Y/n's POV:
I hated feeling so useless. I wanted to do something helpful, but instead I was gathered around Soos' toy race track with him, Dipper and Mabel."
"Go red car!" Mabel cheered.
"Go other red car!" Soos chanted.
"This would be a lot more fun with batteries," Dipper sighed.
Then, Stan entered the room, putting an end to the game. He looked more down than he had thus far. He clearly had something he wanted to tell us. The four of us stood up and waited for him to speak.
Uneasily, he cleared his throat. "Kids, we've got to talk. Look I've been thinking and... I can't take care of you anymore. I don't have house or a job. The plan is, you're goin' home. Your bus leaves tomorrow, here are your tickets." He held out two yellow slits of paper.
We stared in disbelief. Dipper and Mabel refused to take the tickets, not wanting to leave. Stan hesitantly set them on the table.
"As for you, Y/n, you're staying here in Gravity Falls," he added slowly.
I liked Gravity Falls, and I wanted to stay here, but only if Dipper and Mabel could too.
"But, why?" I asked. "If they're going, why do I have to stay?"
"Wasn't my idea. It was your parents. You'll have to ask 'em."
"Fine. I will," I replied, walking into the kitchen. I turned to the white landline and took the chorded phone off the rack. Then, I punched in my home number.
Slowly, I raised the phone to my ear and listened to it ring. I had no clue why my parents would want me to stay here.
Suddenly, someone picked up on the other line. "Hello?" The soft voice belonged to my mother.
"Mom, it's me, Y/n."
"Oh, Y/n! It's so nice to hear your voice," she said happily. "Your dad and I miss you a lot."
"I miss you too. But, uh, I have a question for you."
"Oh, I'm sure I know what this is about."
"Yeah," I responded. "So why do you want me to stay in Gravity Falls?"
"Well, you like it there, don't you?"
"Yeah, but I really don't have a reason to stay here if Dipper and Mabel are gone."
"I see."
Then, a thought came to my mind and I couldn't help but ask it. "Are there problems going on between you and dad?"
"What? No, of course not!" she replied hastily. "I can't explain it right now, but you'll understand eventually. You'll just have to trust me." Her voice sounded tense.
I stayed silent. I understood less than before I called. I really hated all the secrecy. I just wish I knew what she was hiding. She had never really given me a reason as to why I had to come to Gravity Falls in the first place.
"Well, I've got to go, but I'll talk to you later, sweetheart. I'm sure Stan will keep me updated," mom piped up.
"Okay. Love you."
"Love you too, Y/n." And with that, the call was over.
I walked back into the living room just in time to see Stan leave. "Sorry kids, Gideon won. Summer's over," he sighed as he walked out the open door.
Soos chased after him yelling "Mr. Pines! RECONSIDER!!"
Judging from that, things went just as poorly here as they did on my phone call.
"Guys, that's enough. If Stan won't get our home back from Gideon, then we'll have to do it ourselves," Dipper insisted.
"Gideon may have the upper hand, but we have something he doesn't. The journal!" Dipper announced as he pulled it out of his vest.
I liked seeing Dipper being so enthusiastic and persistent. I would never tell him this, being only friends, but it was very attractive.
"Any ideas?" I asked hopefully.
"Well, the bus to take us out of Gravity Falls comes at sundown, so we gotta act fast. If we wanna stay in town we've got to get Gideon to hand over that deed."
"Don't forget about the fence and Gideon's guards," I added.
"Right. What can we use to defeat Gideon?" Dipper thought aloud, opening his journal.
We flipped through the pages, exploring potential ways to defeat Gideon. As we continued to flip through Mabel took notice in one page in particular.
"Whoa, what's this?" she asked curiously.
The journal entry spanned two pages. Both were worn and dirty like the rest of the pages but this one was especially eye-catching. The pages were covered in symbols and maze-like patterns. It looked as thought the pages were part of a larger puzzle.
"I stared at this page for hours. It seems like a blueprint to build some kind of strange futuristic super-weapon-"
"BORING!" Mabel yelled, interrupting Dipper. "To defeat those guards, we need some kind of army."
Suddenly, I had an idea. I took the book out of Dipper's hands and rapidly flipped through the journal until I landed on the gnome page. I turned the book around to face them. "How's this for an army? The gnomes!"
"Uhh..." Mabel nervously tugged on her sweater collar.
"Don't even worry about it, Mabel. It's not gonna be a repeat of last time," I assured. "Jeff's not that dumb. I don't think." I added, recalling my first day in Gravity Falls when Dipper and I saved Mabel from the gnomes.
"Okay," Dipper announced. "As soon as we're all up tomorrow, we'll go into the forest and gather the gnomes."
"Fine, but if Jeff tries anything, I wont hesitate to use my grapping hook on him," Mabel smiled, holding up her weapon.
"I would expect nothing less," I agreed.
Shortly after, the three of us went to bed. It was getting late and we wanted to be well rested for our fight with Gideon the next day. Like usual, Mabel fell asleep first. Like me, Dipper unintentionally stayed up thinking some nights. I think this was one of them.
Answering my suspicions, I heard Dipper whisper, "Y/n?"
"Yeah?" I whispered back.
"How'd your phone call go?"
"No better than your talk with Stan," I replied.
"What did your parents say?"
"My mom just said that she 'couldn't explain' it and I'd 'understand eventually'. Whatever that means."
He climbed off the pull-out couch and sat down on the floor beside me. I sat up so I could see him better in the dark room.
"I'm sorry things are so complicated with Gideon, your mom and-" he stopped himself. I knew he was going to say Bill.
"You can say his name, you know."
"Sorry. I just didn't want to upset you."
"I don't get upset that easily. I don't need you to shield me from my problems."
He sighed. "You're right. I just worry about you." He took my hand in his. "I know I shouldn't because you're like the bravest and smartest person I know... but Bill's a pretty scary guy. He must have some sort of agenda... and it clearly involves you. Why else would he pretend to be your friend for so long?"
Truthfully, I had never really thought about it before. I just brushed it off as a cruel act preformed by Bill, nothing else. The last thing he said to me rang through my head, "And you, my lightning bolt, the darkest future of all... it's never too late to join me..." I chose not to think much of it. It had to be a lie, Bill was great at those. I wasn't even going to pretend to know what the nickname lightning bolt was about.
"I don't know, Dips," I murmured as I laid back down. "I wish I knew."
Dipper pulled a blanket off the couch and laid down beside me. "Me too."
* * *
Dipper and I were shaken awake the next morning by Mabel. She jokingly bothered us about our sleeping next to each other, even though all of us knew it wasn't like that.
We took turns using the bathroom to get ready. Once all of us were finished, we left for the forest. We wandered around until the landscape started to look familiar.
"I think this is their hiding spot," Dipper stated.
"I wonder what Gnomes do out here all alone in the forest?" Mabel thought aloud.
I pulled back a bush and the three of us screamed. Before us was a naked Jeff, surrounded by a bath tub full of squirrels.
"Do do do.." he sang, before realizing he had watchers. "Aah! This...this is normal. This is normal for gnomes. Scrub scrub." He took one of the squirrels and scrubbed his armpit.
Dipper, Mabel and I exchanged a revolted look before directing our attention back to Jeff.
"Well, well, well. Look who came crawlin' back," he reveled as he leaned back in his tub. "So, changed your mind about marryin' me, did ya Mabel?"
"Ew, hardly. We need your help. And seriously, ew!" she emphasized.
Jeff sat upright in his tub. "You want our help? After you left me at the alter? No dice!"
"Okay, how about this," I proposed. "If do us a favour, we'll get you a new queen."
"One even more beautiful than me," Mabel piped in, seeing where I was going.
"Her name's Gideon, and she has lovely white hair," Dipper convinced, raising his brows.
Jeff seemed happy with our offer. "Whoa. Mature woman, huh? It's a deal!"
The four of us continued to discuss our plans until everything was settled. Then, Dipper, Mabel and I left the forest and went to the Mystery Shack.
As we walked closer, I could see something being built beside the shack. It was blue and tall, hidden behind some wooden walls. It wasn't finished yet, but it looked to be a giant Gideon statue. Probably was part of the construction for Gideonland, which was just another reason why we needed to get the shack back.
When the three of us reached the fence, we watched as Bud Gleeful alerted Gideon of us. He stopped what he was doing and met us at the fence, his guards stood behind him, making Gideon look especially short.
"Last chance, Gideon," I warned. "Give us the deed to the shack, or else."
"Am I supposed to say, "Or else what?" He laughed, unamused.
"Yes, you are supposed to say that. Now!" Mabel yelled.
At her command, the gnome army came swarming out of every opening. Two of the gnomes shot down Gideon's body guards with their hats. Riding a deer, the gnomes broke through the fence. At the sight of them, Gideon tried to run, but he was surrounded.
"You're surrounded by an unstoppable gnome army, now give us back our deed and get off our property!" Dipper demanded.
"And let the marriage ceremony begin!" Jeff added.
Gideon sighed in defeat. "Very well. I suppose this deed belongs to-" without warning, Gideon pulled out a whistle and blew it. The gnomes covered their ears and some fell to the ground. This wasn't part of the plan. "Ha! What do you know! Works on gnomes too!" he gawked and blew the whistle again.
"Stop!" Jeff pleaded, covering his ears. "We'll do anything! How can we serve you your majesty!" He bowed.
A mischievous grin crept across Gideon's face. "Subdue them!"
The gnomes grunted and charged at us. In mere moments, we were restrained at the hands of Gideon. We struggled to get free, but it was no use.
"I have to admit, kids, I am impressed by your creativity!" Gideon marveled. "How did you ever..."
"Let go!" Dipper demanded. In his struggles, Journal 3 slipped out of his vest and thudded on the ground. "Oh no!"
"No! Could it be? Is it?" Gideon let out a maniacal laugh as he picked up journal 3. "Of course! It all makes sense! The one place I'd never think to look! You had it the whole time! And to think I actually considered you a threat!" Gideon flicked Dipper's nose.
I tried to struggle against the gnomes again, but I couldn't break free. Why did Gideon even want the journal?
"No! Give it back!" Dipper insisted.
"Every victory you had was because of your precious book!"
"Give it back or I'll-"
"Or you'll what, boy? You'll what? Huh? Huh? No muscles. No brains. Face it! You're nothin' without this! Bye bye forever, y'all!" One last time, Gideon blew his whistle, forcing the Gnomes to carry us away into the forest.
Over the loud scurrying of the gnomes, I could hear Dipper yell, "NOOOOO!" But it was too late.
The gnomes carried us a short way into the forest before dropping us onto the ground and scurrying off.
Mabel and I stood up, but Dipper remained sitting in the dirt.
"Next time, do your own dirty work!" Jeff yelled as he ran past us.
Dipper sighed. "Well, that's it. Guess the bus should be here soon."
"What? Dipper, don't give up!" Mabel pleaded. "You always have a plan!"
"No! The journal always has a plan! Think about it, Mabel, Gideon was right. The only courageous or cool things I've ever done have been because of that journal. Without it, I can't help you, or Y/n, or Stan, or anyone."
"That's not true," I breathed. "We've just... We've got to think of something... what do we do?" I asked, feeling lost.
He looked up from the ground to face me, his brown eyes filled with remorse. "What can we do?"
His tone forced me to realize the situation. Whether I liked it or not, Gideon had won and I couldn't do anything to change that. Dipper and Mabel were going home and I was staying in Gravity Falls, without them.
* * *