"EENY. MEENY. MINY. YOU!" Bill shouted whilst flashing Dipper and Mabel's zodiac symbols.

"WAIT!" Ford shouted desperately. "I surrender."

Bill looked on with satisfaction. "Good choice." He said, dropping Dipper and Mabel and removing Stan and Ford's cage.

"Don't do it Ford, it'll destroy the universe!" Stan said, shaking Ford.

"OH, EVEN WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE YOU PINES TWINS JUST CAN'T GET ALONG." Bill said, mockingly. Glowing red ropes tied Stan down.

"My only condition is that you let my brother and the kids go." Ford said.

"FINE."

Dipper and Mabel looked on in horror. "No, Grunkle Ford don't trust him!" Dipper yelled. Ford walked towards Bill.

"IT'S A DEAL!" Bill shouted, his hand being engulfed in blue fire and his voice echoing through the halls of the Fearamid. Ford reached out and shook the flaming hand. Bill's body turned to stone and a transparent version of him appeared. He laughed and entered Ford's mind. The ropes around Stan vanished. A few minutes later, Bill exited Ford's mind. Glowing red ropes tied down Mabel, Stan and Ford. Bill snapped his fingers Dipper looked on in horror as his family turned to dust.

"You two had a deal!" He said with tears in his eyes.

"WE DID." Dipper was sure that if Bill had a mouth he would be smiling. "BUT NOW WE DON'T." Bill reared back and shot a light blue beam out of his eye. Just as it was about to hit Dipper, he shot up out of bed, startled and confused. It was just a dream. A bad one, sure, but he'd had his fair share of those recently. They were all the same: Bill winning. He had one where he succeeded in destroying the journal then threw his body off of the water tower. There was one where instead of turning Ford to gold, he burnt him alive. Dipper got up out of bed slowly. He looked at his hands. They were shaking. He sighed. Before Gravity Falls he loved sleep. There was just something about the peace and quiet that was comforting, but now he was plagued by constant nightmares reminding him that for every good thing that happened in Gravity Falls, there was a traumatic memory to go along with it. He looked at his clock. It read, '5:07am.' It wasn't like he got any sleep these days anyway. He looked at the scrap of paper on his wall. It was covered in various signatures from his friends and family in Gravity Falls. He opened his desk drawer in his desk to reveal a blue journal with a silver pine tree on the front. Scattered around it were multiple test tubes from an old science kit he used to use. They were labeled, 'invisible ink.' There were also two black lights and some feathers to use when he was writing in the invisible ink. He really needed to hide all this stuff, his journal contained as complete of a log of his summer as he could get and as many notes that he could remember about Gravity Falls' creatures. It would be hard to explain that away without telling his parents the truth. Telling them what had happened had been something he and Mabel had discussed on the bus. They agreed that they might not be able to go back if they told their parents even the mildest of stories. Dipper thought that his mother would probably have a stroke if she heard about Dipper getting possessed or god forbid, Weirdmageddon. A major factor in Dipper's reluctance to reveal the truth was not wanting to relive certain events, those two being the main ones. He remembered getting off the bus and being welcomed home. He didn't have the heart to explain to his parents that home was the place he had left over six hours ago. Tomorrow was the first day of school and he was not looking forward to it in the slightest. He hated school at the best of times (even though he did rather well in it), but he suspected that his experiences in Gravity Falls would make socialising hard (and he wasn't exactly a social animal at the best of times). Sighing, he picked up the vial of invisible ink and one of the feathers. Quietly, he unscrewed the vial's top and dipped the feather in. Picking up the blacklight, he walked over to a bare bit of wall and turned it on. His hands were shaking vigorously. He began writing.

Dipper stepped onto the bus and caught his breath. Just last week he wasn't even sure if he would live to see the rickety old vehicle again. But of course, no one but Mabel knew that. As far as everyone else was concerned, the twins had had a rather boring summer in some random town in Oregon that wasn't on any maps, living with some creepy old relative that they hardly knew. Dipper chuckled inwardly at how wrong they were. It was odd, knowing such a huge secret. Dipper was willing to bet a great deal of money that him and Mabel were the only people in the state who had photographic evidence of supernatural creatures. They had decided that they were going to hide Mabel's scrapbook. They hadn't decided where yet, but they would think of something. Dipper sat down near the front of the bus. Mabel went to the back with her friends. People sometimes assumed that he was annoyed when Mabel did this, but that wasn't the case. He had a very limited tolerance for social interaction and Mabel tended to use it all up on occasion. He went through his phone, looking at all the apps on it. He's pretty sure he deleted half of them on that bus journey. Past him would have never even thought about doing that. Sometimes he wished that he could go back in time and see how his younger self would react to it. All of it. He looked at his texts. No new messages.

"Hello." A person with a familiar English accent said. Dipper turned to look at his friend. With all the craziness that went on in Gravity Falls, he had completely forgotten about Lance. He wondered if he could tell him. He'd never believe him. Before the summer, he had thought of Lance as his best friend other than Mabel. Now, that spot was firmly taken by Wendy, Soos a close second. Come to think of it, he'd even put Pacifica pretty close to the top.

"Hi."

"So how was the Gravity Falls; the place that's so boring it's not even on any maps?" Dipper was slightly shocked that someone would describe Gravity Falls as a 'boring.' To him it was anything but. Then again, there was no way that Lance could know how important the town was to him, so he brushed it off.

"Actually, it was really fun." Dipper said. Lance looked at him with a face of complete bewilderment.

"You have got to be joking." He said. "Are you telling me that you actually enjoyed yourself there? You're not pulling my leg or anything?"

"Nope."

"Well, that's a shocker. By the way, who's that hot fifteen year-old you friended on Facebook?"

"Hm?" Dipper said, snapping out of his train of thought. "Oh, Wendy. She's a friend that I made in Gravity Falls." A friend. That was hideously understating it, but he couldn't say she was 'more than a friend.' That would imply something else.

"And I'm friends with Morgan Freeman. I'll believe it when I see it." Lance laughed. "Dipper Pines, nerd extraordinaire; friends with a fifteen year-old."

"Ha ha." Dipper fake laughed.

"I texted you yesterday. When you were supposed to get back. New phone?"

"Oh, I lost the old one." Dipper said. The old flip-phone he had once used to call a clone of himself was in fact destroyed during Weirdmageddon. Just another story he couldn't tell. He looked at his smartphone. Him and Mabel's parents had gotten each of them one as a birthday present. "Sorry for not texting you back. It was a pretty crazy summer." Dipper was pretty sure that his definition of crazy and Lance's were pretty different.

"What was the craziest thing that happened then?" Lance said. He looked at his friend, who appeared to be deep in thought. He looked into Dipper's eyes and saw the eyes of someone who had faced his worst fears and lived to tell the tale.

"I got arrested."

"Shut up."

"I'm not kidding." Dipper said. "Grunkle Stan got me and Mabel arrested for making counterfeit bills."

"Have you told your parents about it?" Lance asked. Dipper realised that revealing that adventure would pale in comparison to certain other ones.

"Nope."

"What else did you do?"

"Fishing. Fishing was fun. How was your summer?" Dipper deflected the question. As they talked, Lance puzzled over his friend's response. It was so mysterious. He had a similar look in his eyes to people in war documentaries. It puzzled him to no end. He knew Dipper well and knew when he was hiding something. He remembered Dipper being a terrible liar, but not any more. Something was amiss. Or he was just being paranoid. "Hello? Hello? HELLO?!" His train of thought was broken by Dipper waving a hand in front of his face. "Come on." Dipper stepped off of the bus. He looked at the school and realised something: his life would never be normal again. Before Gravity Falls he rarely had dreams, let alone nightmares. These days he was lucky if he only had one throughout the night.

"HELLO!" Dipper whipped around to a fighting stance, then dropped it when he realised it was Mabel.

"Don't scare me like that. I almost punched you."

"Sorry." Mabel said as the two of them walked into the school. "Anyway, HELLO!"

"We literally talked ten minutes ago."

"Well well well." A voice said. Dipper froze. That was something Bill used to say. He turned around.

"Hello Trevor."

"You know what comes next. Hand it over." He was talking about his lunch money.

"No."

"What, you gonna get your sister to protect you?"

"No." Dipper said. Trevor was slightly taken aback by his confidence. Dipper beckoned Mabel away. Once, Mabel would have never done that. Now, she knew Dipper could hold his own. Lance watched from the sidelines.

"Oh bloody hell, what's he gotten himself into now?" He said as Trevor grabbed Dipper by the collar of his shirt.

"Give it to me, or I'll take myself."

"Try me." Trevor pulled back his fist for a punch. Dipper caught it just as the fist was about to hit him. Trevor was shocked, but no matter how hard he pushed he couldn't move his hand forward. Then Dipper promptly kneed him in the crotch. Lance winced, as did the few other guys that were watching. Trevor collapsed on the floor and Dipper walked away. Lance followed him.

"That was impressive." He said. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"My great-uncle taught me." Dipper said as he walked up to one of the many lockers and opened it. Lance took the one next to him. Mabel's was in the other locker room. As Lance was putting all the books he wouldn't need for today away, he noticed Dipper pulling out a blue book with a silver pine tree on the front. "What's that?" He asked.

"Nothing." Dipper shoved the book in his locker and quickly closed the door. "What class do you have first?" He changed subject.

"Math. You?"

"P.E." Dipper said. Truth be told, he was neither looking forward to gym nor dreading it. On one hand, it would be easy now (Globnar had proven that). On the other, he still bore the marks of Weirdmageddon. He knew some of his injuries would scar; in fact he had noticed one on his chin during the bus ride. He walked into the changing room.

"Hey!" Dipper looked in the direction of the shout. His friend Ethan was standing at the far corner of the room. Dipper knew that Lance suspected something was up; he was very perceptive. Ethan… not so much.

"Hello there." Dipper said.

"Hi."

"You didn't say it."

"Fuck." Ethan swore. "How are you?"

"Good. Good." Dipper lied. He really hoped no one questioned the bags under his eyes (which were even bigger than usual). "So, how was it without me?"

"Boring. Although there was that one time where Lance ran into a lamppost."

"Well, I'm gonna lore that over his head forever."

"Hey dipshit!" Someone shouted from the back of the room. "Nice hat, you look like a lumberjack!"

"Thanks!" Dipper shouted back. Mabel had taught him that the way to deal with criticism was to perceive it as a compliment. He pulled off his shirt. "What?" He said. Ethan looked at him in bewilderment.

"What the hell happened to you?" He asked, pointing at the scars, cuts and bruises covering his friend's upper body.

"Errrrr… big woodpecker." Dipper said as he pulled his gym shirt on.

Mabel walked into her first class of the day. Art. She sat down next to her friend Rachel. "HELLO!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

"HELLO!" Rachel shouted back.

"HELLO!"

"HELLO!"

"HEL-"

"Can you try to be a little more mature?" The teacher asked, cutting Mabel's greeting off.

"TAXES!" Mabel shouted as she shoved Rachel. They laughed.

Dipper walked into the house. Mabel followed behind. He shut the door and locked it. He ran up to his room and went to his bookcase. He pulled some books out and placed them on his desk. Mabel walked into the room holding a hammer. Taking it from her, he smashed it against the wall multiple times. He kept at it until there was a rather large hole. He walked over to his desk and pulled his journal out of his bag. He placed it in the hole. He grabbed the tubes of invisible ink, the feathers and the black lights and shoved them in there too. He opened another desk drawer. He pulled the height-altering flashlight out of it and placed it in the hole. Then he picked up the books and covered up the hole with them. He made another hole in Mabel's room, this time behind a poster. It wasn't ideal, but Mabel didn't have many books. Mabel put that summer's scrapbook in the hole and placed the poster over it. Her brother turned to leave. She sat down and sighed. "Dipper?" She said. He looked at her. "Have you been having nightmares about… him?" Dipper sat next to her on his bed.

"Yeah." He sighed. "I've been having them ever since he possessed me. But after Weirdmaggedon they've just gotten worse. It doesn't help that I don't really have anyone to talk to other than you about it." They were silent for what felt like an eternity.

"This is all my fault. I never should have trusted-" Dipper cut her off.

"No, it wasn't. You got tricked. So did me and Great-Uncle Ford."

"Thanks." Mabel said, her voice shaking.

"I should show you something." Dipper said. He got up and beckoned for Mabel to follow him. They walked into his room and he retrieved the black light from its secret compartment. He pointed it at the wall and turned it on.

Mabel gasped.