[HIATUS] The Day the Campers Came | GRAVITY FALLS/CAMP CAMP AU

02

Neil awoke in a colorless forest. His skin crawled as he looked around. He saw Harrison, but that couldn't be him. He was colorless, too, and also... sobbing? He was holding what also looked to be him. Colorless, like everything else.

Neil swallowed. "Hello?" He called. No answer. "Hello? Anyone?" No response.

The wind began to pick up drastically, prickling his exposed skin and messing up his curly hair. Tears pricked his eyes.

And just like that, it... stopped?

"Howdy there!" A cheerful voice spoke. It was odd, like it had layers. It was distorted and loud, hurting Neil's ears.

"Who.. who are you?" Neil asked, rubbing the tears from his eyes as he looked around.

"The names' Bill, Bill Cipher!" Before Neil could blink, a triangular being appeared in front of him. It was yellow, but it wasn't bright. The being emmitted a pale yellow light. Parts of it's (relatively small) triangular form were made of stone, and didn't seem to function well. "You don't need to introduce yourself, Neil! Welcome to... Gravity Falls!"

"What the fuck are you?! How the hell do you know who I am?!" Neil shouted at the demon, panicking.

"Language, language! I'm a demon of dreams, master of the mind! A god of chaos, if you would!" If Bill had a mouth, Neil imagined they'd be smiling. "You and your friend are a loooong way from home." They exaggerated.

"...friend? Harrison?" Neil asked before shaking his head. Maybe his face got a little redder at the mention of Harrison. "No, no." Neil looked at the demon, exasperated.

"I tried to invade your buddy's mind, but you were out cold, so..." Bill shrugged their imaginary shoulders. "Pretty simple to figure out."

"Listen to me, please? We're just.. kids. We don't—" Neil pauses, having a minor revelation. "We know how we got here. But you're all-seeing, apparently. Why here exactly?"

Bill blinked at Neil, taking in the request. "Hold on, kiddo, for that information..- I want to preform a deal." Neil could hear the snake oil in the voice of the demon. "You get me out of my prison and I tell you everything you need to know." Bill stuck out their hand for a handshake.

Neil hesitated. If he was locked up, it was certainly for a reason. A demon of their stated strength couldn't of been easy to hassle. Why would he undo that?

"No."

"What?" Bill scoffed. "What do you mean, no, scientist?" The triangular demon's non-stone parts began to shift in color, from a pale yellow to a chalky red.

"You heard me, Bill." Neil spat, already fed up with the demon.

"Oh, you're gonna regret that, kid." Bill laughed, their form dissipating before eight figures appeared around him.

The figures of his fellow campers. All except Harrison. All eight of them looked to be disgusted or agitated at Neil.

The Max-like figure stepped forward, shouting profanities at his supposed best friend. Neil looked at him in shock.

Nikki followed, her speech garbling with Max's, and soon Neil couldn't tell you what they were saying. He just knew that it hurt.

Eventually, the other six campers joined in on the sick and twisted fun, creating a louder orchestra of strange noise, ignoring his pleas. Neil's pleading soon turning into screaming. His vocal cords ached, but he couldn't stop.

Then, he woke up. He looked around the room, confused and afraid. His breathing was too quick, his own movements too fast.

He curled in on himself, placing his hands over his ears to block out any unnecessary noise.

But Harrison speech was harder than the pressing of Neil's palms over his ears. When he saw his fellow camper, something in him eased. His limbs ceased their clenching, his eyes would open wide again. He could recognize some familiarity.

Harrison stated Neil's name and inched closer. Neil didn't want to be touched, so that's what he requested.

Even though Harrison was an enemy until recently, Harrison knew exactly how to calm Neil down. Thank lord he did.

"Why were you screaming?" The accented boy asked.

"I saw something." Neil leaned a bit closer to Harrison. Harrison moved his right arm so Neil could.

"You want to talk about it?" Neil put his head on Harrison's shoulder, seemingly less overwhelmed then before. Harrison put his arm around Neil's shoulders.

"No."

"Alright. We don't have to, then." Harrison brought Neil in for a half-assed, half hug.

Harrison gulped before he smiled. "I think we'll like it here, for the time being."

Neil noticed the people in the doorway and backed up a bit.

"Uhh, Neil–" Harrison began. "Neil, meet Ford, Dipper, and Stan. Ford, Dipper, Stan, meet Neil." Neil noticed the way the magician's hands trembled, but decided not to speak about it.

One of the nearly identical men, Ford, walked over to them. "How are you two? How did you get here? Did somebody send you?" He spat.

The two boys looked at eachother comically before Stan answered for them. "Nobody sent them, pointdexter. They're kids. Who would send them, Bill?" Neil's fists closed at the thrown-around name. Stan was smiling, but Neil could tell that he wasn't happy.

"There are other beings around here that aren't Bill, Stan!" Ford retorted, clenching his fists. Neil noticed that Ford seemed to have an irregular amount of fingers.

"We're not spies." Harrison coughed. "We're- uhm, campers..?" Harrison looked at Neil for support.

"Until about— nevermind. Earlier this day, we were attending a shitty summer camp named Camp Campbell in Wisconsin. Where are we now?"

"You're in Oregon." Dipper piped up. "How did you get here, exactly."

Harrison huffed before developing a smile, that of which soon became laughter. "Neil, oh my goodness-" he wiped his tears. "The teleporter worked!"

Neil buried his face in his hands, joining on Harrison's laughter.

"Teleporter?" Ford shouted. "You build a god damn teleporter? How?"

"Somebody over here is a child prodigy!" Harrison said sarcastically, motioning towards Neil. Neil hit Harrison on the shoulder with the heel of his palm.

Out of the blue, the five began to hear crashing from upstairs. Stan groaned. "It's probably the gnomes. Again." Stan turned towards Dipper. "Make sure they didn't kidnap your sister."

"GNOMES?" Neil practically yelled. "God, can't we just get away from weird things?"

"Weird things? You mean like the squirrels and the cult, right?" Harrison knew Neil didn't know about the octopus god or whatever that was, so he didn't mention it.

Neil scoffed. "That and the ghost-"

"We have a ghost?!" Harrison shouted, making his question very clear.

"You didn't know?" Neil responded.

"Of course not! I'm a different kind of agent of chaos." Harrison grumbled resentfully.

"Well, pointdexter, I think they're perfect." Stan clapped his hand over one of Ford's shoulders. "I needed some more employees since Soos moved and Wendy got an actual job."

"What." Neil stared at stan.

"I think I'd rather be indoctrinated into Daniel's cult again." Harrison groaned. He muttered something in Hebrew.

Gradually, the noise upstairs died down, so they mutually agreed they'd be okay to go back upstairs. It was trashed.

"Count this as your first order by your managar. Brooms are over there, get to sweeping." Stan pointed to the brooms propped up in the corner. "Twins will help, don't worry."

"I'd rather be a woodscout," grumbled Harrison.

"Ditto." Neil responded before the two share a chuckle.