Chapter 3: Calling

My apologies for taking forever to update this, but I appreciate you all for being patient with me. On top of my already crazy life, I had to remember where this was headed, but I remember now so this story will be back in the list of updates along with Gideon's Endgame as I have been stumped on both for about a month now. Once again, thanks once again for your patience, you guys are awesome. Enjoy!

Bill sat up with a start as large drops of sweat poured down his face, his smoky eyes wide with terror. Another nightmare plagued the former demon after his relaxing shower and book that he often caught up on when heading to bed, especially after a nice chat with Mabel. The night seemed normal and he was able to slip into a sound sleep without much trouble, but his demonic half had a little more than a relaxing night in store for the blonde, one that scared him worse than the previous night. He just won't rest until he got what he wanted. I guess the next few days off will be well deserved.

With his heart pounding wildly in his chest with the threat to break free from his rib cage, Bill took control of his breathing and began calming himself down as he turned to the clock on the nightstand next to his bed, the time reading 6:30am. Looking back ahead of him, Bill threw the covers back and swung his legs over the side of bed while placing his face in his hands, a heaving sigh escaping his mouth.

"And here I thought that nightmare the night before was bad." Bill quietly spoke as he ran a hand through his messy hair that was half saturated with sweat. "I know exactly what he wants me to do, but I promised Mabel I wouldn't do it and I'm not going back on my word because he wants to make my life a living nightmare."

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Bill got to his feet and made his way out of his room, down the stairs, and to the kitchen with his first stop being the refrigerator. Opening the door, Bill grabbed the fruit punch juice and closed the door while grabbing a blue tumbler glass from the drain board, Mabel having stacked them neatly in a row in the drain board. Looking at the glass, Bill smirked as he remembered the system Mabel always used when helping him wash the dishes whenever she stayed over after eight o' clock.

"The blue cups always go with the blue and the multi-colors cups always go on the other side of the board." Bill repeated to himself, the words of Mabel playing in his mind clearly as if the girl was standing right next to him to remind him of her system. "She always had a way to organizing things around here."

Pouring the fruit punch in the glass, Bill stood over the sink and took small sips of the flavorful liquid as pieces of his nightmare came back to him, playing in a shattered sequence as if trying to piece together so it could make sense to him. A baby with a full head of blonde hair and silver eyes, a toothy grin on Mabel's face as she held the little bundle of joy, and the cooing of the tiny baby as he saw his mother and father for the first time. As Mabel walked over to Bill so he could see the baby, she quite didn't make it over to him in order for him to see the bundle of joy as tragedy struck before the two could celebrate. A vile voice and an evil wind to follow that voice, one that he couldn't shake out of his head no matter how hard he tried. An evil smile with fangs sprouting from that mouth, a woman's scream off in the distance, and long claw like finger nails. While the first part made sense, the rest of it were as it came in, shattered. That's all Bill could describe it as. Sipping more on the juice, Bill closed his eyes briefly as he tried to force the shattered pieces to the back of his mind so to forget about it. What's the point of trying to remember a dream if it were in bits and pieces?

Leaning back against the counter behind him, Bill opened his eyes and took in a deep breath, grasping his cup firmly in his hands as he tried to recall a more pleasant thought so to replace what he couldn't piece together in the start, a thought of him and Mabel would be more appropriate. As the blonde tried to refocus his mind, he didn't notice the shadow that ran along the wall in the dimly lit kitchen, it being projected by the peak of the sun that was sitting on the horizon as the rays danced along the forest green walls of the kitchen. A gust of cool air brushed against the man's bare chest and arms as goose bumps formed along his muscular arms.

"Awake so soon?" A voice that Bill displayed disgust at hearing each time. "I thought you were more the 10am type, not a quarter to seven."

Sighing, Bill turned to the refrigerator to see the ghost of his evil half leaning against it with his arms crossed across his chest and a vile smirk on his face. Oh how he never grows tired of seeing that face.

"I missed you too." Bill sarcastically spoke as he turned away from the ghost and took another sip of his punch. "What took you so long?"

"You know, that was a very interesting dream you had there." Evil Bill continued as he lightly laughed. "That was such a cute baby. I think he resembled you down to the very last detail, but since you didn't finish the dream, we will never know now will we? What a shame too as you two looked so happy together."

Finishing his punch, Bill placed the cup in the sink as a growl erupted from his throat, his vision still turned away from the ghost.

"Get to the point and tell me why you are really here!" Bill growled. "And I know it's not to talk about that nightmare you inflicted me with!"

"Who said it was me who did it?" Evil Bill nonchalantly replied. "It could have been just a random dream. Those do happen you know."

Turning to the ghost, Bill narrowed his eyes at the demon, indicating how serious he was at that moment. It's one thing to take sleep away from him, but to take away his sleep and taunt him, that was going too far!

"Must you be so serious all the time?" Evil Bill retorted with a look of disgust. "You know, if you never learn to smile, you're putting unnecessary stress on yourself and that can lead to a number of health troubles on your behalf. I would really hate to see that happen to you because then, what would Mabel do without you?"

The blonde human crossed his arms across his chest and kept his glare on the ghost.

"Fine, if you must know, I came to talk some sense into you about becoming one once more." The ghost sighed heavily. "It's not fun just being me without the other half of me, you."

"I told you I'm not going back so flip that record over!" Bill sternly replied. "I made a promise to Mabel and that's how I'm keeping it. I love her and the last thing I'm going to do is scare her away because she doesn't know which me she is dealing with."

"You use to not care about what a mere mortal thought." Evil Bill expressed. "Yet you meet her and you change dramatically? I'm shocked at you."

Gripping his chest as if he were having a heart attack, the ghost mocked in a manner that he was going to pass out.

"I don't know you anymore." Evil Bill fake cried as he hit the floor in a dramatic way. "Just who are you?!"

Bill rolled his eyes at his other half's dramatic acts as the ghost rolled around on the floor in front of him, mocking a dying cough.

"Oh, cut the dramatics!" Bill demanded. "Bottom line and let it sink in this time, I'm not going back and there is nothing you can do to persuade me to do so. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed so to be rested for my date with Mabel later on. When you're done formally acting, you know where the door is and don't make me show you! Again!"

Stepping over his other half's body, Bill made his way to the stairs and began up them while not bothering to look back, but a headshake is all the human had in response to what just took place. With Bill out of sight, the evil spirit got to his feet as a vile smirk reappeared on his face.

"Oh, I know where the door is Bill, don't you worry about that." The spirit spoke as he vanished from the kitchen, a small maniacal laugh following in his wake.

Mystery Shack

The sun has risen a bit more on the horizon and bringing with it, the summer heat of the day with the temperature already reading seventy five degrees at six fifty in the morning. In the underground lab of the building, the activity of the portal has caused the computer adjacent to the gate way to begin printing out its activity at a rapid rate, a pile of paper beginning to form below the printer.

After staying calm for so long, the center of the portal began spinning wildly as a bolt of electricity striked out at the ground, creating another small smoking crater in the dirt and sending out a wave of fluctuations that have been investigated into, but has once again stumped Stan as even he can't seem to figure out what is going on with the gateway.

Upstairs in the attic bedroom, the twins were sleeping soundly as Mabel laid on her back and Dipper laid on his right side, his back to both his sister and the desk where his journal laid. Despite the heavy, thick mugginess that had already filtered into the morning air, a strong wind blew the already cracked triangular window open with force and with it, the cover of the journal '3'. Numerous pages were turned thanks to the strong wind with the book being opened to and stopped at the center that explained journal '3's area of the gateway's master plan. The wind eventually died down, leaving the book open at that page.

A stray fluctuation from the portal raced through the shack as a turquoise light dimly shined beneath the floor boards in the attic bedroom, slightly disturbing the sleeping Waddles, but neither of the Pines' it seemed. The slightly older pines' eyes fluttered slightly as the girl twisted her head to the right so to remain sleeping, but something within the room appeared to be disturbing her due to her turning to her left side so to fall back into a sound sleep. Mabel's eyes then tiredly fluttered open with her sitting up and turning to the open book, her focusing on it as if it spoke to her.

Throwing the covers back, Mabel climbed out of bed and carefully crept over to the desk while Waddles watched on and recorded his owner's every move. Mabel slowly picked the open book up as her eyes stared down at it, a slight glaze forming over her deep chocolate pools, giving her the appearance that she has gone into a trance. Gripping the edges of the book, the eighteen year old lifted her head, turned around, and began walking towards the door of the bedroom in a robotic fashion. Passing the threshold and her pet that was woken up when he heard her get out of bed, the girl carefully walked down the steps outside of her bedroom and to the gift shop where the secret gateway to the underground lab is.

Inputting the password to the vending machine as Stan has done so many times before, the elevator slowly creaked open wide enough with Mabel walking right in and down the stairs to the lab, a turquoise light being emitted so to light the girl's path to the underground lab. One step at a time the girl walked while gripping the book tightly in her hands, her eyes looking ahead of her so to make her way down the steps safely and into the elevator. The doors opened with her walking in and closed behind her as it began descending down to the ground floor where the underground lab is located. The vehicle stopped and opened with Mabel continuing her robotic motion away from the elevator and toward the room that contained the gateway, its bright center shining its whitish turquoise light through the area as if calling the girl to come to it in a whisper only heard by her. Robotically walking into the room containing the gate way, Mabel took a few steps towards the bright light of the portal and set the book down in front of her as her glassy eyes turned towards the portal.

"I brought this to you." Mabel voiced in a mono-tone. "Just as you asked me."

At the threshold of the attic bedroom, Waddles had become restless with waiting for his owner's return and began squealing loudly. While Mabel had been known to leave the room for mere seconds to even a few spare minutes at a time at this time of morning, this is the longest she'd been gone in the pig's opinion and had become restless with awaiting her return back to the bedroom.

Dipper, who was sleeping soundly, was awoken by the sounds of the pig's endless squealing and released a sigh of tired frustration at being drug out of a good sleep. Of all the time the pig had to whine, it had to be that morning! That morning of all mornings!

"Mabel!" Dipper tiredly whined as he rolled over onto his back, throwing a lazy arm over his face. "Your pig is going nuts and I'm trying to sleep!"

Normally the response the younger pines got was Mabel putting the pig in bed with her so to quell the pet's argument or protest, but this time, that was not the case as the whining squeals continued. Sitting up, Dipper did his best to focus his vision as to where the whines were coming from and noticed the pig by the door. Throwing the covers back, the brunette swung his legs over the side and put his feet to the floor as another wave of fluctuations lit up the floor beneath him. All the boy could do was sigh at what he was dealing with so early in the morning. This isn't how anyone should start their day!

"I can't wait until Stan figures out what is causing those fluctuations." Dipper tiredly spoke as he looked over at Mabel's bed to notice that girl was missing. "No wonder Waddles isn't silent yet."

Raising an eyebrow at his sister's sudden disappearance as her time to rise early has greatly fallen off as the two grew over the years, an inkling in the back of his mind nudged his attention to the desk where he finds his journal nowhere in sight. The first thing that came to his mind was where did he have it before bed as it could be under the bed or even in his backpack where he has been known to leave the dingy old book after tirelessly rummaging through it while trying to solve a mystery. Knowing the young adventurer and his need to stay in touch with the paranormal happenings in Gravity Falls, the book could be right up under his nose, but considering how early it was, the missing book was his last concern at the moment, but calming down his sister's aggravated pet was his main priority.

Making his way to the pet, the floor boards in the room shook as another wave slammed the old building with a threatening creak to tear the place apart if another wave of that magnitude were to hit again. Waddles scuttled to his feet and over to Dipper, frightened by the recent wave.

"Ok, I've had just about enough of those!" Dipper declared. "Waddles, stay here, I'll go find Mabel, and try to investigate those fluctuations myself as they are too frequent to be considered random."

Crossing the threshold, Dipper made his way down the stairs and to the gift shop with the first thing he noticed being the vending machine entrance to the underground lab being open. Raising a curious eyebrow, Dipper cautiously and slowly walked to the entrance. Knowing that he, Stan, and Mabel are the only occupants of the tourist trap to have the secret code to get into the lab, only someone with the code would be in the lab, even this early in the morning.

Pushing aside any analysis that was trying to get the gear grinding in his head, Dipper entered the area and pulled the vending machine up so to not to tip off Stan in the event he awakened and found that door open as following that would be an hour long lecture about keeping secrets of the tourist trap just that, a secret even from Wendy and Soos!

Taking the avenues to the room containing the gateway, Dipper walked in and stopped in his tracks at spotting his sister standing in front of the portal with a book lying open on the ground in front of her. From where he stood in the doorway of the room, Dipper caught bits and pieces of what his sister was saying, her speaking as if she was having a conversation with someone.

"I'm so sorry." Dipper heard Mabel speak. "It's terrible how long you've been cooped up in that terrible place and yes, I'll help you out so you can make new friends out here."

The pages to the journal began flipping and landed on the transfer incantation that was recently discovered to not only transfer others into the dreams of another, but also release entities if need be unlike journal '2' that just has the entity release incantation with no alternative uses. Turning her glazed eyes to the book below her, Mabel stiffly leaned down and picked the book up as her eyes fell on the incantation. Her mouth wasn't open enough before the book was snatched out of her hands as her brother appeared before her, him being the only thing she could before her.

"Mabel, what were you about to do with this incantation?!" Dipper fiercely spoke as he grabbed Mabel by the shoulders and shook her. "Do you not remember the warning I gave you about this and the consequences that would follow if you didn't follow it?"

The girl didn't respond, but yet, gave her brother a blank stare.

"Mabel?" Dipper voiced to the girl again as he stared into her lifeless eyes that are normally so full of life. A look of confusion crossed his features at noticing how deadpanned his sister appeared to be before him, not answering or replying to him as he spoke to her when normally the girl was full of life. "Mabel, are you ok?"

The girl remained silent as Dipper waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention, but noticed the direction that her eyes were staring in. Turning around to the portal, Dipper noticed how calm the center of the gateway was.

"Ok, I'm not sure what's going on here, but I've got to get you out here before Stan wakes up." Dipper expressed as he turned back to Mabel and began moving the girl out of the room with the book tucked under his arm. Glancing back to the gateway once more, Dipper made his way out of the room with his sister and began towards the elevator. Halfway to the elevator, Mabel collapsed to the floor which surprised Dipper as fell down with her.

"Mabel!" Dipper screamed as he began shaking her fiercely to wake her up while pushing the worst case scenarios out of his mind as to what could have caused her to collapse. "Mabel, speak to me! Are you ok?"

"Di—pper-?" Mabel's groggy voice replied as her eyes fluttered open and she turned them to her brother. "What's going on?"

A wide smile crossed the boy's face at seeing his sister reply to him after trying numerous times to get the girl's attention before. Noticing that she was trying to sit up, Dipper assisted her and helped the girl to her feet. Mabel looked around and turned to Dipper with confusion.

"Dipper, why are we here?" Mabel asked as she dusted herself off. "Did Stan need us to come back down here?"

"I was going to ask you the same question." Dipper replied. "Waddles started whining because you didn't come back right away, woke me up, another fluctuation appeared, and then I noticed you were gone. I came down here to investigate the fluctuations myself and found you standing in front of the portal talking to someone while on the verge of using the transfer incantation. I called you, but you didn't answer me so I began dragging you out here and then you collapsed. Now the question is, what were you doing in there without me or Stan and about to use the incantation at that?"

"I don't remember coming down here or speaking to someone." Mabel answered as she rubbed the back of her head lightly. "How'd that happen?"

"But somehow you did end up down here." Dipper voiced with a light sigh. "You know what, let's not worry about it and just head to back to bed ok? Waddles will be happy to see you."

"Ok!" Mabel instantly perked up. "I'll race you to the bedroom and the last one to make it, you, will have to make the other breakfast."

The brunette took off towards the elevator as her brother followed suit, both forgetting that the journal was lying in the hall leading to the gateway.

Bill (12noon)

"Mabel, you look great today." Bill rehearsed in his bedroom mirror as he ran a small comb through his blonde hair. "No, you look fantastic today and love the new shoes. Yep, that will do it!"

Having woken up for the second time that day from a sleep that could be described as his most restful in a while, Bill fixed himself up, threw on his best outfit, and was putting on the finishing touches while rehearsing what he would say to Mabel once the two met for their day long date. Running the comb through his hair once more, Bill smiled to himself as he fixed his top hat on his head, positioning it at the left angle of his hair.

"Perfect." Bill smiled. "Alright, off to get my date and I know she will be looking just delightful!"

Grabbing his keys from his dresser top, Bill made his way down the steps and soon out the door where he made sure he locked the door behind him. As the blonde skipped his way down the path, a stranger wearing a dark tux, black leather shoes, and a bowler hat crossed onto the sidewalk that the blonde was walking happily on. Silently, the stranger began walking four steps behind the blonde.

Broken China Doll chapter 5 to be posted next, that chapter being the one to reveal the start of Pacifica's heart breaking existence! Stay tuned!

Also, please don't forget to review!