Gravity Falls: No Strings On Me

Chapter Three

Dipper woke up expecting everything to be another bad dream. Instead, everything was dark until a pair of headlights lit up the world and then drove by. Pulling himself up, Dipper found himself buried in snow near the tree line not too far from the road leading out from Gravity Falls with a pretty nasty sprain in his left ankle.
As Dipper pulled out his gloves and put them back on, zipped up the flannel jacket and limped onto the side of the road, a pickup truck sped by then braked before backing up and stopping in front of him.
"Dipper?!" Wendy asked as she stepped out of the driver's side of the truck.
"Yeah, it's me." Dipper answered as he limped over to the passenger door, already feeling the pain subside.
"Seriously, Dude?!" Wendy asked indignantly, "Mabel sends everyone out looking for you with no explanation, I find you limping out of a ditch by the road at 1 in the morning and you're still not gonna tell me what's going on?!"
Dipper silently opened the door, pulled himself into the truck, shut the door and strapped his seat belt in response.
"Fine, we'll just act like you're not keeping secrets from me." Wendy scoffed as she got back in the truck, handed Dipper a knit-beanie, pulled a U-turn, and drove back towards the Shack.
The ride back was mostly quiet, neither of them attempted to turn on the radio or even put in a CD, just silence thick enough to cut with a knife.
"I'm sorry." Dipper spoke quietly as they came upon Main Street, "It's not your fault that I'm keeping this from you."
Wendy practically threw the truck into a parking space along the sidewalk, slammed the gear-shift into park, shut off the engine and whipped her head to Dipper.
"Dude, I'm gonna say this once and only once so you better be paying attention," Wendy started in a tone that she rarely used - a tone of hurt and anger, "I don't care who's fault it is that you haven't told me what's going on, I honestly don't even care that you told almost everyone at the Shack except me, what hurts is the fact that you won't tell me. We have kept nothing from each other since that first summer. I told you when I got my first job, every time I got a new boyfriend, got accepted to online college. You told me about your relationship - both the beginning and end of it, when you got a job, when you built a portable generator out of scraps in the garage. But then around 2 years ago, about the time you went to boot camp, you started hiding something. I figured it was just part of the change from training, so I let it go. When you came back... I thought I would finally figure out what's been going on with you, but it only got worse. I have lost too many people in my life, and you are too important to me to lose over something like this - but I will not deal with bullcrap secret keeping when I know it's having an impact on you like it is. Now either you let me in on what's going on with you right here and right now, or you're walking home."
The truck was silent for a solid minute before Dipper took a breath.
"I can't." Dipper whispered as a tear began to roll down his face, "I don't want you getting involved in this...I don't wanna lose you to--"
Dipper stopped himself before giving up too much information, if he could keep Wendy as far away from his powers as much as possible, maybe her death in the dream wouldn't become reality.
Wendy looked away from Dipper, trying to control the swirl of emotions that was storming behind her face.
"Mabel never told you, did she?" Wendy asked quietly.
"Told me what?" Dipper asked cautiously as he looked over to her side of the truck.
"Over the course of my life," Wendy began after taking a deep breath, "I've been dating different guys trying to find the one - not the cliche one guy meant for me per say, but the one guy that would protect me no matter what, be there for me in a way nobody else could, and help me through things in ways no one else ever could. Last summer, I realized that the guys I was dating came nowhere close to...someone else I knew. Someone wise beyond his years, someone more concerned with protecting others before himself, someone who--"
"Shh." Dipper cut her off quickly as he looked out the windshield.
"No, you don't get to shush me, I am in the middle of pouring my heart out--" Wendy started before getting cut off again.
"Wendy, please." Dipper asked as he put a gloved hand over her mouth and pointed with the other at the figure in the street.
The cloaked figure was back, standing in the middle of the street staring at the truck and its passengers.
"Stay in the truck." Dipper ordered firmly as he opened his door and stepped out onto the sidewalk.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" Dipper called out, "Why are you after me?!"
"You really don't get it, do you?!" The figure yelled back, "I'm not after you, I'm after what's inside you."
"What does he mean, 'what's inside you?'" Wendy asked as she shut the driver's door.
"I said to stay in the truck!" Dipper spat with fury as he wheeled around to look at Wendy.
"Corduroy?" The figure called, "How, ya' doin' Red?"
"Dipper, who is this guy?" Wendy asked as Dipper tried to get her to go back in the truck.
"Don't worry about it." Dipper tried to say as Wendy turned back to him.
"Is this what's been going on with you?" Wendy asked.
"More like a side-effect." Dipper answered as best he could, "Please, just get in the truck."
Before Wendy could respond, the figure ignited his fists with yellow fire and sped down the street towards the truck trailing yellow lightning.
As Wendy looked at the figure, Dipper felt the now familiar pull in the back of his mind as time slowed around him. He grabbed Wendy, put her arms around his shoulders for support, then took off down the street, turned down an alley and doubled back towards the Shack stopping at the porch, setting Wendy down and slowing back down to normal speed.
Wendy caught her breath as she looked around then looked up at Dipper.
"I'm sorry, I didn't want you to find out like this." Dipper apologized as he heard the cloaked figure running through the trees toward the Shack.
Igniting his right fist in the familiar blue flames, Dipper turned around and punched for all his worth into the cloaked figure's chest. The figure went sailing back into the treeline taking down a few trunks with their fall. Wendy jumped to her feet as Dipper turned back to her and ignited his other fist.
"I'm so...sorry." Dipper apologized straining to keep his voice normal but losing the battle to the weird split of his voice and The Reflection's.
Dipper turned back just as his eyes went blue, his smile went wide and his hair ignited blue.
"Well, well, well, well, well, well, well." The split voice called out from Dipper's body as The Reflection stepped toward the cloaked figure, "Who do we have here? Definitely not Triangle-Face, at least not at the moment. Looks like it's just his new puppet."
"Don't be so sure." Bill's voice suddenly shouted from the cloaked figure as they pulled themselves out of the crater they had formed.
Wendy jumped back in shock as she looked from whatever was in Dipper to the cloaked figure.
"Now who exactly are you?" Bill shouted as he ignited the cloaked figure's hands in yellow fire similar to Dipper's.
"I'm a remnant of what you left behind." The Reflection answered as he stepped forward a bit more, "Your power, but with Pine-Tree's brains. Now you gotta admit, that's a bit much for even you to take on."
"Oh, I don't know, let's find out." Bill suggested before launching the cloaked figure at Dipper at the speed of sound.
The Reflection threw Dipper's outstretched hands out to the side as jets of blue fire erupted from the palms. Where the blue flames landed, they began to form a wall of blue fire that fully lit up the moonlit night. Bill slowed the cloaked figure's run just in time to stop within inches of the line of fire while throwing a few sparks of yellow energy into the air. Tilting the figure's head to look at the fire then at Dipper from under the cloak's hood, Bill reached out the figure's hand and physically gripped the fire. At Bill's touch, the fire turned to ice, starting at Bill's hand and phasing down the entire line of flames. Once the entire line was ice, Bill smashed the figure's forearm down into the ice and the entire line shattered from the point of impact.
"You may have some of my powers," Bill announced as he stepped forward crunching ice under the figure's boots, "But you will never have all my powers."
As Bill stepped forward with a hand reached out, something changed in The Reflection's face. After a few blinks, Dipper's eyes went back to normal as did his smile.
"You take...one more step...towards her," Dipper growled stepping in front of Wendy as he fought for control, the strain evident with his face vibrating and constantly morphing between his and The Reflection's, "I don't care...how powerful you are...I will wipe you from existence."
Bill stepped back, shocked to see the level of strength that Dipper was exerting.
"Well, I'm actually impressed, Pine-Tree." Bill remarked, "But you can't expect to--"
Bill was cut off by Dipper throwing an uppercut into the figure's jaw launching both the figure and Dipper into the air with the sound of thunder in their wake.
"WHAT IS GOING ON OUT HERE?!" Ford shouted as he, Mabel and Soos stepped out onto the porch.
Wendy could only point to the night sky as a response. The others looked up to see two figures enveloped in different color flames and lightning as they punched each other through the air and flew back to do it again. In the middle of the fight, Dipper got his hand on the scruff of the figure's cloak and pulled them within spitting distance of himself.
"IF YOU COME NEAR ANYONE I CALL FAMILY AGAIN," Dipper shouted as he continued to fight for control, "RUNNING TO ANOTHER DIMENSION WON'T BE ENOUGH TO SAVE YOU!"
Dipper then threw the cloaked figure through the sky with the strength of a monster, making sure he still landed in town, but far enough away that the figure wouldn't be back to harass Dipper or anyone else twice on the same day for awhile. Allowing himself to hover back to the ground, Dipper nearly landed in front of the Shack, but his hands and hair were still lit up with blue flames, and it was getting harder to keep The Reflection at bay.
"What's happening?!" Mabel asked as the air around them seemed to be swirling towards Dipper who was shutting his eyes due to the strain for control.
"Nothing good," Ford answered honestly, "If he can't get control of his energy, he could go critical - or worse - whatever's inside him could take control permanently."
"HELP....ME!!" Dipper shouted over the now roaring wind and crack of the blue lightning that was now sparking around him.
"Dipper, you've gotta fight it!" Ford yelled.
"You've got this Dipper!" Mabel tried yelling in encouragement.
"Dipper, don't go super saiyan, it's not worth it." Soos yelled, attempting to bring levity to the situation.
As everyone grabbed the supporting columns on the porch in an attempt to stay grounded, Wendy did something that surprised even herself. She walked straight up to Dipper, through the wind, lightning and fire, got as close to his face as she could and whispered one word - one name: "Mason."
Dipper's eyes flew open, the whites were normal as well as his chocolate brown irises. He looked at Wendy as if he hadn't seen her in centuries, like she was the last thing he would ever see. Soon, the air slowed to a stop, Dipper touched back down slowly, the fire in his hair and on his hands sputtered out. Reaching out, Dipper attempted to hug Wendy, but instead fell into her as he passed out.
"I'm not losing you, and you're not losing me." Wendy whispered as she hefted his right arm over her shoulders and Ford rushed over to lift the left arm.
They took Dipper inside, down to Ford's bunker - which was rebuilt using the portal as structural support instead of a dimensional gateway. The last thing Dipper felt before going fully unconscious was Wendy's hand in his and immense guilt for nearly destroying the Shack.