Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls. This story takes place during Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future.

Prologue

Dipper rifled through the metal slabs, his eyes drawn to the strange symbols carved intricately on each one. Each time he took a pause to stare at the characters, he had to shake his head to himself to remind himself that it wasn't what they had come here for. A few feet away, his great-uncle did the same thing as him, looking for the substance that might very well save their lives... Everyone's lives.

Dipper let out a sigh, while continuing to scan each piece of metal. "Ford, are you sure there's still some of it left?"

There was a small pause, before Ford replied. "I'm sure there's some leftover alien adhesive somewhere around here. We just have to keep looking."

The alien adhesive that they needed to recover was a substance that Ford had explained to him earlier; the adhesive was strong enough to patch any hole, any gap, any opening at all, any crack in anything. That was what they needed; something strong enough to seal the rift. Instinctively, upon thinking of the small gateway, Dipper shifted the backpack slung across his shoulders, where the rift was stored in.

The rift had been created accidentally. When Stan had reactivated the inter-dimensional portal to retrieve his twin brother, the instability of the machine had manifested into a sort of gateway into another realm, the Nightmare Realm. Dipper shuddered. The Nightmare Realm was a place for things that had no place to be. The beasts and monsters in that realm would do about anything to get their hands -or claws, or whatever other monstrous body part- on the rift. Because one slip-up, one mistake, and the rift would crack, releasing the window into another dimension.

Bill Cipher was one of the demons intent on getting his hands on it. For billions of years, he had yearned for the gateway to be opened. He wanted to watch every dimension burn, and breaking the rift open was the only way to do it.

And now the rift's containment was cracking, breaking at the edges like worn-out glass. Dipper guessed that the rift was just too unstable for the containment, and that's why they required the adhesive. If they could retrieve it, they could seal the crack, blocking the chance of Bill's return for a long while.

Dipper returned his attention to the pieces of metal. For a while, the two looked through them in silence that was only broken by the soft scraping of metal as they shuffled the pieces around. Dipper was so absorbed in the silence, he almost didn't hear Ford when he spoke. "Dipper... have you thought much about your future?" he asked, turning around so that his gaze was on Dipper; he saw this out of the corner of his eyes.

Dipper shifted on his feet. "No, not really. I mean, beyond graduating from high-school with a high GPA so I can get accepted to a good technical college with a photography and media production minor to start my own ghost-hunting show..."

Dipper thought Ford would make some sort of remark on how "simple" that seemed to him, but, to Dipper's surprise, he laughed. "It's like talking to a younger version of myself. If you're so sure of what you want out of life, why wait? Why put up with the drudgery of school?"

Dipper finally rotated to meet his gaze with a dismissive shrug. "Trust me, I'd love to fast-forward the whole thing, but it's not like I have a choice." Then he turned again to search through the metal again, thinking that the topic had been dropped, but no, Ford wasn't finished yet...

There was another slight pause of silence before Ford spoke again. "Dipper... I've been thinking... I'm getting too old to investigate Gravity Falls on my own. I need to train an apprentice to help me fight monsters, solve mysteries, and protect this town. And I think I'd... I'd like to keep it in the family."

Dipper stiffened, dropping the slate he'd been holding, staring wide-eyed at the wall in front of him. "What are you saying?" he murmured, just loud enough for Ford to hear him.

"I've read your additions to my journal and I'm impressed with your potential," he started, walking over to Dipper before placing his polydactyl hands on the boy's shoulders and turning Dipper to face him. "What would you say to staying in Gravity Falls after the summer ends, and becoming my apprentice?"

For a fleeting moment, Dipper couldn't respond. He stood with his mouth slightly agape in shock, before he recollected himself -but only enough to react.

"W-what about school?" he asked, his voice faltering.

"Dipper, I have twelve PhDs," he laughed, stepping back so that his he wasn't holding Dipper anymore. "Your parents would be thrilled I could give you such an advanced education!"

Dipper averted his gaze with a sigh, his shoulders sagging. "There's also Mabel... She'd be all alone in California..."

"Mabel will be fine on her own," Ford assured him. "She has a magnetic personality. I watched her become pen-pals with the pizza-delivery man in the sixty seconds he was at the door," he added with a slight smile.

"Gosh, we've never really been apart before..." he murmured, half to himself.

"And isn't it suffocating?" Ford inquired. "Dipper, can you honestly tell me you never felt like you were meant for something more?"

"I-I don't know," Dipper sighed again, his eyes still trained on the floor. "Sounds like a dream come true, but... I'm not sure I have what it takes. I was tricked by Bill, I was wrong about Stan's portal." He lifted his eyes and extended his arms a bit from his sides as he added, "Heck, I can't ever operate this magnet gun right!"

As if to prove him point, the gun charged up and sucked one of the metal slates onto its muzzle. With a short huff of annoyance, Dipper lifted the gun and tried with little success to pry the slate off of the end. Abruptly, Ford let out a small gasp of excitement.

"Yes! Dipper, you found the adhesive!"

Dipper's eyes widened. "I did?" He turned the gun around to stare at the slate. Only now did he realize that it was covered in a glowing pink glue-like substance. It coated the metal in a colorful sheen.

"Ho-ho, you really did it, kid!" Ford chirped. Dipper couldn't help but allow a tiny smile to appear on his face. He handed the slate to Ford. "Huddle in, let's get a picture of this!"

Before the two could do anything more, though, they were interrupted by a soft-but-unsettling whirring sound, almost like a trill. At this noise, Ford produced a gun from his coat, aiming it at the shadows with the adhesive in his other hand. Dipper could feel unease gathering inside of him as he saw how serious Ford looked.

"Uh, Grunkle Ford," he whispered, his heart beginning to pound in his chest, "you said everything in here is dead, right...?"

"Yes," Ford muttered. "Unless somehow we've reactivated the-" he gasped aloud, his eyes widening "-security system!"

Out of the darkness of the shadows, two floating orbs appeared. They were silver and argent, and each one had a red triangle that Dipper assumed to be a scanner in their centers. By the sides of the triangles was a small line made of two tiny green lights. Despite their simple appearances, Dipper's heart thudded harder.

"What do we do!?" he panicked, his eyes flashing from one of the orbs to the other.

"Listen to me very carefully," Ford commanded, "I've studied these; they're security droids and they detect adrenaline. You simply have to not feel any fear, and they won't see you."

"What!?" Dipper squeaked. How could he control the racing of his heartbeat with these machines in front of him?

"It's okay, I've done it before," Ford tried to reassure Dipper, but to little avail. "Just take a deep breath, focus on your intellect, and control you fear."

Dipper's head was reeling. How could he focus on anything other than these giant, threatening orbs in front of him? "Huh-wha-wha-wha- that's crazy! I-"

"Follow my lead!" Ford instructed, his face hardened in determination as he glared at the droids.

"Great-uncle Ford-" Dipper quavered, his limbs shaking and his hands clutching one of the straps of his backpack.

"Focus, Dipper!" Ford hissed. One of the orbs scanned him with its red sensor, before it turned on Dipper. He tensed, his eyes flashing with fear.

"Wha- I-uh, I-I-uh..." Dipper stammered, his voice becoming more high-pitched as a gun emerged from below the droid's sensor.

"I can't!" he choked out, before shielding himself with his arms as the droid's gun fired with a flash of white light.

"Get down!" Ford barked, before tackling Dipper to the ground as the gun fired in the place where he'd been standing mere moments before. The ground was charred black there.

Somehow, that snapped Dipper out of his shock. He reached for his magnet gun and aimed it at one of the droids, before pulling down in the trigger. A blue shockwave shot out of it. As it came in touch with an orb, it crackled with sparks and was sent aflame. It let out a beeping sound, before crashing to the floor. Now, the other droid turned on him, and Dipper could feel his throat turning dry.

The other orb's shell turned transparent, and it opened up into a gaping hole. Four black tentacle-like appendages stuck out of it. With a snapping sound like a cracking whip, they shot forward, giving Dipper no time to react.

Before he could fully comprehend the situation, one of the appendages had coiled itself around his arm. It tightened it grip on him, and as he gasped out in pain the magnet gun slid from his hands.

Dipper tried tugging his arm away, but his struggle was in vain. He began to slide forwards as it drew him closer to it. He tried once more to wrest his arm from its hold, but he was again without avail.

"Dipper, no!" Ford yelled as another one of the appendages wrapped around his other arm. As both his arms were ensnared by the coils, the two remaining appendages banded around his ankles. He grunted with strain as he tried unsuccessfully to break free of the droid's grasp.

In one jerking movement, the droid jolted him forwards. He was pulled by its coils to the inside of the orb. As soon as he was in, the opening in the droid clamped to a close, and the appendages finally retracted and released him; but it didn't help much. The only opening had been sealed shut.

Dipper placed his hands against the wall of the droid. He was shuddering from terror, and his breathing was coming out in ragged gasps for air. Ford opened his mouth to call out, but before he could, the orb streaked away. The shaking of his containment sent him crashing into the walls, and he hissed in pain each time he collided.

Then the top of his head struck the "roof". Pain coursed through his body like fire, and instantly his vision began to darken at the edges.

His head was pounding with stabbing agony as he slumped to the bottom of the droid. He let out a pained groan. Maybe if he just... closed his eyes... just for a second...

As his eyelids shut, a void of darkness consumed him and the world faded away.