Pact (A Gravity Falls Fanfiction)

Chapter One: Oxqdwlf

It had been a week since the twins had arrived in Gravity Falls, and they settled in just fine.

Currently, it was the evening and the last of the tourists for the Mystery Shack had left. Wendy sat at the counter, holding her head in one of her hands, trying her hardest not to fall asleep. Soos was cleaning up around the gift shop, since there had been a lot of kids that refused to wipe their mud-covered shoes before entering the building. Mabel was sitting in a corner of the shop, cuddling with Waddles while Gompers chewed on her hair that was pulled back into a braid.

Mabel's attention was drawn away from her pig to look at the entrance to the gift shop that had just opened up to reveal her Grunkle Stan. He walked in and closed the door behind him and stretched.

"How were the tours today?" Mabel asked, but then realized that Gompers was trying to eat her braid, and pushed the goat away.

Stan shrugged and replied, "Okay, I guess. Lots of screaming kids, though. I swear I'm going to go deaf one of these days."

Mabel laughed a bit and shook her head at him, returning her attention to Waddles and rubbed his belly.

Wendy then looked up when she heard footsteps upstairs. It sounded like they were heading down the stairs and to them.

The door that connected the living room with the gift shop then swung open, and Dipper ran into the room. He was wearing a pale red t-shirt with a grey blue jacket and jeans. There was an obvious excited smile on his face.

"Oh, hey dude!" Soos greeted, "What's got you so excited?"

"You guys won't believe what I found!" Dipper exclaimed, the others now noticing he was holding behind his back.

"Your sanity?" Stan joked, earning laughter from everyone but Dipper, who just glared at him with an unamused expression.

"Ha, ha, very funny," Dipper replied, sounding disapproving, and then pulled out what was behind his back, "Bam!"

Mabel looked at the object with wide eyes and gasped, "The journal! Where did you find that thing?"

"I hid it in the storage room before we left the shack all those years ago," he replied, "It took a while, but I finally found it! I can't believe I'm actually holding this thing again! I've waited so long to look through this again... Just think of all the mysteries we're going to be able to solve now-"

"Wait," Mabel interrupted, standing up and repeated, "We?"

"Y-yeah!" Dipper exclaimed, getting a bit concerned. "You know, Mystery Twins! Remember?"

Mabel looked at Stan and the others, a bit worried, but then she sighed and looked at her twin again, "Dipper, it was a lot of fun solving those mysteries when we were younger, but..."

"But what?" Dipper questioned, raising an eyebrow at her, confused.

"It's just... It's just I wanted a normal summer this time... You know, hang out with Grenda and Candy, go swimming, fishing, and... Maybe not risk my life over your mysteries and conspiracies?" Mabel explained, trying to be as kind about it as possible, but then saw the betrayed look in Dipper's face and realized that she should've not said anything at all.

"Listen, kid," Stan suddenly spoke up, "What your sister's trying to say is, while she loves you and that crazy journal of yours, that one summer was enough of an adventure for her. You're a smart kid, why not try to figure out those mysteries yourself?"

"What?" Dipper yelped. "But I can't do all of this by myself! I'll go crazy if I do!"

"Not like you aren't already," Mabel muttered, earning a shocked look from everyone.

Her twin brother stared at her, "W-what? What are you talking about?"

"Dipper, don't try to deny it. You're obsessed with that journal! I mean, you nearly lost your body to a demon because you were so focused on figuring out the mysteries of this place! You never stop talking about your conspiracies, theories, and mysteries and you lost friends because of it! This was the one year you finally gave up on them and I thought you were done with that journal! But I guess I was wrong. Dipper, you're losing your mind over this town!"

Dipper stood there for a moment, letting her words sink in. His sister sighed and then looked down at the floor, not speaking. He looked over at Stan, Wendy, and Soos, asking, "Do... Do you guys agree with her?"

"Well..." Wendy mumbled, looking away from him as she continued to speak. "You have risked your life over that journal more than once... Which I don't think was a good idea..."

"Yeah, Dipper. No offense, dude, but you've nearly gotten yourself killed over that thing. That's kinda crazy if you ask me," Soos admitted, awkwardly fixing his hat to look away from Dipper.

The brunette teen then looked at his Grunkle, "What about you, Stan? Do you think I'm crazy too?"

Stan sighed and looked at his great-nephew in the eyes, "Dipper, you're a good kid, and trust me, I've done some crazy and risky things in my time... but what you've done in the past-"

"Oh, so that's what you all think of me then? As s-some madman with a stupid journal? That I'm risking my life over useless mysteries and that I should give up all my hard work?" Dipper snapped, and then stormed forward, and he reached for the door. "Thanks."

Dipper slammed the door behind him and stood there for a second when he heard Mabel and Stan from inside.

"Wait, Dipper! We didn't mean-"

"Mabel, leave him alone! He just needs some space, okay? Give him time."

"But Grunkle Stan..."

Dipper then shook his and marched off into the woods, clutching onto his journal as he did. He kept running until he realized that he was in the middle of the woods and the sun was almost completely set, making it difficult for him to see.

The teen sighed and leaned against a tree that was near him and slid down to the bottom of it, sitting and holding the journal in his lap. He looked at the old book, running his fingers across the six-fingered hand on the cover. As he continued to look over the journal, his thoughts began to cloud his mind.

He couldn't help but think if they the others were right. He had spent a lot of time trying to figure out the journal's secrets and mysteries, no doubt about it. He also didn't shut up about to his friends when he got back from Gravity Falls... In fact, he realized that he hadn't talked to any of those friends since he started talking about that one summer. They just stopped talking to Dipper all of a sudden. 

Dipper also remembered all the times he stayed up for hours, days, trying to crack codes that the journal held. He nearly lost his body, even his life, countless times... Did that make him crazy? He was starting to accept that the journal had become an obsession, but to drive him to madness?

Dipper looked into the golden hand on the front, and then saw his reflection on the cover. He looked awful: bags and dark circles under his eyes, messy and gross hair, tears beginning to swell up in his tired eyes.

He then threw the journal across from him, where it hit a tree and landed below it.

Dipper pulled his legs up to his chest and held them with his arms, setting his head on his knees when he started to feel tears drip down his cheek... They were right. He couldn't deny it now. They were all right.

"I'm insane," Dipper whimpered to himself, as he finally gave in and started to sob.

"Can't be more insane than I am!"

Dipper's head immediately shot up and he looked around as he heard the voice. He saw that the world around him was drained of color, and was now monochrome. The only thing colored was himself, and a glowing yellow triangle that floated above him.

"B-bill?"