When Evil Falls ༺Gravity Falls/The Evil Within Crossover༻

III. Butterfly Effect

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"I'm just a step away,
I'm just a  b r e a t h  away!
Losin' my faith today,
Fallin' off the edge today!"

❁

"Wait.. So you're telling me, that our Great Uncle Ford once worked for a psychopathic maniac?" Mabel asked with concern, her tongue betraying her slightly on 'psychopathic'.

"Yeah! I mean, well.. He didn't really know he was crazy until later." Dipper explained, flipping through the pages frantically. "See, look," He pointed to a sketch, this one a bust of a sharp featured man, his face covered in bandages. The only visible part of him was his haunting eyes and some of the left side of his face. "That's him, Ruben. Ford didn't tell me much about him, but he said he was like a scientist who liked to torture people."

"Woah.." Mabel leaned in to stare at the detailed sketch. The man's face was stoic and emotionless, but there was something about his eyes that seemed to radiate pure hatred. "What happened?"

"I dunno. He just said that he left that dimension after Ruben betrayed him or something. But isn't that cool?"

She rubbed her shoulder with an unsure look, "yeah, I guess. It's just... Why would Grunkle Ford work with someone like that?"

"He said they were working on a machine that linked people's minds together. He left when he figured out that Ruben was crazy." When he noticed that her expression didn't change, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Uncle Ford isn't a bad person, Mabel. He just made a mistake."

She smiled weakly. "Yeah, I know. I just worry that.. What if Grunkle Ford did know?"

Dipper smiled, refusing to show his true feelings about the subject. It was a possibility. He had trusted Bill Cipher once, even if he did realize his mistake later on.

"Dipper!"

Stanford's shout and rapid, heavy footsteps cut through the silence. In a moment he burst through the door, his grey hair tousled and eyes wide with alarm. "Dipper, quick! I need your help. Something's wrong with the portal!"

Dipper gasped and darted after Ford. Mabel stood and reached after him, but he had already left the room. "Wait!" She cried, "don't leave me.." Her lips fell into a bitter frown. No, she wouldn't let them leave without her. She'd had enough of being ignored by her brother. She wouldn't be left out again. Mabel scowled and darted after the two. Not without stopping by their room to snag her grappling hook first, of course.

But little did Mabel know, someone else was following her close behind.

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"But I thought you'd shut it down!"

"I did! At least, I had thought. Apparently it didn't shut down properly. I was working in my study when I heard it. It just came to life somehow!"

Dipper was first to enter the portal room. Freezing in his tracks, he gaped immediately at the sight before him. A swirling torrent of dirt and rubble tore through the air. The portal's blue glow cast itself across the entire, cavernous room. It's frame was dismantled, as Stanford had explained he had done, but somehow the entrance to unlimited dimensions was up and running. Although, it was highly unstable. The room rumbled and shook violently occasionally and an eerie hum hung in the air.

"Dipper, get back!"

Dipper was suddenly flung out of his daze and shoved to the side. He heard Ford emit a grunt of pain as they both fell to the floor. Climbing to his feet, he rushed to help his grunkle up. A gasp escaped him as he spotted a tear on the left sleeve of his trench coat. Blood gushed steadily from the fresh wound, staining the brown material. "I'm fine, I'm fine, Dipper!" Ford reassured, his hand flying to clamp over the wound. He winced, but pointed to the control panel wall and barked an order, "Go! You stay here and I'll try to shut it down!"

Dipper hesitated, both worrying about the safety of his mentor and facing disappointment for his lack of involvement, but eventually headed to safety. Ford grit his teeth and trudged forward, his sight set on the red button at the centre of the room.

Rubble and debris flew around him in a tornadic fashion, barely missing his burly frame. His reflexes were quick, but not enough to dodge the lightning speed missiles. Cuts were received on his unshaven face; luckily, most of which were located beneath his eyes. The last thing he needed was blood in the way of the sense he currently relied on most: sight.

The button's glow grew brighter with every step. Ten feet. Five feet. Almost there!

"Oof!" Ford was flung past the button with the help of a broken floorboard to his back. Along with the dull throb in his spine, a sense of dread sunk to his stomach. A sense of weightlessness overcame him. He'd crossed over the line. The yellow and black zig-zag border that could possibly lead to another 30 years lost in the dimensions..

"Grunkle Ford!" Dipper cried out, watching in horror as his uncle's body was suspended in the air and slowly sucked towards the portal. Darting to his rescue, he crossed the border himself and reached out for his mentor's hand. "Dipper, no!" The author protested, "it's too late!"

"No! I'm not letting you leave!" He felt his own body being lifted. Fear pricked his pounding heart as he continued to reach, but the distance between the two was far too great.

"Dipper! Great Uncle Ford!" Mabel's panicked voice cut through the swirling torrent of air, quickly followed by a familiar gruff voice. "Mabel, get back here! It's-" Stanley paused, eyes wide at the catastrophic sight before him. His shock immediately shifted to rage. "I thought I told you to keep away from the kids! Now look what ya' did poindexter!"

Despite his situation, Ford's own features melted into anger and he spat back, "I told Dipper to stay back! And I had no idea Mabel would follow!"

Mabel felt her cheeks grow hot at her mention, feeling ashamed as if she weren't supposed to be involved. But he wanted to. Ford had stolen away her brother. All she wanted was to be noticed..

Summing up her courage and seizing the moment as the older twins bickered back and forth, she charged at her floating brother. He begged her to stay back, but she ignored him. She leapt up and grabbed onto his foot, but her weight wasn't enough to bring him down. They both began to ascend to the swirling blue vortex. 'Ugh! Why didn't I just use the grappling hook?' She thought angrily to herself, feeling the item shift in her sweater's pocket. No use for it now..

"Kids!" Stan exclaimed, charging at the trio. Had he not been in such an adrenaline fueled situation, he might have realized he continuation of mistakes. But Stan was never really one to think before acting..

He lunged after Mabel, but only succeeded in suspending himself. He yelped in dismay and tried to 'swim' back to the ground, but failed.

"I told you to stay back, Dipper!" Ford cried.

"I know! I'm so sorry!" Dipper's hysterical apology neared the point of tears. Mabel grabbed ahold of him tightly and he did the same to her, bracing themselves for their incoming fate.

The trio disappeared into the portal in a flash of blue light. The massive room was left empty and quiet as the winds, along with the machine, began to die down.

//Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter along with the music I added. :3 Couldn't use the original song, so I used the violin/cello version instead. Plus, I kinda have a obsession with violins so yeah. XD

Don't forget to leave a vote/comment if you liked this chapter! It means a lot more than you'd think! Hope you have a fantastic day and I'll see you in the next chapter: where things will start to get interesting! ;)\\