On My Way Home (A Gravity Falls / Over the Garden Wall Crossover fanfic)

Ch. 3: Pottsfield

Dipper

"Did you know that if you soak a raisin in grape juice, it turns into a grape?"

"Uh... are you sure about that?"

"Nope. It's a rock fact."

"I... okay. Did you know that if you spray water on a goblin, it gets bigger and scarier?"

"Whoa, cool! Do you think that'll happen if I spray water on Wirt Jr.?"

"Hah, I dunno Greg. Maybe you should try it."

"Yeah, thanks Dipper! You're gonna be a big, scary frog, aren't you, Wirt Jr.?"

I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Greg walking hand in hand with his frog, despite feeling like my legs were going to fall off from walking for so long.

"Hey, Mabel!" Greg called over his shoulder. "Did you know that if you soak a raisin in grape juice, it turns into a grape?" Mabel lifts her eyes and I quickly look away, still confused and hurt by her unforgiving reclusiveness. Okay, so maybe I wasn't confused. Maybe I knew that it was kinda my fault she was like this, but still. It was still because of her we were here to begin with. When had she ever listened to me? When had she ever put me before her feelings, or her crushes, or her ego? Never. I should have known she would ignore the facts, however sound they were. And now we were stuck, who knows where, with no known way of getting back. I scowled, allowed these thoughts to sour my mood, crossed my arms, and marched faster to match stride with Wirt.

"Soo... where are we going, exactly?" I asked, peering at him. He was gazing into the distance, obviously lost in thoughts. His lips were moving, muttering what sounded like poetry.

"Wirt?"

"Huh? Oh. Sorry, what was that?"

"Uh... do you know where we're going?"

"Well -"

"AAH!" Wirt and I swung around when we heard Greg's cry.

"Greg!" Wirt shouted. "Are you okay?"

"AH!" I heard my own voice as my foot plunged into something mushy and slimy. I jerked my head down and saw that I had stepped in a gourd.

"I just stepped on a pumpkin!" Greg said triumphantly. "Hey, Dipper stepped on one too! Come on, Mabel! Come on, Wirt! Join the Pumpkin Party!"

Wirt pressed his mouth into a thin line and held up his hands. "I'm good, thanks."

"Mabel?" Greg said it with such hopeful optimism similar to Mabel's, I forgot our tension and sent her a smile.

She fingered her pink earrings and gave me a fleeting glance, no emotion. She stomped her foot into a small pumpkin near her and chuckled softly.

"Yeah!" Greg cheered, taking her hand and marching awkwardly towards Wirt and I, struggling to lift the extra weight of the pumpkin.

Wirt sighed. "Are you done now? Are you ready to - oh, hey, look. Pottsfield. Civilization! Maybe they can help us get home."

I felt a tug on my vest and looked down to see Greg, with his teapot on his head and his frog on the teapot, holding out his hand. "You lead the Pumpkin Train, Dipper."

"Sure, Greg," I replied, grabbing his fingers and headed down the hill behind Wirt.

When we got to the town, it felt eerily isolated and different, not unlike Gravity Falls. It was, however, very empty, whereas Gravity Falls was always full of people. Wirt knocked on a door and opened it only to find a single turkey inside. I wondered if the journals would have been useful in our situation.

"Hmmm... now where could everyone be?" Greg mused, rubbing his chin and moving his head from side to side. "What do you think, Detective Kitty?"

"Rrrooorrp," Greg's frog answered.

"This is odd," Wirt muttered, more to himself than us.

"I hear music," Mabel said out of the blue. I opened my mouth to ask where, or if she could possibly give more information, but hesitated. Was she still mad at me? Was I still mad at her?

"Hey - I hear it too! This-a way!" Greg took off in a different direction.

"No, Greg - wait for us!" Wirt said, exasperated. The three of us started to follow him, when I tripped over the weight of the pumpkin still on my foot. Wirt, in his panic, failed to notice and kept running. Mabel turned. There was a moment of eye contact, but she, too, turned and kept going. I pushed myself up and followed after them, still wondering if I should try to talk to Mabel.

Still caught up in the thoughts in my head, I followed the footsteps of the others entered the large wooden doors, not thinking much of it. I looked up only when it dawned on me that my environment was deathly quiet. I looked up to see a grotesque pumpkin head glowering down on us, mid-sentence.

"I sentence you... to a few hours of manual labor."

"What?" I burst out, thoroughly confused by the sight in front of me, and hoping someone might fill me in on what I missed. But of course, nobody was listening, and instead crowds of people in what I assumed were vegetable costumes ushered Wirt, Greg, Mabel and I into a field where we were given rakes and shovels and told to get to work. Wirt and Greg do just that, and it's obvious Wirt is caught up in his own mind as he starts to sweep leaves with his rake. I, meanwhile, walk over to Mabel, determined to sort out this conflict.

"Hey, look," I start, swiping my arm across my forehead to get rid of nervous sweat. "I'm just wondering... are we cool? I mean, are you okay?"

Mabel glares at me. "I'm mad at you, you dummy," she states. This takes me aback.

"Why? I mean, if anyone should be mad, shouldn't I be mad at you? And, I'll admit, I was, but, c'mon, I hate fighting like this."

"You have no idea what you did, do you?!"

"Me?! What do you mean? I did absolutely nothing to get us in this situation! Why are you mad at me? This was all your fault."

I wanted to slap myself the second the words were out of my mouth. This was not going well, at all.

"Are you serious right now?! You have no idea?! You were the one trying to antagonize my Grunkle, and I -"

"Whoa, hold on, your Grunkle? He was mine, too, and Mabel, you can't ignore science! It was you who failed to press the button, failed to keep us safe, and now look where we are!"

"Just shut up."

"FINE! I think I will!" I turned away in fury only to find Wirt and Greg staring at us.

"Hi, Mr. Pumpkin People!" Greg called, waving to something behind us. I turned back around slowly, and found myself facing a pumpkin-clad villager.

"Whoa hey, what's this now?" He asked.

"Conflict?" asked another.

"We don't like conflict," chorused more.

"Yeah, get outta Pottsfield!"

"Yeah!"

"There's no room for conflict here! We can harvest the dead without you!"

I don't have much recollection after that. We were chased out of the village by the odd residents and set off again in search of home. But I found I couldn't think of home, or Gravity Falls anymore, all I could think about was my damaged relationship with my sister. We were further apart than ever, and I hated the thought that it was my fault.

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Hey all, thanks so much for waiting so patiently while I so very slowly crank out new chapters!! School's been keeping me really busy which leaves little time for writing. I'm still working on my OTGW fic too, don't worry. I want to apologize for this chapter, I don't think it was my best and the pacing is kind of weird and I fear that I might be out of character, but I wanted to get something up. Thanks so much for your support, it means a ton!! xoxo -LittleBlackTurtles