Final chapter ahoy!
On AO3: Start Here, Current Chapter Here
On FF.net: Start Here, Current Chapter Here
Sheriff Blubs and Durland were surprisingly easy to convince to go
along with letting Dipper take care of the cult – technically they
should have protested, tried to do things by the book, but to be
frank, they didn’t have the space in the Gravity Falls jail to keep
all the cultists in lock-up (it was mostly just a holding tank for
folk to sleep off too much drink, anyway) and taking them in to a
bigger city for trial would be…a problem.
It
was just…more efficient to let the Pines handle it, that was all.
Had nothing to do with wanting to get even or all the supernatural
creatures wanting it even more and getting antsy about it (and
nothing to do with not trusting a human court to help them, to maybe
care about the fact that the humans
had
been attacked but not care that they’d been hurt and killed, that
they’d all seen how little some courts counted their lives for. Of
course not.) Nothing at all.
The
Flock, which had been scattered around the square being petted and
made much of by near everyone (and terrorizing the caged cultists),
turned in near silent unison to watch their master when he drifted
away from the family and, alone, started across the square.
The background chatter in the square began to die off as Dipper
floated toward the cages holding Anthony and Gideon, claws held ready
at his sides and power sparking along his fingers, stopping mid
conversation as heads turned to watch, leaving silence in Dipper’s
wake, like ripples in water.
Tag: anthony
The Scouring: Chapter 09
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The Pines weren’t the only ones who needed rest, as it turned out.
After their first burst of cleaning, breaking magic circles and
bringing out the dead, the town of Gravity Falls simply shut down.The members of the Dinner Club (and quite a few of those who weren’t,
technically, part of them but had come to aid anyway) that didn’t
need as much rest as the others stayed awake to guard the
Anti-Transcendence Alliance – its leaders in particular – as
everyone else either forced themselves to eat before they collapsed
or went to friends and family homes to rest, too tired to eat.The Shack was too far for the Pines to go to, not now, while
everything was still unsettled and they could be needed at a moment’s
notice. They bunked down at Soos and Melody’s home instead, in the
Rameriz living room, curled around each other as best they could
manage with all of them on the king sized air mattress on the floor.
(Grunkle Stan claimed the couch, pretending it was because he was too
tough to join the cuddle pile instead of being too old and in too
much pain, while everyone saw through that and proceeded to haul the
air mattress to butt against it, where they could reach him, and he
them.)Dipper woke up before the rest of his family, as he didn’t need sleep
the way they did. Still, he’d been exhausted enough, body, mind, and
soul, to need some now, buried under their bodies at the bottom of
the cuddle pile (and grateful he was in the Mindscape and didn’t need
to breathe or it would have been highly uncomfortable).He’d thought his bloodlust would die down after the first rush of
blind anger, but lying here, under the heavy, warm, alive
weight of his family, it was just as strong and hot as earlier. As
much as he’d like to deny it, becoming a demon only strengthened the
darkness he’d already had, that Grunkle Stan had warned him about.And right now, he didn’t care.
Those people tried to take his family from him. They wanted to kill
everyone he cared about, destroy their way of life, and enslave his
sister. It may have been the demon, may have been the dark streak in
him, but…He wanted to see them suffer.
The Scouring: Chapter 08
On AO3: Start Here, Current Chapter Here
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Mabel was crying silently over her brother’s body, the tears trailing
over her cheeks to drip onto his face, exhaustion finally catching up
to her and leaving her unable to do much more than curl around him
and sob.
Around them, the town of Gravity Falls and the augmented Dinner Crew
began to clean up, herding the beaten, bruised, and mostly silent
cultists into the cages they’d held the denizens of the forest in,
while others began to see to the wounded. They kept glancing up at
the platform where the Pines crowded around Dipper in worry, some of
them crying and wanting so badly to know if Dipper was all right, but
not quite willing to push themselves into the family’s moment.A few of the braver ones ventured into the church to see what needed
done there to clean up the damage the cult had done and, with cries
of shock and anger, began to bring out those killed, to lay them out
with what dignity they could.Up on the platform, Gideon tried to take advantage of everyone’s
distraction to escape and was nearly skewered by Kiyo’s claws for his
pains. Anthony lay trapped in her claws beside him, glaring at
everyone and grinding his teeth in anger. Each time he opened his
mouth to speak, Ben swooped in to give him another kick, and for his
tiny size his kicks were surprisingly effective (and painful).
The Scouring: Chapter 7
On AO3: Start Here, Current Chapter Here
FF.net not available, keeps giving me 503 error when I try to get into my account. Will update with link later, when it decides to cooperate.
Dipper was screaming.
Mabel fought against the straps on her chair, leather digging into
her skin until she bled, her family fighting as hard as she against
their bonds. Even as they fought the townspeople surged against the
barrier, taking it down with sheer numbers and swarming over the
shocked cultists who swung to respond. Up on the platform, The
Woodsman’s axe missed Gideon by a hairsbreadth, all spurred to action
in protective fury.Dipper was screaming.
Mabel felt the strap over her right wrist give as someone reached her
chair, a knife snapping the last strands holding it to the chair
before the surging crowd pulled them away, the voices of the cultists
still able to chant rising as the armed ones fought to keep the crowd
from the chanters, the lights of the outer circle merging with the
light pouring from the cross and circle holding her brother.Dipper was screaming.
No matter what else happened, Mabel’s mind kept focusing on that one
fact, that one sound over the rest. The screams were muffled and
desperate, and Dipper had only sounded like that once before, one
horrible, terrible day when Mabel had nearly lost him forever and she
was not going to let that happen again she was not going to lose him
not now not like this they couldn’t have her brother!
The Scouring: Chapter 6
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On FF.net: Start Here; Current Chapter Here
Mabel had passed
‘pissed off’ a few miles back and now was seething, occasionally
tugging at her bonds. Bad enough these wacknuts had probably ruined
her sweater – it was a cult thing, she’d lost more sweaters to that
then she wanted to remember – and that they’d threatened her to
make her bro-bro listen to them, but they’d threatened her kids!Okay, four out of
five (because Reina was so one of hers now) since Hank and Vivi (who
was also now hers) were still safe in Portland, but that was low. And
as soon as any of the Pines got free, they were going to pay for
that.She hadn’t seen or
heard anything from Dipper or Willow in hours, and she was pretty
sure by this point it wasn’t just because she and Henry and the other
kids were being threatened.The link between
her and Dipper went both ways, even if it wasn’t as strong from him
to her she could still feel him, and he was scared.
Dipper wasn’t supposed to be scared, he was too powerful for that and
still her dorky brother and she was the only one allowed to terrorize
him!Okay, Stan and her husband and the kids could, but they were family.
Oh, and Wendy and Paz and Soos, but they were pretty much family. So
only family was allowed. Not these…religious fanatic nutjobs.And especially not Gideon. Fucking Gideon.
The Scouring: Chapter 5
Warning for blood and violence in this chapter.
Things are starting to really get heavy, folks.
On AO3: First Chapter Here, Current Here
On FF.net: First Chapter Here, Current Here
From behind the circles came the sound of struggling, scents of panic
and despair, and Dipper saw Willow’s eyes grow wide even as cries of
pain sounded from behind the circle, sounds cut brutally short. The
scent of blood and death hit him seconds later even as Willow cried
out a denial.The circles and chains glowed with blood, pain, and death magic, all
the more potent for the magic of of those killed, and Dipper’s roar
of rage mingled with Willow’s scream.Dipper panicked as the chains binding him began hauling him
backwards, fighting them with everything he had, even as the new
blood made them stronger. Whatever they were doing, he wanted no part
of it!He twisted to try and see what was happening and realized that, while
he’d been glaring at Anthony and Gideon, their underlings had made a
bridge to a smaller set of circles, slowly and gradually enough that
he’d not noticed in between everything else they’d been doing.Faintly he smelled newer blood over the clinging reek of the blood of
more of his friends from the woods, and he recognized it as Willow’s,
that she was panicking even worse than he and had torn her wrists in
her fight to get free, flickers of fire running down her arms to the
panicked cry of the cultist watching her, lost in the rest of the
chaos.A
surge of adrenaline at that scent gave him strength enough to break
an arm free and lunge forward, claws piercing through Gideon’s suit
and skin without a mark only to gouge slashes on the soul beneath. He
hadn’t been aiming for that, but he’d do whatever damage he could
right now if it would make
them stop make them b̷l̀e͢èd
m҉àk̷e҉ ͝t͏h҉em͞ ͞pa͝y҉
.Gideon screamed and terror flowed around Dipper, thick and heady and
strong, as Anthony barked out orders, an edge of panic to his voice
that only Dipper could hear.The chanting grew louder, faster, frightened and determined, and the
smell of blood grew stronger as more was spilled. Dipper’s lunge had
thrown him off balance enough that their magic got a grip before he
could right himself, dragging him backwards hard and fast.
The Scouring: Chapter 4
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On FF.net: Start Here; Current Chapter Here
Have to be somewhere this evening, so have a slightly early update. 🙂
Hank Pines paced the floor of the apartment he shared with his
fiancee, Vivienne Chen. Something was wrong with his family, his
parents and siblings and uncle and grunkle, he was sure of it, but he
had no idea why he was so sure they were in danger.There had been no call, either mundane or occult, to let him know
there was trouble. No message, no reason for this knowledge, nothing
but an unshakable feeling that there was danger threatening his
family.Hank kept finding himself rubbing the pine tree tattooed on his hip
as he paced, the tattoo he shared with his sisters that doubled as an
emergency summon for his uncle. It felt normal, not extra warm to the
touch or sending little sparks through his fingers, and for a few
seconds he was tempted to use it, summon his uncle and convince
himself he was being silly…even if it was supposed to be for
emergencies only and using it would mean at least a good half hour of
convincing his uncle that everything was fine at the very least.Vivi watched him from the kitchen, where she was sitting and nursing
a cup of coffee. “Hank, would you just call your family already?”
she said. “Whatever way you want to, I don’t care how. You’re going
to keep worrying until you do.”Hack ran a hand through his hair, grimacing. “It’s silly, though,”
he protested. “It’s just a feeling, I…there’s no reason to think
anything’s wrong.”“You’ve been pacing for two hours,” Vivi pointed out, laughing to
cover her worry. “Just call already, before you wear out the
carpet. You’ve spent this long living with a demon, something had to
rub off on you, right?” she added, tossing Hank’s own explanation
for the things he could pull off and his blank reactions to the
inexplicable back at him. “Just…do it, okay? Before I pick up a
phone myself.”
The Scouring Chapter 3
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FF.net: Start Here; Current Chapter Here
The teams sent into the forest returned to town a few hours later
victorious. The majority of the manotaurs were trapped in their
caves, most of the gnomes in their colonies, others left hiding in
their homes, the lake and forest themselves and anything too fast or
too dangerous to trap denied the town by spells like the one trapping
the town in its valley, and creatures could be barely made out
flitting or skulking along the edges of the circle, testing its
strength but too fast or strong to catch.
Too strong to catch, but not strong enough to break into the town,
and they sullenly watched from a distance as the teams left to the
accompaniment of wailing of fear and anger and loss rising over the
valley.
Those that weren’t left in the woods were dragged back, spellbound
and wrapped well in rope and chain, caged in the enchanted cages
they’d hauled into town with them. Anything and everything they could
catch and bind, it didn’t matter what, so long as it was magical, was
trapped. Gnome, manotaur, dryad and more, they struggled and cursed
but couldn’t break free of cage or chain, dragged into town or out of
their homes and left guarded in the town square.
If they needed blood to bring Alcor the Dreambender to them and trap
him inside their circle, then the creatures could finally be useful.
And their lives would be useful during the Cleansing, to boost what
magic the Alliance had at their disposal. It didn’t matter how many
died, so long as it was successful.
Really, they should be grateful. For once in their miserable lives,
they’d be doing something worthwhile.
The Scouring, Chapter 2
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In her attic bedroom of the Stanley Pines Memorial Library (which was
bigger on the inside than the outside, thanks to her Uncle, and
wasn’t that a fun party trick), Willow Pines clicked away from her
email (nothing new yet from G-great uncle Ford, who was off
researching The Sight and its different manifestations, both physical
and magical) to follow the link to her uncle’s Wikipedia page, ready
to see what ridiculous new thing the editors had to say about her
uncle and parents, or what silly theories they were batting around
about her and her siblings now.Instead of the Wiki page on Alcor the Dreambender, though, she got a
grey page with the words “Page Cannot Be Displayed” across it,
and she glanced down at the icon at the bottom right of her screen
automatically, blinking in surprise and dismay before groaning at the
red x over it, taunting her that the internet was down.The Library was on its own network and router, thanks to being just
far enough from town to need it and with high enough need for their
own connection, but since firebirds liked to perch on the wires and
not all of them had been magic-proofed by Uncle Dipper yet…not that
it worked well when the birds would just pick at the lines until they
fell but still.She headed downstairs, ready to check the router and eye the lines
before she had to call someone about the internet. Maybe she’d get
lucky this time, and it was just a brief moment of tech and magic not
getting along, or something that could be fixed with a few mini
Snickers once Uncle Dipper was home.She poked her head into the kitchen when she passed it by, hearing
her dad’s voice from inside. He was looking at the phone in
consternation, pressing on the hook. “Phones are out,” he said
when she caught his eye. “Right in the middle of talking to your
sister, too.”“So much for calling about the internet,” Willow said, leaning
against the doorway. “It’s down too.”Henry rolled his eyes and set the phone back down. “Well, with the
way your mother drives, the three of them will be here soon anyway.
They’d already gotten to the edge of town when the phone went out on
us. Guess we’ll just wait a bit and see about getting it fixed after
they get home.”A
car pulled in behind the Library, near the door to the house proper,
tires scraping on the gravel, and Henry looked towards the door with
a frown. “That’s…odd, they shouldn’t be here that
soon…”
he said as car doors slammed.
The Scouring, Chapter 1
Summary: It’s been nearly forty years since The Transcendence changed
the world. In Gravity Falls, things have mostly settled down, and life
is good.Quite a few people outside Gravity Falls still aren’t happy, though.
And
there’s a certain Gravity Falls exile more than willing to help them
achieve their goal – namely, the undoing of The Transcendence – and
their plans are finally ready.
Gideon Gleeful,
former child psychic and very nearly the ruler of Gravity Falls,
Oregon, stormed down the sidewalk in yet another city.The Transcendence
had been a blessing for inmates of the Gravity Falls Maximum Security
Prison. The rush of magic, the
physical quakes being at ground zero had caused had disrupted
everything into a mass of chaos and panic even to the point of
leveling the walls of the prison, making it almost laughably easy for
Gideon and his band of followers to escape in the confusion…even if
they’d had to flee Gravity Falls itself.It was one of the
rare times Gideon cursed his fame and charm. Everyone in Gravity
Falls knew Lil’ Gideon, and he hadn’t changed enough in the short
time he’d been in jail that they wouldn’t still know him, so he still
couldn’t return to the center of his fame and reclaim his proper
place. Not yet, not while they’d still been turned against him by the
Pines family rather than obeying him like they were meant to, when
they’d just lock him back up rather than listen to him and obey his
commands.He
was supposed to be the most magical person or creature of Gravity
Falls, spreading his rule to the surrounding areas piece by piece,
using his charm and spells to rule the mouth-breathing fools with an
iron fist, and he’d been so close to having Gravity Falls firmly
under his foot, but then…Dipper.
Dipper
Pines kept the first and third Journals from him, keeping him away
from the secrets to ultimate power. Dipper Pines kept Mabel, his
Queen, away from him. Dipper Pines
caused The Transcendence, making what magic Gideon had less than
nothing compared to what was in the world today.
So
now Gideon had to get by with what he could of his personality and
personal charms, scraping up magic as he went, followed by the small
band of devoted followers he was gathering day by day that was a
fraction of the size of the following he should have had, and it was
all because of Dipper Pines
and The Damn Transcendence.
DID SOMEONE SAY EPIC FIC WITH GIDEON?!
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