Across worlds //Reverse Falls

II - He's alive?

All seemed to go back to normal almost insantly, the terrifying rift in the sky closed up within minutes, dragging Bill's nightmare friends with it.
The sky faded from blood red to a calming blue. The citizens of Gravity Falls were safe once more, free from Bill's 'fun'.

Stan was kneeled on the grass in a dazed state. His arms hung limply by his sides, devoid of his usual charm and energy.
"Oh my gosh! Grunkle Stan, you did it!" Mabel exclaimed as she ran towards her exhausted grunkle before carefully placing his hat back on his head.

"Oh, uh, hey there... kiddo." Stan chuckled a little nervously, confusion written across his face. Mabel's face dropped upon hearing him. It finally set in that he had no idea who he was. Stanford went on to further explain this to her.
The reality was crushing, she couldnt accept this she just couldn't.
Mabel looked over at Stan in sorrow. She lifted her hands to cover her mouth, not trusting herself to not yell, cry out, or both.
Stan was quickly dragged to the Mystery Shack and sat in his favourite chair. Mabel rushed to show him her scrapbook, all the time they spent together over the summer, all the memories they made. Her throat grew sore from explaining and pleading with him to remember them.

Dipper was alongside Mabel, desperate for Stan to remember them, his family, until he was distracted by a subtle beeping sound. He paused and turned to where it came from and saw Ford holding a strange, beeping, box-like device. Ford's face was one of horror.
"Is everything okay, Grunkle Ford..?" He asked nervously.
Ford suddenly stuffed the device back into his pocket and nodded, "Everything will be fine. Let's just focus on Stanley for now." He mumbled, his voice subtly laced with worry, but Dipper chose to ignore it for now.

After almost an hour of talking to Stan and showing him their memories together, Stan showed signs of remembering his old life again. He recognised his family, even Waddles, and could remember certain details. Although it wasn't perfect, it was clear he wasn't hopeless in terms of recovery.
The Pines family was relieved. They hadn't lost Stan like they feared, but Dipper couldn't stop thinking about that weird device that Stanford stuffed into his pocket earlier.

The twins were getting ready for bed later on, Mabel happily tucking herself in, excited for the next day now that Gravity Falls was safe. Dipper, on the other hand, laid in bed staring at the ceiling, unable to get that strange device out of his head. What even was that thing? Why wouldn't Ford talk about it? Why was it beeping? Thoughts and questions circled his mind like paper in the wind.

Suddenly, Stanford burst into their room, "Kids!" He whisper-yelled. Mabel looked over at him in glee as she shot up, "Grunkle Ford! Is Stan doing better?" She exclaimed with a smile plastered across her face.
"Sh, sh. Keep it down." He whispered. "Yes, but I need to speak to the two of you. Follow me down to the lab, and be quiet. Stan's mind is fragile at this time, I don't want to overwhelm him with any news, so don't wake him." Stanford continued.
The twins nodded their heads in agreement before they each carefully climbed out of bed and followed Ford down to his lab, avoiding any loud or sudden movements so as not to wake Stan.

"Grunkle Ford, what's wrong?" Mabel asked once they were down in the lab and away from Stan. Dipper paused. He had a terrible feeling this had something to do with the device in Stanford's pocket.
Ford sat down and let out a tired sigh, "I'm so proud of both of you, but.. Bill Cipher isn't dead." He muttered as he hung his head in frustration.
"What!?" The twins exclaimed in unison.
"He may be gone, but he certainly isn't dead." Ford explained further.
"H-How do you know that? How is that even possible?!" Dipper shrieked.
Stanford took the device Dipper saw earlier from his pocket. It continued to beep, just quieter than before. He held it up for the twins to see. "In simple terms, this device detects travel across dimensions. It activated as soon as we erased Stanley's mind. I theorise that Bill may have travelled dimensions last second to avoid being erased." He said before shoving the box-like device back into his pocket.

"But isn't that okay? If he's in another dimension, surely we're safe from him?" Dipper asked. Panic was written all across his face. Stanford simply shook his head, "There's no doubt he'll try return once he's had time to build his strength back up." He explained with a disappointed sigh.
Stanford stood up from where he was sat and brought a hand up to his chin. He stayed in that position for a few moments, clearly deep in thought.

Finally, he turned around to face the twins. "Kids, I know this is risky, and I know you're probably still exhausted, but I think I know a way we can beat him once and for all, but we don't have much time." He began. "I'll be able to figure out the location of the dimension he's travelled to, and I'll need to send you both there to defeat him. Are you up for it?" Stanford asked, although it wasn't much of a request. The fate of the world was at stake, and there was very little time.

Dipper and Mabel turned to each other with the same look in their eye, they knew they had to do this. "We'll do it." They said together. Stanford smiled, "Yes! I knew you'd understand. Give me an hour, and I'll be able to salvage some old parts to create a smaller, less powerful version of the portal. It won't be the best, but I don't exactly have all the time in the world, and it should work just fine." He explained with a hopeful look on his face.