flying-guinea-pig:

A/N: Is
this Integration AU … Hm. Maybe, kind of, not entirely?  This was more of an attempt to bridge TAU with
the season 2 finale.

Part one 

—

Part Two

“I
swear I didn’t do this on purpose.”

Mabel
rolled her eyes. “I know you didn’t, Dipdop.”

They were
sitting on a log at the side of the road. The bus driver was making a hurried
phone call. Waddles was exploring the little pond next to the road and was
already covered in duckweed.

“It’s
just, I don’t want you to think that I did some kind of spell so I couldn’t
leave and I had to stay and become Grunkle Ford’s lab assistent because I promised to go with you and besides I
don’t even want to stay not really, even
if Grunkle Stan and Ford weren’t leaving soon to sail the seven seas or
whatever they are planning and -”

“Shhh.”
She put her finger against his lips and he got the hint. “You’re
rambling.”

His face
stung from the little cuts and bruises crashing through the backseat window had
left him with. “Yeah,” he said. “Sorry. It’s just… I don’t
understand what’s happening.”

“Hey,
we’ll figure it out,” Mabel promised. She punched his shoulder. “You
wanted to stay with Grunkle Ford and become Doctor McNerdmeister, right? Here’s
your chance! And I’ll be your awesome lab assistent. We could be the Science
Twins!”

“I’m
never calling myself that.”

“Science
Twins?”

“The
other thing.” Dipper smiled. “Thanks sis. I’m sorry I ruined our bus
drive home.”

“Pfft,
it’s nothing. You said it bro-bro. Whatever happens, we’ll do it
together.”

They shared
a smile, before the sound of screeching wheels and a thundering exhaust pipe announced
the arrival of the Stanmobile.

“Besides,
Grunkle Ford can probably fix this. We’ll be back on our way home before you
know it!”

The doors
of the Stanmobile opened and both Grunkles ran out – Grunkle Stan a bit short
of breath, Grunkled Ford with his hand hovering near the futuristic gun at his
side.

“What
happened? Are you kids okay? Dipper?”

“You’ll
never believe it,” Mabel said. “Come on Dipper, show them!”

Dipper
sighed and stood up. He carefully took three steps towards the bus, and waved
his arms in front of him.

“Did
he hit his head or something?” Grunkle Stan said out of the corner of his
mouth, his eyes on Dipper.

Dipper
groaned. “No, wait, it was here somewhere -”

His hand
made contact with something invisible and slightly elastic. With a faint
twanging sound the entire world seemed to ripple for a moment, colours
appearing and disappearing so quickly it was almost as if he had imagined them.
He pushed again. It burned… strangely. Kind of cold and tingly.

“I can’t
get through for some reason.”

If anyone
could figure this out, it was Grunkle Ford. He hoped –

“Bill.”

“Hey!”

Dipper
turned around. The sound of protest had come from Mabel, who was being pushed
back by Grunkle Ford.

“Hey
knucklehead, what are you doing?” Grunkle Stan said, when Ford took an
obviously defensive pose between Dipper and the others. “Are you crazy?
You can’t point that thing at the kids!”

“Stay
out of this Stanley.” Grunkle Ford kept his gun trained on Dipper, his
other hand busy with keeping Mabel behind him. “That is not Dipper. It’s Bill.”

“Don’t
be stupid!” Mabel argued. “We beat Bill! Besides, when he possesses
someone their eyes… go all wonky…”

Her voice
trailed off and she stopped fighting against Ford’s hold.

“Dipper?”

Why did she
sound so careful suddenly? So… uncertain?

“What?”
He asked. “Have I got something on my face?”

“Quit
the games, Cipher!” Grunkle Ford gestured with the gun. “Let Dipper
go!”

“But I’m
not Bill!” What was going on? Why did they suddenly all look so horrified?
“This makes no sense – I’m just me!”

“This
is your last warning Cipher,” Grunkle Ford threatened. “Let Dipper go
or I will shoot.”

Dipper’s
mouth fell open. “You can’t be serious,” he said, and hated how his
voice cracked. “I’m your nephew!”

Grunkle
Fords reply was bitter. “Dipper is better off dead than possessed by the
likes of you.”

“GAAAAAAAAAAA-”

“Mabel!”

With a
fierce war cry Mabel avoided both Grunkles and jumped at Dipper. He slammed
against the invisible shield, reality rippling, his back burning even through
his clothes where he touched the containment bubble.

“Let
my brother go!”

She
pummeled his chest and face and – did she just knock out a tooth? Seriously!?

“Mabel,
stop! Stop! It’s me! Cut it ou̢t̝͉̩̟!”

He pushed
her away and was suprised to notice she skidded back a lot further than
expected. He hadn’t pushed her that hard, right?

Grunkle
Stan grabbed her by her sweater before she could throw herself at Dipper again,
but Mabel in full Battle Mode was not easily stopped.

“-
ouch, Mabel, quit it – my nose damn it
all to heck – not the ears! Not the
ears!”

Dipper took
some deep breaths and tried to ignore the weird painful-but-not-exactly feeling
from his back. Grunkle Ford’s gun made an ominous humming sound.

“Your
plan failed, Bill.”

Dipper ducked
before a harsh light burst from the barrel. This had to be a nightmare, right?
This was not really happening? Grunkle
Ford wasn’t really shooting at him, right?

“You
can’t cross the barrier, not even in a possessed body.” Grunkle Ford
accentuated his words with another blast from the gun. Dipper just barely
missed it – one of the flaps of Wendy’s hat caught fire and Dipper threw the
hat on the ground with a little scream.

“I’m
sorry Dipper,” Grunkle Ford said, his voice rough. He turned some dials on
the side of his gun. The humming became louder, the glow from the barrel
brighter. “But I can’t let Bill escape. I won’t. Saving the world is more important than saving my family. I’m
– I’m so sorry.”

Dippers
eyes widened. His back was pressed against the barrier, making ripples in the
sky. Grunkle Ford pointed the gun right between his eyes. Nowhere to go.

“You idiot!”

The gun was
knocked aside but still went off – the blast going wide and hitting the
rippling sky. Dipper took the opportunity to hide behind the log.

Wake up
Dipper… Wake up, it’s just a nightmare…

“What
did you do!” Grunkle Ford yelled at Stan, who was keeping him pinned on
the ground. “Do you want Cipher
to win?”

“ You
listen here, Ford. Nothing is more
important than family,” Grunkle Stan said. “We made that mistake
once, we’re not making it again. We’ll fix Dipper. No matter what.”

“You
will put the entire world at risk -”

“The
world can go to hell for all I care! Listen
– that thing inside the kid can’t leave, so you have plenty of time to figure
something out, smart guy. Something that doesn’t include shooting out your
nephew’s brains!”

“Um,
guys?”

Mabel
wasn’t restrained any more, but she hadn’t moved closer to Dipper. Her eyes
were large and glued on the sky.

Dipper followed
her gaze and swallowed.

This time
the ripples hadn’t died out when he stopped touching the barrier. The sky was
filled with colours and glowing lights, a huge bubble of weirdness surrounding
the entire Gravity Falls area, almost like the sky of Weirdmageddon, the sky of
Dippers nightmares, but stretched thin and contained –

He could
see the ruptures. Two small ones, near the bus. A big, pulsing one higher up in
the sky.

The blasts
Dipper had avoided. It had to be.

“No no
no no no no!” Ford pushed
Grunkle Stan aside. “I must have hit the right frequency by accident –
were did he go? The barrier is going to fall, we can’t let him escape, we must fix this but how, who knows what might happen if this breaks -”

Dipper
wasn’t going to wait around to be shot at again. He started running.

Yelling
behind him, the humming of the gun, the crackle of leaves and twigs as he left
the road and escaped into the forest –

He should
have watched were he was going.

He slammed
into the barrier, now visible as a layer of hypnotic colours. The sound of
running and yelling was getting closer.

He loved
Mabel. And Grunkle Stan, and Grunkle Ford. But they were convinced he was
possessed by Bill and they’d tried to
shoot him, he had to get away until everything made sense again –

He pushed
against the barrier with everything he had and through the burning he felt it,
finally, yield.

The barrier
fractured. Colours and lights burst out, spreading through the skies beyond
Gravity Falls.

His own
words, spoken not that long ago even though it felt like ages, were the last
thing that echoed through his head before his mind was swallowed by golden
light.

I don’t know what’s gonna happen in the future.
But whatever it is, you don’t need to fear, because we’ll do it together.

He was
alone.

—

flying-guinea-pig:

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 Cypher
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
Cypher.

Bill Cypher
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.