Chapter 1

Dipper Pines


It all started in a museum.

Doesn't it always start in a museum? Just a fine school trip to a national museum about history. Yup, a lot of ancient artifacts were there to keep me interested, while my twin sister, Mabel, groaned about my "nerd rant".

Well, I can't help it. I just wanted others to know what I knew of a particular artifact or statue. Like, how these blank white statues were originally painted with bright colors. It was proven, and it made sense that it had been painted a long time ago. I can't imagine people back in the old days making a statue and not painting it. It would seem unfinished. This new discovery gave these statues more rich history to them. The paint had depressingly faded away a long time ago, but that's what happens when it stands for a thousand years. These statues were marvelous art pieces, to stand against time, and to be older than any person could be.

Speaking of things that could become older than us, I've encountered my fair share of immortals. Now, I know what you're thinking. That's impossible! Well, it isn't. In fact, there are creatures out there that have lived longer than us. Like tortoises, jellyfish, lobsters, whales, mollusks... and maybe some more that are undiscovered. And, I've met some.

Well then, I'm ranting again. Hopefully I don't do that anytime soon.

My name is Dipper Pines. And I'm a powerful sociopath.

Just kidding.

My sister would laugh at my pathetic attempt at humor. Well, I tried. Anyway, I'm actually tied to a prophecy that, well, I think, hasn't happened yet.

Why I say this is because a year ago, my family and friends fought against an immortal dream demon who could alter reality and destroy the world if he weren't trapped by magical restrictions. See, I've met immortals. Okay, maybe just the one.

I could give you more detail on that, but there's a lot... So, I'll spare you a summary.

You see, last year, Mabel and I were sent to this small town in Oregon called Gravity Falls. We spent our summer vacation there with our grunkle Stan, and while Mabel was trying to find her romantic partner, I was trying to deciph—I mean, decode a mystery that was hidden under this wacky town. First thing that tipped me off that got me to delving into this mystery? Well, there was this old journal I found in the woods, which I later found out was written by my great uncle Ford. Second thing was the unordinary; talking gnomes, living wax figures, manotaurs (not to be confused with minotaurs), a multi-bear, video game characters that come to life, et cetera.

Now there were some obstacles here and there. But I managed to uncover the biggest secret, which was... Uh. I think I already spoiled it. That my grunkle Stan had a twin, who was my great uncle Ford, who was also an expert at the unknown and had spent thirty years trapped in a portal, which was the gateway for the greatest evil, Bill Cipher, to enter our dimension. Bill Cipher was the immortal demon we fought. And defeated!

He doesn't seem threatening at first glance, since he's a yellow two-dimensional pyramid with an eye and a top hat. But he was as deceptive as the Norse god Loki and had as much power as an Egyptian lord of chaos Apophis. Bill Cipher was the real deal.

And how this ties into my theory of me still being linked to an unanswered prophecy is because this particular prophecy had ten people linked to symbols that would destroy Bill. However, that wasn't how we destroyed him. We, uh... not exactly we, but my great uncles made a deceptive trick against him like Bill did us. They decieved him into making a deal, which has him go into my great uncle Ford's mind, which was what Bill thought. Ford had actually trapped Bill in Stan's mind and erased all of his twin brother's memories, which meant erasing Bill.

Grunkle Stan is fine now, if you're wondering. He still has his memories brought back. My great uncles are now off investigating mysteries in the vast ocean. Mabel misses them. And I miss them too.

Anyway, the truth is, I don't think Bill Cipher is gone. The prophecy stated that we destroy Bill using the cipher wheel; a wheel of power from ten people who are linked to the ten symbols. We didn't use that and I think he's coming back because of it. It's been a year and Bill hasn't appeared once (well, not his lively persona), but I have this feeling he's gonna return. Mabel thinks I'm being a bit paranoid, and... yeah, I was convinced she was right during the time.

Welp, since I know how this ends, I can tell you that she was wrong. And I was right. Because after that visit, the world would end in ten days. Which ties into the cipher wheel having ten symbols. A full circle, yippee... I'm one of the symbols, the Pine Tree. Mabel's also one; she's the Shooting Star. My sister got the better end of the symbols.

Together, we made for two important figures in defeating the chaos lord.


So, I said it started in our trip to the museum, right? Well, to not embarrass myself in an academic standpoint, I'll just be telling the important parts where I also embarrass myself in an international standpoint. Don't worry, it's all talk, I'm not that humiliating.

So, it was a normal school trip to the museum of history here in California. It would've been a normal trip, if it wasn't for Mabel and I being all tied up into this mess. The museum was huge, and had those giant roman pillars to give off that age-old vibe. My class was huddled together, following a tourist guide. As a sweaty thirteen year-old male walking together with other sweaty thirteen year-olds, the only comfort I had was Mabel being her optimistic self and the artifacts I longingly stare at.

Mabel proposes that I should marry them if I kept staring for too long.

"Hey, Dip-Dop, I think that vase over there needs your undivided attention!" Mabel advised as she pointed over at a specimen of the old greek containers. They were called Amphorae, Amphora if singular.

"That's... not really an important vase," I told her.

"But it says here it's made of... "keramik"!" she pointed out, mispronouncing the word "ceramic" on purpose. "Surely, that's an ancient metal used only in historical ages that need to be praised!"

"We still use that in our plates, Mabel," I said.

"This old junk is what are plates are made of?" Her eyes widened dramatically. "Woah, talk about recycling!"

"Mabel..." I struggled to keep the ends of my lips from smiling too hard at her antics.

My twin gave off a hearty laugh. She raised her hands up as if in surrender. "Kidding, kidding."

Our class kept walking in and out of exhibits, only lingering for a few minutes before walking off again. I tried to look at as many artifacts as possible, with Mabel and her commentary following me by my side. She could go on with her friends, but after a while she told me she was actually scared of the place coming to life. She wanted to be close to her personal encyclopedia if the need arose. For some reason, I was feeling the same thing, that the whole museum would suddenly attack us. And I would need to protect my twin sister. It made me feel like the older sibling, which I like very much.

"Hey, hey!" Mabel energetically patted the blue vest that I had worn since my summer days last year. It still fit me after all that time. It was getting a bit tighter, but it's still something I held close and dear. Which was weird, considering I still had a few more of the same vests back at home. Mabel finally got my attention when she started pointing in a particular direction with a certain sad look in her eyes. "It's... It's..." her breath hitched.

I followed her gaze, and then realized that her eyes were conveying fear. A chill went up my spine as I remembered what she was pointing at. Across us, there was a glass case with a stone carving in it. As we went closer to inspect it, our class started to leave without us. Some of our friends thought it would be a good prank to play by not telling us they were already going ahead to the next exhibition. Mabel and I inched closer to the glass case, with the stone carving.

Engraved on it was a picture of a pyramid with one eye and a hat balancing on its top edge.

Bill Cipher.

Now, that was something natural. Bill Cipher was an entity that has existed... maybe even before the universe was created. But, what ticked us off was that our symbols were the highlight of this artifact. Crude drawings of pine trees and shooting stars were made all over the stone, surrounding Bill.

With a hasty breath, I looked down at the gold plate under the artifact. Written there was the time period it was thought to be at, which was the stone age, at around 6500 BC. There was no further information, other than it saying it was when the triangle shape started popularizing.

"It's just more evidence that Bill existed a long time ago," I said.

"Dude... We," she stressed out the word, wagging her finger at herself and I, "are old history. We have old rocks dedicated to us."

I shrugged at her. "Yeah... I'm thinking Bill is on us again. But, your point?"

Mabel blinked at me surprisingly. She tried to find her words. "I think you're right. This thing is placed coincidentally while we're here. It could've been Grunkle Stan's or Grunkle Ford's symbol... But it had to be ours!"

"You don't need to relay that information to me," I turned around and sighed. There was only one thought plaguing me about this. "I can only think of contacting great uncle Ford to tell him about this, but it's still May. And he and Grunkle Stan won't be back to visit Gravity Falls with us till the summer holiday starts..." I rubbed my hands nervously. "...Who knows where they could be at?"

"They're out visiting Atlantis while we're stuck here scared of Bill Cipher again..." Mabel steeled herself. "We can't be doing this, Dipper!"

"I thought you said I was the only one paranoid," I pointed out, scratching my head.

"Your paranoia is rubbing off on me! And I can't help but think what you're thinking! Maybe it's all just coincidence, but that's hard to believe now... All the evidence you've told me is persuading me!"

I looked around at the empty exhibit, realizing that our friends had ditched us. I patted her arm and signalled her to rush for the other exhibitions so we wouldn't get left behind. For a moment, I could've sworn I felt something electrifying rushed up my spine. I thought it was a shiver and continue to run around the museum.

We were able to find where our class had gone and walked behind them like nothing happened. I was suddenly not interested in the museum's artifacts and my eyes were glued to the floor. I couldn't even look at Mabel for reassurance, because she was turning into me. Well, only my paranoid side. She could've passed off as me if she had shorter hair and stayed up late every night to get the lines under my eyes. She was my twin after all.

"Dipper..." Mabel whispered, "...Do you think maybe one of our friends are possessed and watching us?"

I looked up and glanced around at my classmates.

"With how crazy they are? Probably." I squinted at the floor, all the while being so quiet that I can hardly hear myself. I hoped Mabel could still hear my hushed tone. "But they're not that psychotic. So, if Bill did possess one of our friends, he's doing a good job restraining himself."

"That's not the answer I was hoping for..." she looked around dejectedly. I could hear her muttering under her breath. I could only make out her listing out names of our classmates, before she told me, "Hey, I think Chad was staring at us a minute ago."

I groaned. Chad. Half the girls swooned over that guy, admiring his blond hair, his electrifying blue eyes and chiseled looks. I kinda disliked the guy after I caught him staring at my sister multiple times, while she was oblivious to it. Sure, she may be cute, but I'm getting tired of him being a creep. He might be Bill Cipher, with his yellow hair as a change for the yellow eyes, and it could give me a reason to punch him if the need arose. But I knew even if he was Bill, I wouldn't be able to touch him. Mostly because I'm awkward and I've never really punched anyone in my class before. I have punched other people before, but that was in Gravity Falls. Here, I may have my butt kicked in a serious fashion.

And then there's Mabel's theory that Bill is actually dead and I'm just actually paranoid.

"Do you think he could be it?" Mabel asked timidly. It wasn't like Mabel to be scared. She was the bolder one of us. There were times she'd be afraid of ghosts in horror movies, but she was the one more likely to blindly sneak around in a haunted mansion than me.

"Maybe Bill hasn't come back yet. And that we're just thinking too hard. I mean, we defeated him a year ago." And then I became skeptical after a month's worth of thinking that September. Classic, Dipper, classic. "But if it is Chad, first thing I'd do is... well..." I held up my skinny hands to look at them and the spite in my tone decreased significantly, knowing that I really couldn't do much to threat. "...I dunno. Science the heck out of him?"

We fell silent as we had nothing to talk about anymore, both of us quietly hoping that this wasn't a sign of Bill's new uprising. We weren't even sure if he was actually alive. For all we knew, we could be fussing over nothing.

I let my mind wander off and picked up a bit of what the guys in front of us were talking about.

"...that statue over there doesn't seem real... seems too small to be something important."

"And why would anyone make that detail with the eye?"

I immediately darted my eyes over to any displays I didn't look at. For half a second that I wasn't able to find anything about Bill Cipher, I thought they might be talking about the stone carving Mabel and I were talking about a few moments ago... Until I looked up and saw a few familiar drapes. There were silhouettes of people worshipping a yellow triangle with an eye, fires blazing around them. I tugged Mabel's arm and she stopped in her tracks.

As far as I could tell, both of us were experiencing flashbacks of our last summer. I was shivering for a moment. Mabel pushed the small of my back and reminded me to keep walking. The banner went away from our sights and we were greeted by another sight. A small gray statue of a more realer than I expected look of Bill Cipher in a glass display. His one small arm was pointing outwards, like he wanted to make one last deal. I wished the glass case was reinforced with steel. At least it would've looked a lot more prison-like.

"How many statues does Bill Cipher need of himself?" Mabel asked with a heavy sigh afterward. She rubbed her head with the base of her palm. "I'm getting tired of all these ominous hints of something."

"If Bill's trying to be subtle, he's not doing a good job." I replied, "But if he's trying to get our attention like the show-off he is, then that's a problem. He definitely has it."

"I came prepared," my sister said as she burried her hand into the sling bag I didn't mention. I have a backpack by the way. Details. Anyway, she pulled out a gray gun of sorts and my eyes widened.

"Woah!" I clamped my hand over hers, covering the gun away from everyone's sights. Even though we were the ones walking behind everyone. I had to make sure nobody saw my sis illegally pull out a handgun and wave it around.

"Cool down, Dip, it's just my grapple gun." Mabel stated, peeling my hand off hers. She revealed more of the gun to me and put it in her bag. "I wanted to make this awesome reveal, but you just had to ruin it for me."

"Oh," I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. "But ya know that thing wouldn't be help in fighting demons, right?"

"Uh, duh-doy, Dipper!" she told me, "It's our escape plan!"

"That's so unnecessary." I remarked.

Our class headed to the next exhibit, and to my surprise, there was a life-sized wax figure of a giant serpent. Maybe because someone wanted to make Apophis, the Egyptian chaos lord, look real? I don't really know, other than the fact that some guy must've worked hard to create it. The snake was at least fifteen feet tall, not counting the rest of its body that's curled up. It was huge. It had giant eyes with black slits in them, and fangs that were as big as my whole body. The scales looked stunning, almost as if it were the real thing. But for some reason, he was painted red.

Our class awed and went over to take a picture of it. But our tour guide snapped at them and reminded that they couldn't take any photos. Still, a few girls secretly took pictures of it, while a guy stupidly left the flash on his phone.

"Well, if Bill wanted to kill us," I trailed away, gulping as I gestured to the wax statue. "This would be the place."

Mabel crossed her fingers. She ineffectively glared at me. "Why did'ja have to jinx us like that?"

"I... well, I..." I stammered, before realizing my faults. "I've turned into one of those guys."

"Well, at least you didn't say that the giant snake would come to life."

I groaned, turning my head away. "You just did..."

Some guy in our class loudly uttered, "Hey, did that thing just move?"

Mabel and I tensed.

I stared at the snake unwittingly, instead of running away like a guy with my knowledge would. But that would make me look like I'm crazy to my class, so I debated the matter in my head furiously. Mabel squirmed, and at that moment I saw a flicker of yellow in the snake's eyes. I considered trying to get everyone out. And oh my gosh, that was such a bad idea.

"Everyone, RUN!" I shouted.

The whole class turned to me. My face burned, and I could tell by a few giggles and mocking looks that I made a bad choice. They laughed it off, and continued what they were doing, thinking that I made a pretty average joke. Mabel told me I legitimately looked as red as a tomato, and she thought for a moment I was gonna burst.

My teacher gave me a glare. "Dipper, I'm ashamed. I thought you were better than that!"

I winced at her words. True, I wasn't good at talking to them and played the shy guy of the class. My outburst definitely didn't fit what my teacher, Miss Perla, saw in me.

Mabel put a reassuring hand over my shoulder.

"You saw that, didn't you?" I asked, letting out a breath I forgot I took in. My face still felt hot. My reputation was ruined because of that.

"Yep, I'd be lying if I didn't." she answered miserably.

"You know what this means."

Mabel nodded. "He's alive. And he's messing with us..." She groaned, taking a few steps back. Her hands went up her ears and tangled her hair, fussing her brown locks up. "Why? Just why...?"

"We have to get great uncle Ford and warn him about this." Then another thought made its way into my head. What if Bill already got them? What if, during their adventure on the seas, they encountered Bill and were lost in a "shipwreck"? It would be strategic of Bill if he took out the ones that destroyed him in the first place...

Sometimes, I ask, why was I the smart one?

"Why doesn't he attack now? Save you the misery of being humiliated?" Mabel asked.

"Because, that's what he wants." I answered uncomfortably. It's been a peaceful year, and I haven't prepared myself physically for world domination.

Her eyes widened when she finally got it. "Oh, now he's messing us. He's really messing us up." She narrowed her eyes. "We can't warn the class now. They wouldn't believe us. Ugh... and I thought it'd be easy telling Amy and Jenny about this. I'd look like crazy!"

"Yeah," I rolled my eyes, "I thought about it."

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that." she apologized once she understood what I said.

I looked over at the snake, and its eyes were yellow with black slits. I made a disgusted face, stepping back. I could still see my own eyes turn yellow when Bill possessed my body.

A girl perked up, "Hey, weren't those eyes supposed to be white?"

"Nah, they're normally yellow." another girl told her. "Like real snakes. I think."

"Come on, let's go to the other display. I saw some more wax figures there." A guy told them, walking off into the other room. Most of the class followed him. Mabel and I were inclined to stay back.

She looked at me and I nodded at her.

I stared right up at the chaos lord's golden eyes. "Hey, Bill, if you're in there... possessing a wax figure?" In hindsight, that didn't make sense to me. A wax figure was inanimate. How could Bill possess that? "Maybe it's one of those enchanted ones like the ones we melted back in Gravity Falls, but if you're there. Please respond. We'd like to know in advance that you're really there and we're not just hallucinating."

Mabel gave me the half-closed eyes look. "Really?"

"Well, what else do you think would work?" I asked her.

The ground rumbled beneath us. We looked up at the red snake guy, which had its eyes pinned to us. We stumbled back, noticing the cracks on the marble floor coming from the statue. Then, the wax figure breathed, and... moved.

"OH, I GUESS I COULD SHOW MYSELF NOW!" the snake exclaimed, loud enough for the whole museum to hear. I frantically looked for my class, and my stomach dropped. They all froze. I looked up at the snake and it had a wide grin on its reptilian face. It had Bill's voice, but it didn't fit the giant burly snake lord. "I DON'T THINK YOU PIPSQUEAKS COULD DEFEAT ME ANYWAY."


A/N: I made this because I lack the motivation to continue my other Gravity Falls fanfictions. I told myself that if I wanted to make this, then I'll have to write the next five chapters to prepare myself in case I don't continue this... Like my other stuff. But if I did post this, then hoorah! You're in for a treat. I probably only finished planning chapter 2.

ALSO, this is my first time actually writing a first person POV. It's satisfying. I longed to finally write a story that way. Now, how is the Dipper/Mabel POV going to work out? I decided to go Kane Chronicles-style with this and make it cycle between them. Every two chapters, they switch.

Don't forget to review, or follow, or favorite, if you liked this! And more importantly, have a great day! Because everyone deserves to have a great day!