Gravity Falls: No Strings On Me

Chapter Four

They brought Dipper down into the lab - which had been built out of Ford's former secret study, laid him out on a gurney that Ford had hoped would never have to be used, and Ford set up a series of monitors to keep track of Dipper's vitals.
"What's happening?" Wendy asked as Ford checked Dipper's pupils and blood pressure.
"Dipper's body is going into shock." Ford responded, "He's gonna be fine but we have to keep an eye on him, these next few hours are crucial. He's gonna be out of it for awhile, there's no telling exactly when he'll regain consciousness."
Everyone was quiet as Ford continued preliminary tests of Dipper's system.
"Wendy," Ford began as he took a second to look at her, "I'm sorry we didn't tell you, Dipper didn't want--"
"Save it." Wendy cut him off calmly, "Just please do what you can, I need to kick his butt for all this."
Ford smirked at Wendy's sense of humor as he continued checking on Dipper.
"The good news is," Ford started, "Dipper's mind is definitely active. Look at his eyelids, rapid eye movement. Something is definitely going on up there while his body rests and cools down. It's our job to make sure his body continues to rest so we can help him once he wakes up."
Wendy pulled up a chair knowing that it was gonna be a long few hours as Ford did his best to keep Dipper resting. The others said they would come down every once in awhile with food for everyone as they kept the Shack and appearances up and running before they went upstairs. What they didn't know, was that more than just some sporadic thought was happening in Dipper's head...
<====+====>
Dipper had learned a long time ago how to tell the difference between a dream and reality. A dream in Dipper's head usually had everything in muted colors - not necessarily black and white, but not as vibrant as reality. On top of the muted color palette, Dipper's dreams often had some sort of uber crazy twist or monster before Dipper would fully recognize that he was dreaming and then be able to affect his dreams like Bill affected reality - changing gravity, creating structures, exhibiting paranormal powers at will.
This was different. In the dream, the sky was gray - no clouds, just gray, and Dipper found himself standing in a wheat field with what looked like a broken down version of Ford's portal standing upright in the distance, a rundown but still standing version of the Pines' family home back in Piedmont, and something that Dipper didn't recognize - a very busted up 1980 something, cherry red Ford Bronco truck.
"Don't bother trying to figure that one out," A familiar voice suggested causing Dipper to turn to them, "Because I'm part Bill, I can see and even tap into alternate realities - trust me, you don't wanna know what happened there."
"So this is your head, not mine?" Dipper asked as he looked to the sky.
"Sorta." The Reflection in his true form - a humanoid being of blue energy with a brick pattern and one eye much like Bill, but with a glowing version of Dipper's pine-tree hat where the Bill's stovepipe hat would be -  responded in purely Bill's voice but without Bill's intense energy, "We already knew that your mind was merging with my power. What we didn't count on - which we should've, looking at it now - was your memories merging with me. Because they're merging with me, your memories from this reality, as well as others are starting to be dropped in here. And, as near as I can tell, it's affecting every Dipper that it pulls a memory from."
"How's it affecting them?" Dipper asked with concern for the new problem before realizing something, "And why are you so helpful all of a sudden?"
The Reflection stopped, stood up straight and crossed his arms.
"I don't have to help you figure this out," The Reflection started as his voice rose, "I didn't have to tell you that alternate Dippers across the cosmos, and I sure as heck don't have to give you all this time to learn how to control me or your powers!"
"Hang on, you said you're part of Bill..." Dipper remembered, feeling like he was on to something.
"Eh, I'm more like--" The Reflection started before getting cut off.
"His son?" Dipper asked in horror.
"Ew, gross, no." The Reflection answered with disgust in his voice, "No, I'm more like his estranged brother, a lot like a certain six-fingered anomaly and a man with a penchant for all things illegal and/or flammable that we both know."
"So if you're his brother, you're not as powerful." Dipper reasoned.
"I may not be as powerful as he is with his abilities," The Reflection replied, "But that doesn't mean I don't have a few tricks of my own."
Dipper began thinking through all kinds of scenarios of how he could get back to full control and still retain his powers to defeat Bill, but they all involved some sort of sacrifice that Dipper just couldn't accept - mostly because they involved someone else or memories of someone else, whether it was Mabel, Wendy, the Stans. No, Dipper wasn't losing anyone before himself.
"You can't do it, kid." The Reflection remarked with a bit of maniacal pride in his voice, "You can't take me down without--"
The Reflection was cut off by Dipper whipping a hand around The Reflection's neck in a death grip. Dipper lifted his face to look at The Reflection dead in the eye and showed that his own eyes were glowing blue with no pupils, just simply glowing blue with power and rage.
"I would rather lose myself than lose anyone else to you or Bill or anyone who thinks they can mess with my family." Dipper growled as he gripped The Reflection's neck with increasing strength.
As Dipper squeezed, The Reflection's brick pattern skin seemed to crack and release energy into Dipper like vapors from a broken light.
"Don't you want to know what's coming?" The Reflection asked through strain, "What the other realities look like?"
Dipper looked to the wrecked Bronco, looked to the rundown version of the Pines' house, then back at The Reflection.
"No, I don't." Dipper answered as he began to squeeze his fist tighter, "You know what they say, 'Ignorance is bliss.'"
The Reflection screamed out in Bill's voice as Dipper tightened his fist around and then through The Reflection's throat. The Reflection shattered into shards of energy which then went into Dipper's body as the dream around him started going dark and falling apart.
<====+====>
Dipper woke up - or at least, he thought he did. He was laying in the study/lab with Wendy asleep beside his gurney and Ford asleep while Dipper's vitals were on several screens. What was off, was the color of everything - it was all muted, almost like sepia tone but a bit brighter.
Standing up, Dipper looked around and noticed a light coming from the open elevator. Stepping towards it, Dipper felt the elevator start moving up and then open the vending machine door into the gift shop. Dipper stepped into the gift shop and then felt someone watching him.
"Pinetree?!" An all-too-familiar evil voice asked in shock, "Is that you?!"
Dipper turned to the voice of Bill himself - no cloaked figure, no Weirdmageddon minions, just the Demon Dorito in all his infamy - floating through the Shack as if he owned it.
"Yeah, it is." Dipper replied as calmly as he could, "You sound surprised."
"Honestly, I thought Blue would've taken you out by now," Bill answered honestly, "Then I could take him out and get powerful enough to get out of A-Certain-Someone's head."
"'A-Certain-Someone', huh?" Dipper asked, "Do I know this 'certain-someone'?"
"Ah-ah-ah, Pinetree," Bill said as he waved a finger, "You ain't gettin' no spoilers outta me. You'll just have to wait to see what I have planned."
"Eh, that's alright." Dipper replied, surprised at his calm and almost humorous attitude, "My Reflection - or Blue, as you called him - probably told me enough, and I'm a smart guy, I'll figure out. I did every other time."
Bill moved back, Dipper couldn't tell if it was sudden fear or trying to get a better handle on the situation.
"Are you-," Bill started as he pointed his cane at Dipper almost defensively, "Are you trying to get in my head?"
"Oh please, that is one place I do not want to go." Dipper replied using his hands to emphasize his words, "I'm just trying to stall for time."
"Why?" Bill asked, the fear in his voice betraying his look of confidence.
"Blue left a gift behind," Dipper said as he flexed his hand and it lit with blue fire, "The longer you're in my head, the more information you leave behind. Normally this would be a problem, but as long as I have these powers, I can actually decipher and use this information."
"No, no way, Pinetree." Bill chuckled, "You're bluffing for sure."
"Tset eht ot taht tup ot tnaw uoy od?" Dipper asked in Bill's language of power.
"No... NO!" Bill screamed in horror as he snapped his fingers and portaled out of Dipper's mind.
Dipper did his best to retain everything Bill and Blue and said, everything they had alluded to, then allowed himself to fall into the darkness that had begun to splinter into the dreamscape.
<====+====>
Dipper woke up quietly - which was welcome after waking from a dream. He tried to sit up in the gurney which creaked, waking Wendy from her nap in the chair and getting Ford's attention at the desk.
"Dipper, welcome back." Ford said as he helped Dipper up, "Take it easy, your body's been under a lot of stress the past few days."
"How long was I out?" Dipper asked as he took sensors off his forehead and chest.
"Two days." Ford replied as he helped take an IV out of Dipper's arm and bandage it up, "It's New Year's Eve, Mabel's out getting stuff together for a party now. I'll let you two talk, I'm gonna go tell Stan to let Mabel know you're awake."
Dipper stood from the gurney as he and Wendy watched Ford head into the elevator and let the doors close.
"Dipper, please just tell me," Wendy practically whispered as she turned to him, "What is going on with you--?"
Before she could finish her question, Dipper had enveloped her in a hug. Not a bearhug, not the normal hugs they had shared in summers past, but a hug that conveyed everything he couldn't say with words.
"I'm sorry." Dipper spoke around the catch in his throat as he tried not to tear up, "I should've told you from the beginning, but it was all too complicated and half it didn't even seem real. I thought if I kept you from it you'd be safe, but then things got out of control and I had to come to the Grunkles for help. I never wanted you to lose your trust in me, I'm sorry."
Wendy wrapped her arms around Dipper, not caring that he still hadn't put a shirt on, she needed him to know.
"I'll never lose my trust in you." Wendy replied quietly, "I don't care how safe you think I need to be, I faced Weirdmageddon with you - and on my own for awhile - I can take whatever this or any world has to throw at me."
"Are you sure?" Dipper asked as he pulled back to look in her eyes, "Because this isn't gonna be easy to tell you."
"Neither was your real name," Wendy reminded him in reply, "And you got through that last year fairly well. I think I can take it."
Dipper smirked as he gestured for her to sit back down and took a seat himself on the gurney. He then told her the whole story - how the dreams had started after Bill inhabited his body, how they got worse and more frequent as the years went on, he even told her about the dreams involving her, and about the powers that had begun to sprout due to what Bill had left behind, finishing with everything that had happened while the Reflection had been in Dipper's head and the conversation he had with the Reflection and then Bill.
"And that is everything in its entirety." Dipper said sheepishly, "I know I should've told you, but I didn't want part of our friendship to constantly be worrying about me."
"I always worry about you Dipper." Wendy breathed as she looked up at him.
Dipper looked at Wendy in a semi-new light; a light he had seen her in before, but now it seemed something new was added - a trust that went beyond anything he had with anyone else except maybe Mabel, a bond that had been forged through one of the strongest fires and honed with the sharpest edge. This was something Dipper hadn't thought would come of telling Wendy the truth, this was unexpected - but definitely not unwelcome.
Dipper moved to Wendy just as she stood up from her chair and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. He looked into her eyes as she looked into his, then slowly leaned in, closed his eyes and pressed his lips into hers. She wrapped one arm around his midsection, the other around his shoulders and returned the kiss. He moved his arms so that one was on her back and the other was at the base of her neck.
Time stopped around them, the world disappeared - it didn't matter that they were in a somewhat oppressive space several feet underground, it didn't matter that one sensor was still attached to Dipper's back showing just how fast his heart rate was, and it didn't matter just how much time had passed before Wendy and Dipper both acknowledged the truths they had both been harboring. All that mattered now, was them, this moment and everything that would come of it.
Before they could continue however, the elevator gave it's tell-tale ding as the arrow moved to point to floor two. Dipper pulled away, knowing that Wendy could see his look of "we'll talk about this later" then pulled off the sensor on his back and put on a Mystery Shack shirt that had been left for him.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, Mabel burst into the room and did her best not to tackle Dipper into the wall with her hug as Ford followed.
"Please, for the love of all that is sweet and sugary, stop nearly dying or causing the end of the world, Bro-bro." Mabel said as she held onto Dipper.
"Mabes, please, I'm alright." Dipper chuckled as he eventually got her off of him, "I'm actually glad you're here, I need to talk to you and the Grunkles."
Dipper looked to the elevator, then to Mabel and Ford.
"Where's Stan?" Dipper asked Ford.
<====+====>
In the woods, at the very spot that Mabel was tricked into handing over the Rift five years ago, the cloaked figure carved Bill's likeness into a tree with a wicked looking knife - the blade was steel, about three inches long, and the grip was shaped like brass knuckles.
"You know they'll destroy you for this right?" A gruff voice asked under the hood of the cloak.
"I'd like to see them try," Bill answered with a smile from the same mouth, "Now get to work on the full circle, Stanley, I need more power if I'm gonna take down Pinetree."