~~~~~~~~~Your POV~~~~~~~~~
Work had already ended for the day, but just like every day, we didn't wanna head home yet. Instead, the four of us began to look around the shack for something to do, eventually reaching the closet.
Dipper raised an eyebrow. "Alright, Grunkle Stan's gotta have some decent board games."
"Part of me doubts that." I replied.
"Let us see: Battle Chutes and Ladder Ships, Necronomiconopoly, Don't wake Stalin-"
"What about that one?" Leo asked as he pointed at one of the boxes on top, Dipper picking it up and reading the title.
"What Could Go Wrong: The Board Game. The last players who opened this box never made it out alive."
"Now we know what'll kill the next half an hour!" They all nodded in agreement at my statement.
"Family meeting!!! Family meeting!!!" We heard Ford yell from the living room, all of us exchanging a glance of confusion.
Leo looked at the twins. "Should (y/n) and I leave or....?"
"Nonsense, you're both part of this family!!" Mabel grabbed both of our wrists and started dragging us to the living room, Dipper following behind.
"Ah, children. Come in, come in." Ford expression then morphed to something more serious. "Uh, I did say this was a family meeting, yes?"
"Grunkle Ford, these two are part of our family too! If you wish to talk to one of us, you'll have to talk to all of us." Mabel explained with a proud stance, then sat at the table. "Ooh, mysterious scrolls and potions!! Are you going to tell us we're finally of age to go to wizard school?! Is there an owl in this bag?!"
When Mabel tried to open the bag, Ford quickly snatched it away. "No! I can assure you if there's an owl in this bag he's long dead."
Mabel pouted in reply, making Leo pat her head for comfort.
Ford then pulled out an old scroll, unrolling it. "Now tell me, children, do any of you recognize this symbol?"
My skin ran cold at the drawing that was on the scroll, something I had grown far too familiar with during my whole life. And at this point, it wasn't just me.
"Bill..!" Dipper muttered in reply, a glare on his face.
Ford's eyes widened. "You- you guys know him?!?"
"Know him?!? He's been terrorizing us all summer!!!"
"Dipper's been pretty paranoid since Bill turned him into a living sock puppet." I added. "Plus we've fought against him twice now."
Mabel smiled brightly. "Once with kittens and once with tickles!!!"
"It was a lot more heroic than it sounds." Leo explained with a snicker.
But Ford wasn't laughing. "The fact that you've dealt with Bill is gravely serious."
My eyes narrowed as I gave the man a quick scan. "So, how do you know Bill?"
"I've encountered many dark beings in my time, children. What matters is his powers are growing stronger and if he pulls off his plans no one in this family will be safe."
I noticed Dipper, Leo, and Mabel glance at me in worry, Dipper holding my hand to comfort me.
"Fortunately there should be a way to shield us from his mental tricks! A way to 'Bill Proof' the shack." Ford pulled out a map of the shack. "All I have to do is place moonstones here, here, and here, sprinkle some mercury. Let's see, I always forget the last ingredient.."
Taking out journal 1, he searched through a few pages, then groaned in annoyance. "Unicorn hair."
Dipper glanced around. "That isn't rare or anything, is it?"
On the other hand, Leo and I already knew why Ford was annoyed, Leo pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "We are so fucked."
"Profanity!!" Mabel yelled as she slapped her boyfriend's arm with a glare.
I let out a sigh. "Nope, he's right. If there's any word to describe unicorns with, it would be 'Frustrating'."
Ford nodded. "Unicorns reside deep within the Enchanted Glade. Their hairs can only be obtained by a pure good hearted person who goes on a magical quest to find them."
With a loud yell of excitement, Mabel stood in front of her uncle. "Grunkle Ford, can I please go on this quest?!? I am literally obsessed with unicorns!!! My first word was unicorn, I once made my own unicorn by taping a traffic cone to a horse's head, are you even looking at the sweater I'm wearing right now?!? Not to mention that I'm probably the most pure hearted person in this room."
We all agreed with that last part, Mabel continuing to try to convince him. "So can I go on a mission to get that hair?!? Please please please?!? I'll give you my blood!!!"
"Very well. But it won't be easy. Take this, and this." He ended up giving Mabel his journal and a crossbow, which made me panic a little. "I haven't been in this dimension for a while. It's okay to give children weapons, right?
"Psh, c'mon, dawg." She shot an arrow on accident, which broke the window, Stan's voice heard after.
"AH, IT'S THE COPS, GUN IT!!!"
Moments of silence went by, and she then picked up her phone as she ran out of the shack. "Candy, Grenda, Wendy!!! Clear the afternoon!!!"
Once she was gone, Dipper turned to us. "So what are the odds she gets that hair?"
"Unfortunately, very low." Leo replied as he crossed his arms.
"So what are we gonna do about Bill?!"
"Follow me."
We did as Ford told us, following him to the vending machine pathway. Instead of going all the way to where the portal was, we went to the room above it. It had the vibe of an eighteenth century study, but with a few machines here and there.
"Welcome to my private study, a place where I keep my most ancient and secret knowledge. Even your uncle Stan doesn't know about this place."
Leo passed a hand against one of the tables, coughing a bit as dust flew around. "Needs a bit of a cleanup, if you ask me."
"He's been gone for thirty years, genius, cut him some slack." I shot him a small glare.
Ford walked over to the computers at the end of the room. "If we can't 'Bill Proof' the shack, we'll have to do the next best thing; we're gonna have to 'Bill Proof' our minds."
I didn't have to worry about that myself, my mind was one of the flew places Bill couldn't enter. Still, how was I suppose to explain that to Ford..?
Dipper was the first to volunteer, Ford placing a strange device on his head before connecting a few wears to the monitors.
He then glanced over at me before Ford. "So what is Bill exactly..?"
"No one knows for sure. Accounts differ of his true origins." Ford explained as he fixed a few things. "I know he's older than our galaxy and far more twisted. He doesn't have physical form, and can only project himself into the thoughts of humans through the mindscape, which is why he wants this."
He showed us a strange snow globe-looking contraption, a strange substance floating inside it.
Dipper's eyes widened. "What is that..?"
"A tear in our dimension. I dismantled the portal, but with this tear Bill still has a way into our reality. To get his hands on this rift, Bill would trick or posses anyone."
Leo raised an eyebrow. "So how do we keep Bill out of our minds?"
"Well there's a number of ways. I personally had a metal plate installed in my head."
Dipper let out a chuckle. "Good one."
"I don't think he's joking, dude." Leo replied, only for Ford to lightly punch his own head, a metallic sound being heard. "Told ya."
"But this machine is safer. It will scan your mind, bio-electrically encrypting your thoughts so Bill can't read them." Ford then pressed a button. "Now, say hello to your thoughts."
None of the thoughts we saw surprised me.
Plus it was cute to him embarrassment.
Leo, on the other hand, was much more serious. "You never answered how you know Bill."
"Kids, do you trust me?"
Dipper glanced at us, then back at Ford. "Well yeah, but-"
"Then you'll trust that that's not important. Now focus, it's time to strengthen your mind.
It was strange, Ford was definitely changing the subject on purpose. Just how did he know about Bill, and why did he refuse to talk about it?
Who am I to judge though, I've been in the same shoes.
The process of strengthening the mind took much longer than we expected, that by the time it had reached 15%, Ford had fallen asleep on his desk.
"So.. how much longer is this gonna take?" Leo asked as played around with one of his wings in boredom. "I'm getting hungry."
"You and me both." I looked over at the machine. "Still, something's definitely off about your uncle, PT.."
"I know, it's worrying me.." He looked over at his uncle, then glanced up to the machine on his head. "... what if we see something for ourselves..?"
"You sure about this..?"
"What else can we do..?"
After a few seconds of silence, Leo took off the helmet Dipper was wearing, cautiously placing it on Ford's head.
The three of us then stood in front of the monitors, Dipper taking in a deep breath. "It was just on little peek, what was he hiding about Bill..?"
First was Bill cackling.
Then it was Fiddleford's voice. "Where are these ideas coming from?!? Who are you working with?!?"
Then Stan's. "My brother is a dangerous know-it-all."
Ford's. "He would trick or posses anyone!"
A younger Ford. "Then it's a deal. From now until the end of time."
Bill. "Just let me into your mind, Stanford!"
"Please, call me a friend."
And the last thing was Bill possessing Ford as he cackled evilly..
Now way...
"Ford and Bill?!?"
"You shouldn't have done that." We all took in a gasp as we heard Ford's voice behind us, his glasses hazy so we couldn't see his eyes. He took off the machine and threw it to the side, causing a curtain to fall and reveal many things relating to Bill.
"Dipper, keep the rift out of his reach!" I yelled as Leo and I both stood in front of him, feeling my energy gathering at my fingertips. "Why were you shaking hands with Bill?!?"
"You said Bill could possess anyone to get this!!!" Dipper kept the rift pressed against his chest.
Ford's eyes were still not visible to us as he reached over. "Hand me the rift! Now, boy!"
A deep growl escaped Leo as his eyes glowed purple. "Take one step closer and we'll break every bone in you."
"Why were you really scanning my thoughts?!?" Dipper continued to ask in a panic. "Are you Bill right now?!?"
"Now just- just calm down, p-"
"PINETREE?!? Is that what you were going it call me?!?"
"I was gonna say please, kid!!"
"Ford told us to protect the rift no matter the cost!!" I was already forming an orb in my hands. "Get one step closer and I'll erase you right out of Ford's head!!"
"It's me, kids, it's your uncle!!! JUST HAND IT TO ME!!!"
"Erase!!!" I yelled at the top of my longs as I shot the orb straight at Ford. To my surprise, it bounced right off his head and started bouncing around until it eventually broke one of the monitors.
What just.. happened..?"
I grew pale when Ford grabbed Dipper by his vest, seeing him kicking around. "Hey!!! Let go of me!!!"
"Now now, just calm down, calm down!" He fixed his glasses, finally revealing his eyes. "Look into my eyes! Look at my pupils! It's me, children! It's me..!"
The three of us then calmed down, Ford placing him down. He then turned to us, expression serious. "So, my suspicions were correct, you two aren't ordinary humans."
I bit my lip, gripping my arms in fear. "We're sorry for attacking you, sir, it's just.. w-we just.."
"It's okay, you were simply protecting the rift as I said. Besides, my mind can't be erased anyway, remember?" He softly punched his head once more. "If that really was Bill though, you would've done great! I should've been more like you when I was young.."
Ford let out a sigh, walking over to the monitors. "Kids, I was a fool to try to hide all this.. The reason I've been trying to prepare you for Bill's tricks is because Bill tricked me. It's the biggest regret of my life.. Bill wasn't always my enemy, kids.. I use to think he was my friends, long, long ago.. I had hit a road block in my investigation of Gravity Falls, until I found some mysterious writing in a cave, ancient incantations about a being with answers. It warned me not to read them, but I was desperate. I read the inscription aloud, but nothing happened. Until later that afternoon, when I had the most peculiar dream."
He showed us one of the drawings of Bill that filled the room. "He told me he was amused, that he chose one brilliant mind a century to inspire. What a fool I was, blinded by his flattery and games.. He became my research assistant. He was free to move in and out of my mind as he pleased, we were partners. When he told me I could complete my research by building a gateway to other worlds, I trusted him. He said this was the way genius happened, with a little help from a friend. It seems that I was on the verge of my greatest achievement! Until my partner got a glimpse of Bill's true plans.."
We all shared a glance, feeling bad for what he had been though..
"I'd been betrayed. I shut the portal down, severing the link between Bill's world and ours. I had to hide my instructions so no one could ever finish Bill's work. Bill's been waiting for the gateway to reopen ever since. All he needs to do is get his hands on this rift. To Bill, it's just a game, but to us, it would mean the end of our world.."
Dipper looked down in thought. "Oh man..."
"'Oh man' indeed.."
After that, we went upstairs and got some Pit Cola. We were exhausted from the whole situation, not to mention worried for the future.
Dipper let out a sigh. "I'm so embarrassed about earlier... I'm such an idiot..!"
"From now on, no more secrets between us. We're not the first two idiots to be tricked by Bill, boy, but if we work together, it could be the last." Ford replied, then turned to us. "As for you two, I don't mind keeping your magic a secret from the world, I'm well aware to why it's a secret in the first place."
I nodded with a smile. "Thank you, Ford.."
"What about Bill though?" Leo asked. "The machine's broken, we have no way to protect the shack."
"DID SOMEONE SAY UNICORN HAIR?!?" We all froze as Mabel's voice boomed throughout the room, seeing her slam a hand against the table.
Dipper glanced around. "Uh, no actually?"
"Oh. That would've been perfect." She shook rainbow hair around. "Either way we got some unicorn hair!"
Candy lifted her arms. "Also some unicorn tears, unicorn eyelashes,-"
"They finally gave us this treasure just to get rid of us!!" Grenda opened a large treasure chest, making a huge mountain of gold and jewels fall on the table.
Leo's eyes widened. "Wait, seriously?! How?!"
"Never underestimate Mabel magic." I replied before taking a sip of my drink.
Ford's eyes were wide in awe. "It- It can't be! This is a great day, girls!! With this unicorn hair we'll be able to completely shield the shack from Bill's mind reading tricks!!"
"Is it okay?"
"Better than okay, it's perfect!!" Ford placed a hand on Mabel's head, who smiled in return. "You've protected your family, you're a good person, Mabel!"
"Thanks, Grunkle Ford, but today I learned that morality is relative."
"MONEY!!!" No one was surprised as Stan grabbed most of the gold and jewels and ran away.
Not long after, Leo and I walked out of the shack, seeing Ford and Dipper preparing everything around. I could feel a bit of anxiety rising in my chest as I saw it, but forced on a smile as Dipper ran over. "Hey, leaving already?"
I gave a shrug. "Mom might get worried."
"Well, actually.." Dipper rubbed the back of his neck, giving a sheepish smile. "I talked things with Ford, and we're okay letting your mom, Leo, and you stay here until things are safer."
That just made things more difficult..
"Pinetree, it's a great offer, but.. I can't."
"You wouldn't be bothering anyone, it's-"
"No, Dipper, I literally can't." I raised an arm. "You're doing this to keep everything Bill related out of the shack, and you keep forgetting that means keeping me out too.."
His eyes widened in realization. "Oh.. Oh man, I- I didn't realize, we shouldn't-"
"It's alright though, my mind can't be reached by Bill, but I would still like if Leo and my mom were safe."
"You sure you'll be okay alone, (y)..?" Leo asked in worry, to which I nodded.
"Yeah. Besides, I can still meet you guys by the border, it'll be fine."
I could tell Dipper wasn't pleased with the idea, but he let out a sigh and placed a kiss on my cheek. "Alright, stay safe, okay..?"
"I will.."
Thanks for reading!!! And for @Xx_QueenE_xX
Hope you like it!!! 'Till next time!!!
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