Critical Rift

Part Two

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Ivan had been scarred. The images of Bill being shredded and ripped from him body haunted him every night. The nightmares seemed to go on for months, depriving him of sleep and what small amount of sanity remained. He was tired, depressed, insane. He stayed in Gravity Falls in hopes that Bill would somehow come back. Ivan sat in Greasy's Diner, a restaurant down the street, every morning. He sat staring out the window, sipping his coffee, mumbling to himself to try and comprehend his own thoughts.It went on like that for weeks, until a pair of men came through the front door.

The two looked fairly young. The taller of the two had a thick, square jaw and fair skin. The other, however, had a head of long brown hair, and a lanky face. They sat in the booth in front of Ivan's and began to converse among themselves.

Ivan started to panic.

What if they're cops? What if they finally found me after all this time? Maybe they plan to throw me into the rift. Maybe they know about the files! Oh no!

Ivan shook in his seat as tears welled up in his eyes. He tried to calm his internal ranting as he attempted to eavesdrop on the two.

"-I really think this could work!" The larger of the two seemed excited.

"I'm not so sure, it might be too dangerous."

"Well that's why we test it at a distance."

"Stanford, really now. For all we know a rift that size could suck in everything in a ten mile radius."

Ivan tensed up. Did he hear him say rift?

"Rift?" The words tumbled out of his mouth by mistake.

Stanford looked over his friend's head. "Yes, an interdimensional rift. Would you happen to know about such things?"

Ivan slowly nodded yes.

Stan's friend turned in his seat, looking behind at Ivan.

"Have you seen one?" He asked.
Ivan nodded silently.

"Oh my goodness! That's amazing!" Stanford exclaimed, "I'm Dr. Stanford Pines and this is my colleague Fiddleford McGucket. We're building a rift right now, actually! Would you mind if we ask you a few questions? First, what's your name?"

Ivan hesitated, shifting in this seat. "Ivan... B- but I would stay away from those things if I were you..."

"And why would that be?" Fiddleford asked softly.

Ivan stood up, shaking the table. "Those things are evil! You'll leave them be if you know what's good for you!"

He stormed out the front of the cafe, leaving Ford and Fiddleford stunned.

"Well what was his problem?" Stanford chuckled.

McGucket laughed, trying to lift his spirits after that whole fiasco, "yeah..."

The two men finished their breakfast and went back to their project. The metal elevator rattled as it carried the two underground and into the lab. The door opened and Ford skipped out.

"I think it might be ready for a test!" He picked up the test dummy that laid on the floor next to the large metal door, "what do you say?"

Fiddleford smiled, nodding gleefully. Although, deep in the back of his mind, thoughts of Ivan's warning haunted him.

The mannequin was tied to rope and the portal was fired up. The portal surged and the light blue light within it blazed. Both Ford and McGucket carried the dummy up to the portal, ready to throw it in. They released it, but a piece of the rope caught Fiddleford, and it started to drag him away. He screamed as he and the doll flew into the gateway. Electricity splurged from it, engulfing him. Ford quickly reacted, snagging the rope and pulling as hard as possible.

On the other side, a demon had set the area aflame. The triangle floated in front of McGucket. Its eye seemed to be staring into his soul. And if McGucket wasn't in a panic before, he sure was now.

"Where am I?!" Fiddleford screamed.

The demon's voice was smooth, but anything but calming. "That doesn't matter now."

"It's You!"

"Listen to me-"

"Let me go!"

The flames suddenly grew, scorching everything around them.
"Shut up! Now listen to me, Fids! You're gonna spread a message for me, got it?"

McGucket squirmed and wriggled and attempted to escape. When the demon held a hand out to touch his forehead he yelled angrily and wrestled, but was almost instantly put in a trance.
"Spread my word, and warn others of the Armageddon."

Bill proceeded to push him out of the portal, hurtling him back to the third dimension.

Fiddleford tumbled to the ground.

"What was it? Is it working? Did you see anything?" Ford bombarded him with questions.

Fiddleford writhed and twitched on the floor. He went into an unexpected panic, "Ahh! VOTMZRIG IVSKRX OORY!!"

"Fiddleford?" Stanford asked apprehensively.
Fiddleford sat up, but with an empty look still in his eyes. "When gravity falls and earth becomes sky, fear the beast with just one eye."

Stanford placed a hand on his shoulder, "Fiddleford, get a hold of yourself, you're not making any sense!"

He jerked away from his touch. "This machine is dangerous!" He suddenly shouted, "you'll bring about the end of the world with this! Destroy it before it destroys us all!"

Pines became defensive. "I can't destroy this; it's my life's work!"

"I fear we've unleashed a grave danger on the world. One I'd just as soon forget. I quit!" Fiddleford stormed out.

Stanford watched, guilt filled his stomach but rage still took over. "Fine! I'll do it without you! I don't need you! I don't need anyone!"

The room was quiet now as Ford fumed. An airy voice seemed to whisper in his ear, "you still need me."

"What? Who said that?"
Whispers overlapped and continued to tease him. Panic arose over Stanford as he backed into a wall and curled up into a ball. The only one who seemed to understand his madness was gone. And he was left alone... Or so he thought.

~°~

Bill brushed himself off as the flames around him died down. Such a surge of power! Although, there was something obscure about it all, perhaps it was a guttural feeling of guilt or maybe it was simply a side effect of his hunger for power. But nonetheless, he was getting what he wanted. He wasn't just going to float around this place for the rest of his existence. No fun. Not when you can go anytime and anywhere and mess with anyone or anything. Why just stick here if you can manipulate any millennia you want? If he was going to find his way back into the third demension he was going to have to bend a few rules. So he flew off, looking for a place in time to mess with.

Elsewhere in time, Ivan had grown derailed. He began scribbling on the walls of his motel room, ripping the wallpaper away to reveal blank canvas. He scrawled some more, drawing triangles and open eyes, until a knock on his door startled him.

"Hello?" A voice called from outside.

Ivan's heart started to race and he began the scratch at the walls, trying to remove as many of his drawings as possible.

"Please don't hurt me!" He begged, "I told you I'd clean it all up!"

The door slowly opened and a familiar head popped in.

"Ivan?" Fiddleford whispered as to not alarm him.

Ivan was surprised by what he saw. McGucket's face was scruffy and scarred and his eyes were bloodshot. He shook slightly as he made his way inside.

"I warned you!" Ivan screamed, pointing a bony finger at him.

"Please." Fiddleford spoke softly, "I have something that might help..."

"I don't need your help! You can't help me now!"

Fiddleford pulled out a strange device, a gun of some sort, and Ivan took a step away. The lightbulb on the end faintly glowed.

"This can help you." McGucket smiled at him.

Ivan was sceptical, yet literally mad enough to try anything.

"What does it do?"

"It can make you forget everything you've seen."

"Like a... Mind eraser?"

Fiddleford nodded.

Ivan stared at him skeptically. He didn't look sane. But then again, neither did Ivan.

"I've used it. It works I promise!" McGucket shouted, excited, and his eye twitched with anticipation.

"And why should I trust you?"

"Because you can't trust anyone anyways, you might as well give me, someone who knows your pain, a chance."

Ivan didn't know what to do. He refused to trust anyone. But this was enticing. This could help him get back what life he had, even get him his sanity back.

"Fine."

Before he could react a bright light shined from the end of the bulb, engulfing him in a bright light until he keeled over.