Trust Only Me (A Gravity Falls Fanfiction) [DISCONTINUED/COMPLETED]

Betrayal

"Mabel! Listen to me! This is crazy! This thing could destroy the whole town, the whole world!" Dipper yelled, as loud as he could over the overwhelming change in gravity and sound coming from the terrifying portal open behind his twin sister, Mabel.

"Look at me, Mabel. Do you really think I'm a bad guy?!" Their Grunkle Stan Pines desperately shouted from his spot stuck against the wall. Mabel, who was clinging to the part the held the button to shut down the machine, held her hand over the red button, glancing between both her brother and her great uncle, frantic tears coming from her eyes, and because of the gravity lifting, they went up, suspended as everything else was. The timer was under 10 seconds, 5 seconds. Mabel squeezed her eyes shut, letting her grip on the platform loosen as she began to float upward, in front of the portal.

"Grunkle Stan.... I trust you."

Those words still continuously rang in Dipper's head, even days after what had happened. Their Grunkle Stan had lied to them all summer, concealing a lab and even an interdimensional portal in the hidden basement of the Mystery Shack, behind the vending machine in the gift shop. He had activated the portal and gotten arrested, and in that time Dipper, Mabel and Soos had found it. The gravity had lifted (due to the portal) before they could shut it off, leading to the events that continued to the memories he couldn't shake, the fact that Mabel had trusted their traitorous Grunkle over him. It's true that Mabel leaving the portal open led to Ford Pines emerging, the author of the the 3 journals and their Grunkle Stan's twin brother, but the guy just seemed overly suspicious. Him being the author of the journals meant he knew a lot, everything, in fact, about Gravity Falls. He could get some info out of the strange man, but aside from that he didn't trust Ford. The niceness could have been a facade, as Bill's was. Of course, Bill wasn't what he would have called "nice" from the start, but he did act like their ally. Now they knew he was not. He had ventured into his Grunkle Stan's mind to uncover secrets that shouldn't be revealed, and even stolen his body and tried to take the 3rd journal from Mabel! Each time they had defeated him, but each time Dipper could only sit and anticipate the next time he would try to kill them. It always occupied his thoughts, as if the dream demon was constantly haunting his mind. He'd barely gotten a peaceful wink of sleep the past two days, too afraid to sleep and when he had, those short moments had been all nightmares. Now he sat on his bed, the dawning of the second day since the real Stanford Pines arrived at the Mystery Shack. He could already hear both great uncles yelling at one another down in the kitchen, and wasn't very excited about going down there. He stood up and nonchalantly threw a plushie at Mabel, who had been sleeping soundly in her own bed across the room from Dipper's. Her sister groaned and rolled over, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Her hair was a complete mess. "Morning, bed head." Dipper pointedly greeted his sister before leaving to get dressed and brush his teeth.

                                ***
Breakfast had been a nightmare. Stanley had insisted on making breakfast, and while bickering with Ford his pancakes had burned, which meant they had to throw them away. Soos ended up making microwave burritos for them to eat after both brothers left the kitchen accusing one another of various things. Mabel had finished eating and left to hang out with friends, so Dipper was pretty much alone since Soos and Wendy were now busy working. He might as well go get his journal back. Even if it was Ford's, he'd hid it away like he didn't want it. He had no right to keep it down in that creepy lab. Now he knew the code, so he waited until Wendy was on break and snuck up to the vending machine, typing in the right combination of buttons and easily riding the elevator down to the third floor. He almost froze taking the first step out, as this brought back a lot of memories from that few days ago. When Mabel, Soos and himself came down this part. He walked down, into the room filled with all kinds of strange machines and contraptions, including the destroyed portal in the open space up ahead. Dipper have an uncomfortable look to that room, stepping forward up to the desk, which had all three journals on it. Number 1 and 2 were tempting, but he would probably get in enough trouble just for taking back number 3. He looked up to spot a small compartment a bit in front of the journals. He slid it open, and an object that looked sort of like a snow globe sat, with a strange swirling mass moving around inside it. He found himself staring in awe at the strange object, intrigued. Suddenly, the elevator went back up, meaning someone else was arriving in the basement. He turned and gasped, grabbing the journal, but forgetting to close the hatch with that object, and diving out into the portal room under some of the wreckage. He heard someone step out into the room, followed by some heated grumbling. He realized, it was probably Ford. He shivered, clutching the book to his chest and scooting not further into the wreckage. There was a sigh and some rustling.

"I thought I put it with the others..." The man sounded more worried than anything else. Eventually the sound stopped and Dipper could hear Ford's footsteps moving up to what was probably the desk with the books. He heard the hatch he had found and opened slide closed, and the footsteps come out toward the portal area. "...Mabel? Or...what was it, Dipper? Are you down here?"

Dipper froze and scooted as far into his hiding place as he could, unfortunately for him he hit a piece of something that shifted, causing a whole sheet of metal from the portal to come crashing down on him as he let out a small shriek. The footsteps ran over and the weight was lifted from his back. Ford was there then, staring down at him as he lifted the broken debris. Dipper quickly scrambled away from the wreckage, and out of the portal room, stopping, turning around and holding the journal out.

"I-I'm sorry! I-I just came d-down here to-- I m-mean--" He opened one eye just a little, his great uncle there and towering over him in height. He then knelt down to Dipper's height, and to his surprise, let out a hearty chuckle.

"I actually heard from your sister you liked my works. I don't need it at the moment, you may hold onto it if you want." Ford had kind eyes and a kind smile, the first one Dipper had seen from the mysterious man since he arrived. The young boy flushed slightly, embarrassed at the thought of Mabel calling him a total nerd for the journals in front of the author.

"Um...th-thanks. ...Great uncle Ford." Ford looked surprised for a moment before grinning and sort of awkwardly patting Dipper's head.

"You're welcome. Now. You shouldn't be down here, you might have gotten hurt if I wasn't around. Just stay up on ground level until this place gets cleaned up."

Dipper nodded vigorously, sort of sore from the debris that had fallen on him just a minute ago. He turned, hugging the journal to his chest, and looked back once before hurrying off back over to the elevator. Ford adjusted his glasses slightly and stood up straight, waiting until he heard the elevator go all the way up and stop before turning back toward his desk, expression going grim as he stared at the small, hidden compartment.

"Just how much did you see, Dipper..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FINALLY actually finished this chapter! I hope I'm decent at Ford in this, by the way. I guessed he would be at the point where he doesn't know how to Grunkle XD. Anyway, I'll be posting the next chapter soon! Woot!