Hello! My name is ThatGuyInThePicture. This is my first fanfic. This takes place immediately following Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls, Alex Hirsch and Disney XD does.

There are many images that may come to your mind when you think about the 'end of the world'. Some think that an asteroid will impact the Earth, shattering its core, sending us into doomsday. Others believe in a book that claims four horsemen will arrive and terrorize us, running amuck across the planet while bringing war, famine, and death with them. Of course, there are many other theories out there, all with true believers waiting for their signal of the end times. But as he stood there, jaw dropped, looking out from the Shack, looking up to the sky, he found himself thinking that no one could have predicted this as a way for us to go out.

The sky itself had been literally torn apart. A giant, portal-like 'X' shaped rip was now sewn into dark red-orange sunset wallpaper. But that wasn't all. It was growing in size. A triangle silhouette had risen to the center of his masterpiece.

Bill. His grinded, maniacal laugh pierced through the diminished sound of chaos coming from all around the valley.

Bill had gotten the Rift. Mabel had taken the wrong backpack when she fled the Shack in tears.

Bill, Mabel, and the Rift. It took longer to process than it should have.

"MABEL!" Dipper screamed to the forest yards away. The 12 year-old quickly scanned the forest line, looking for anything that could tell him which direction his twin had took off in. Then he realized he didn't need to. The blast of power that was fueling the rip's growth was directly ahead of him. He immediately started to run, but the desperate kid was pulled back before he could start a full-on sprint into the maze of trees.

"Dipper, what are you doing?!" Ford demanded as he spun his great-nephew around to face him. Dipper kept trying to escape his arm from stopping his attempt to go and find Mabel. Great Uncle Ford glared in frustration as he continued to hold Dipper back so he didn't make a rash decision. But finding her wasn't a rash decision. It was the only choice. She must have had the Rift, since she grabbed the wrong bag before heading out into the forest.

"I'm going to find Mabel, Ford! Let me go!" Dipper cried out, struggling against his great uncle's strong grip on the backpack.

"Bill has the Rift, Dipper! We have to get out of here!" Stanford pleaded to his nephew while he tugged the backpack to keep Dipper from leaving him. The struggle seemed to go one for a few moments, until the younger was able to unleash the backpack and push Ford to the ground. The old man grunted as he hit the grass, and his "to-be" apprentice snatched the bag before fleeing into the forest.

"DIPPER, COME BACK HERE! IT'S TOO LATE, SHE'S GO-" Ford yelled from just outside the Mystery Shack. Stanford's yelling stopped and was replaced by the screaming of his brother Stanley. Ford's calls to Dipper went unanswered and soon enough, the young boy was out of earshot for to hear his teacher's warnings. Whatever his great uncle was going to tell him, he didn't want to hear a word of it. All that mattered was the pillar of light way ahead of him.

As he slowed down once he was out of Ford's sight, Dipper cautiously thought about how the apocalypse had begun. Somehow, the Rift had been released and now, Bill had his hands all over it. How could he have gotten it? Did Mabel make a deal to hand Bill the Rift?

"No," he immediately reassured himself. Dipper knew Mabel was smart enough to not make a deal with the town's devil. But then he remembered how much of an emotional wreck she was when she had run out into the forest. This hour was probably the most vulnerable she could have been this entire summer, knowing what she would do for him to come back with her to Piedmont in the coming week. His mind raced towards the dark possibilities that could be laid before him when he reached the blast sight.

Then he remembered what Ford had said just before Grunkle Stan had interrupted.

Stanford believed that Mabel was already dead.

He couldn't bear to even consider a thought about the prospect. The great Author of the Journals, his long, lost great-uncle, had given up on his great-niece. Dipper called back to memory his adventure with Stanford that day and how much he wanted him to stay in Gravity Falls to become his apprentice.

"Isn't it suffocating?" was something that Ford had brought up back in the alien spaceship earlier that day. Suffocating? Mabel didn't 'suffocate' him. She could be a tiny nuisance or a little annoying, but Dipper couldn't recall a moment of her holding him back in regards to his future. She had let him go with Ford today while she made preparations for their 13th birthday party. Dipper's mentor had asked him whether he believed in being meant for great things. Monster hunting, mystery solving, and more exploration of the town would just be the beginning of their escapades.

"How many other twelve-year-olds do you think are capable of doing what you've just done?" was another exclamation Stanford had quipped after his student had faced the probe ship without any fear. Didn't Ford know how he was even back in the real world? Mabel had trusted Grunkle Stan over Dipper. If he was ever faced with that decision, he could have never put faith in Stan at the time. Considering the weight of the destruction of the world wasn't on Dipper's shoulders when he took on the robot, Mabel's choice seemed much more intimidating and tough to make.

In fact, the more Dipper continued to think about the day's events, he more he realized history was repeating itself. When Ford was given the opportunity to leave home for success, Stanley felt betrayed. They had been together since they were kids and now, his best friend was leaving him and their dream of sailing the ocean? He became angry and accidently ruined his brother's chances of getting into the college of his dreams. The result? Years of separation and bitterness towards each other. Dipper had to compare the situation. Stanford was giving him the chance of a lifetime, to become his apprentice: an anomaly expert of the world's strangest mystery-riddled town. For him to leave Mabel at a time when she realized how different the future was going to be from her fantasy was betrayal in the highest form to her. They had been together through everything, just like their great-uncles. Why did history always have to repeat itself? But now came the hardest part to ponder. Stanley broke Ford's project. What had Mabel done to him?

She had given the Rift to Bill.

She wasn't dumb enough to give it to him knowing it was Bill though. Through their encounters with Cipher, they both had come to the conclusion he could never under any circumstances be trusted. The demon most likely had possessed someone else and convinced his twin to hand over the destructive snow globe containing an entrance to the Dreamscape. She couldn't have had any idea what it was and what it was capable of. It had to have been an accident, just like Stanley's frustration about his brother's project.

Through all his deep thinking, Dipper remembered the bag he toted behind him and what was packed inside. The walkie-talkie.

While he continued to run, he scrambled his hands through the birthday invitations and other paraphernalia that Mabel had put in the sack. It took only a few seconds before he felt the hard, rubber grip of the walkie. He brought it out before pressing the button and calling for an answer.

"Mabel! Come in, Mabel!"

No response.

"Mabel, are you there?!"

Silence.

"Mabel! Can you hear me?!"

Nothing but static plagued the airwaves. But now as Dipper looked back up, he realized he was only a few more sets of trees away from the center of the rip in the sky. With every step closer, the brightness around him only became even brighter, causing the boy to shield his eyes as he reached his goal.

He trembled as he stepped out of the trees and into the small circle where the Rift must have been released. He hoped answers to what had and was conspiring across Gravity Falls were going to be right in front of him.

Or so he thought.

Sorry to leave on a cliffhanger. Chapter 2 will be up in the next couple days!

-That Guy