍ḩ̲̲a̞͜d͚͖͖͜ ͈͓̭̦͍ͯ t̹͎͈͛ͤr̦̭̻͇̠ͤỉ͎̻̱̝̅ͧͨ̚c̜̘̳̽͋͗͛̉̀k̗̣̦̀̀ͭ̊̈ͥ̓ͫͥe͓͓̒ͫͥd̻̱͔̦̼̖ͩͣͬ̇ ͈̻̬̞͈͈̈ͨ̾̃ͥͧͅh̠̦̱̖̞̰͈̝̱̎ͤ̋̿i͕̳̰̣͍͇̣̐̍ͦ̂m̱̫̗̼͙̬̔̌, he became aware of it.
There. A back door, a way out, he was not beaten yet -
Pine Tree had forgotten something, hadn't he?
It wouldn't have worked if the kid hadn't been standing so close. It wouldn't have worked at all if the kid had remembered to put a deadline in the deal they made.
Bill Cipher jumped ship, fled to the unsuspecting mind of Dipper Pines, a flesh puppet he would have so much FUN with, sent his entire being and power into that last way out of here -
- and shattered into thousands, billions of sharp golden fragments, scattering and burning as he was too late, the mind blanking around him and snuffing out the last remaining bits of the demon Bill Cipher.
Bill Cipher was gone.
The connection he'd initiated with Dipper's body shone brightly in the colourless world of the Mindscape. Then it broke and disappeared as the demon faded into nonexistence, leaving nothing but a faint golden glow inside Dipper Pines.
Outside the Mindscape the Pines family mourned Grunkle Stan's sacrifice. Outside the Mindscape Gravity Falls became - not normal, but as close to normal as it had always been.
Outside the Mindscape, Dipper had no clue what Bill had attempted. Life went on.
The first one to notice something wrong was Ford.
Don't get him wrong, he was happy - happy and relieved! - that Stanley's memories were coming back. But it made no sense.
Yes, McGucket - poor man - was living proof that memories could come back after being blasted with the Eraser Gun, with time and patience and something to jog them. Time was the problem here. Even McGucket hadn't managed to reclaim all his memories yet. Stanley's entire mind had been blanked! There should have been nothing left to jog! And even if he could recover, it shouldn't have happened in mere hours after the zapping!
But he could not deny the proof. His brother was sitting on his couch in the wrecked remains of the Mystery Shack, Mabel's scrapbook on his lap, the kids and Soos excitably telling him about every picture. Every once in a while Stanley would comment and the kids would grin and hug and it was obvious Stan was remembering... well, everything, as the sky outside turned dark and the scrapbook neared its end.
Had the Memory Gun been faulty? Did this mean Bill wasn't entirely gone either?
Dipper hadn't been sleeping well lately.
Actually, it seemed like he hadn't been sleeping at all. Every single time Stan got up in the middle of the night - he was becoming an old man, he got up a lot for various reasons, none of your business - he would find Dipper awake on the couch, huddled underneath a multicolored woollen blanket. They'd fixed up the Shack as best they could for the moment, but it was still kinda breezy in here.
Dipper seemed pale as a ghost in the blueish light of the television, where some silly deep-sea documentary was playing. He'd turned down the sound entirely, probably not to wake anybody. Smart kid.
"Can't sleep?"
Dipper shook his head, without glancing away from the screen.
"Wanna talk about it?"
He cringed at the idea of having some kind of heart-to-heart touchy-feely talk with the kid, but who else was there? Stan had seen some messed up sh- stuff in his life, and that whole Weirdmageddon business was enough to traumatize anyone, even him. No guessing what it could've done to the kids.
Dipper shook his head again, still silent. Stan hesitated in the doorway.
"It's over, kid," he said. "Not much of a comfort 'cause it all still happened, but it's over. Nobody died, the bad guy is gone, everything will turn out fine."
"I don't know Grunkle Stan." He sounded so small. Was he really already twelve? Nearly thirteen, Stan reminded himself. Kids that age made a big deal about their birthdays.
"Nightmares?" Stan asked. He could commiserate.
Dipped nodded en pulled up his knees, making himself even smaller. "They're always the same," he said. "I can't make sense of them."
"Not everything makes sense, kid. You've been through a lot, you and your sister. Of course you're not fine. But you will be. It'll take time but you'll get there."
Was that supportive and helpful enough? He hoped so. He wasn't good at comforting talks and he knew he was probably making a mess of things.
Well. Summer was almost over. The kids would be going home soon, back to their parents - they were probably better at this.
He hoped Mark and Anna wouldn't suddenly decide to pick the kids up themselves. He hadn't seen them in forever. It would be pretty awkward explaining that no, they hadn't sent their kids to Grunkle Stanford the reclusive but responsible scientist, they actually sent them to Grunkle Stanley the con man. Who was legally declared dead. There were some explanations in Stan's future he was not looking forward to. If Ford's decision to take back the Mystery Shack as his base of operations was still unchanged, and he still wanted to kick Stan out...
Oh well. He'd started a new life once or twice before. He could do it again, if necessary.
But he probably should have an actual talk with his brother before making any decisions. Things had been a bit different after that whole trick-Bill-into-my-mind-and-erase-everything. They'd been much to busy fixing up the Shack into something inhabitable again to worry about the future.
He gave Dipper a - hopefully reassuring - shoulder pat and decided, what the heck, he was the irresponsible Grunkle anyway so why not: "You need something to help you sleep?"
Dipper blinked up at him. His tired eyes reflected the blueish glow of the television screen. "Depends on what you mean with 'something', Grunkle Stan."
"Just wait kid."
Stan went back to his room and unlocked the liquor cabinet. He returned to the living room and offered Dipper a tiny shot glass filled with a mouthful of clear liquid that definitely wasn't water. "Just one though," he warned the kid. "And then you'll go to bed and close your eyes 'til morning, deal?"
"You're a bad example, Grunkle Stan." But Dipper smiled and reached for the glass. "Deal." His fingers brushed Stan's for a second, and Stan nearly dropped the glass. For one crazy second he thought he saw blue sparks around Dippers hands, just like -
But that must have been the television with that creepy deep-sea documentary. Just his imagination.
Dipper took a tiny sip and coughed like a twelve year old who had his first sip of hard liquor. Stan thumped his shoulder. "Now off to bed. And don't go telling anyone I gave you a night cap, ye hear me? Your parents would probably kill me and Mabel wouldn't stop begging until she could have a taste, which would make your parents kill me twice as hard. You're too young for this stuff."
Dipper grinned and threw back the rest of the glass. The resulting coughing fit and tearful eyes were hilarious.
Giving booze to twelve year olds. Stan was surely going to hell for this. But it was one little mouthful and hey, it would help the kid get to sleep a bit quicker. He only hoped this first taste of alcohol wouldn't lead to Dipper's first hangover in the morning, because he had no idea how he was going to explain that.
There was a party. There were tearful goodbyes. There was a heart-to-heart between both Stans, a decision made to go explore the world, to go on a adventure together, as soon as they had the funds to buy a boat and everything else they needed.
There was a bus driving to the border of Gravity Falls, with two kids inside. Mabel was cuddling with Waddles, coaching her pig to look his cutest when they'd arrive in Piedmont.
Dipper was staring out of the window. He would miss Gravity Falls. The weirdness, the adventure - and yes, the nightmares were there too, but at least he wasn't alone in those. Everyone in Gravity Falls knew what they'd been through. How could they ever explain this to their parents? How could they ever settle in as normal kids in boring old Piedmont, after this wild and crazy summer?
The sign proclaiming 'Now leaving Gravity Falls' was getting closer. Their summer holidays were almost officially over -
The bus passed the sign.
Dipper's world turned into fire.
Mabel saw her brother being thrown out of the bus, crashing through the back window, being dragged from the bus by a multicoloured bubble that flashed in the entire sky around Gravity Falls.
The bus driver hit the brakes, but Mabel didn't wait for the bus to stop completely before jumping out and running towards her brother.
He groaned and sat up. His face was peppered with little cuts from the broken glass.
"What happened?" he slurred. "Did we hit a tree?" Before Mabel could argue he got up, took one, two steps, and walked right into a rainbow wall that had been completely invisible one second before. He fell on his but and stared.
The colours bled through the sky and faded again. Mabel remembered seeing that bubble before. This was the weirdness bubble that had kept Weirdmageddon inside of Gravity Falls. And now, for some reason, it also kept her brother inside.