Gravity Falls: Mind of Cipher

Part 10 - The Message

Dipper's mind reeled.

"But you're dead. We all saw Bill destroy Time Baby and all the Time Travelers!" Dipper said.

Blendin nodded. "Bill Cipher defeated them, but I escaped, tried to hide in a Time Dodge."

He stepped toward Dipper, leaning down.

    "But that triangle killed Time Baby, Dipper. He's destroying time itself! I couldn't hide in the past, it's fading. I couldn't return to my time, it's nearly gone. Time is ceasing to exist."

He gestured to his insubstantial, fading form. "I am ceasing to exist."

"Oh man, Blendin...I'm so sorry," Dipper said softly.

Pacifica moves up beside him.

"I'm not sure exactly what going on, but you're a time traveler apparently, so what can we do then? Is there even a chance to stop this?" she said.

Blendin looked at her, eyes suddenly glinting.

"Yes. Yes, there is one chance. As I began to fade, I searched desperately for a chance to defeat Bill. Though I can't take you back in time since that technology is fading too, I found one last opportune time near the present."

Suddenly, his face twitched and he fell to his knees with a groan. He began falling to the side.

Dipper ran to him and tried to catch him, but Blendin passed right through his hands like mist. He lay pitifully on the floor.

Dipper couldn't help him; he couldn't even touch him.

"Pines..." Blendin gasped, looking up at Dipper, "You've only got one chance - one last moment - to make it right," Blendin whispered. He was really faded now, not much more than an outline; a trick of the light. His eyes closed.

"Tonight," Blendin gasped desperately, eyes scrunched in pain, "Use ... seventy-eight in the moment of weakness ... pierce and trap the demon ... two minds against one ..."

Blendin shook violently, then he thrust out a dissolving arm, pointing to his discarded brown cloak.

"Enter the mind of Bill Cipher!" he yelled.

And then Blendin Blandin, the last of the time travelers, simply ceased to be.

Dipper fell to his knees, staring at the empty floor where Blendin had been.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder softly. He looked up as Pacifica knelt next to him, hugging him softly and silently. He hugged her back.

They stayed there, still and quiet, for a moment.

Then Dipper rose and walked over to the time traveler's discarded cloak. He picked it up. And something heavy tumbled out of the folds, thudding to the ground.

Dipper stared, eyes wide. He reached down and picked up the object.

Pacifica walked over.

"Dipper," she asked, "What's that?"

He turned to her, eyes shining.

"It's Journal Number Three," he said simply. Then he scrambled to a pub table, sweeping filthy plates and glasses from the surface and throwing the journal open.

"The Journal is different than when I had it. It's not as beat up and it's got more blank pages," Dipper said, flipping backwards through the pages as Pacifica joined him at the table.

"So?" she asked, confused.

"That means Blendin took this from the past. He took this book before it was finished and he gave it to us right before he died."

Dipper found the last entry. A pencil, nestled in the crease, marked it. Dipper stared for a moment, the began scribbling down the last words of the time traveler on the blank page next to it.

"Tonight. Use ... seventy-eight in the moment of weakness. Pierce and trap the demon. Two minds against one..." he said as he wrote.

"Enter the mind of Bill Cipher," Pacifica whispered, staring at the other page written by Ford.

It was an incantation that would allow a one to enter the mind of an unconscious person. Or demon.

"But how will we get Bill to go to sleep? I doubt he even does sleep," Pacifica said, turning to Dipper.

Dipper frowned, staring at what he had written. He was sure they were right about entering Bill's mind and fighting him there, but it was simply impossible to get inside his mind. Unless...

Dipper's eyes opened wide.

"I know what Blendin's plan was!" Dipper exclaimed, turning to a new page in the journal and scribbling fiercely. "And it's genius!"

Pacifica blinked.

"Okay, so what do you want me to do?" she asked.

Dipper turned to her, pausing his writing.

Outside the pub, the sounds of monsters returning began to grow loud.

    "Gather the monsters," Dipper said simply, then he returned to his scribbling. Pacifica nodded, moving off.

    They had to be at the Bill's Palace by tomorrow night.

    There was still so much to be done.

END OF PART 10