Chapter Text
Ah, Summer break.
“So, do you want cheese on that hon?” A man flipping burgers said.
“Sure Hank,” A woman said back.
A time for leisure, recreation, and takin’ ‘er easy…
A billboard with the words Welcome to Gravity Falls on it stood above the forest on a cliff.
Unless you’re me.
Two boys in a golf cart rammed through the billboard, screaming wildly. As they drove onto a nearby path, the sound of trees falling and growling was heard behind them.
“It’s getting closer!” One of the boys said while chucking rocks at the creature chasing them.
The creature’s hands snapped at them as the golf cart jumped over ramps and rocks.
My name is Stanford. The boy throwing rocks is my brother Stanley. You may be wondering what we’re doing in a golf cart fleeing from a creature of unimaginable horror.
The monster grabbed a tree and threw it ahead of the boys, causing the two of them to scream.
“Look out!” Stanley yelled.
The golf cart skidded and swerved as Stanford tried to get out of the way. The boys braced for impact before crashing—
Rest assured, there’s a perfectly logical explanation.
Let's rewind…
It all began when our Ma and Pa decided we could use some fresh air. They shipped us west to a sleepy town called Gravity Falls, Oregon, to stay at our great-aunt’s place in the woods.
Stanley was putting a poster of a woman in a bikini up on the slanted wall of the attic, then turned to his brother.
“This attic kinda sucks, man. Look at all these splinters I got,”
“Eh, it’s not that bad, Stan. It’s nice to try something new,” Stanford backed up into the room with a huge smile on his face, before running into a ginormous pig.
“ Oink! ”
“…And there’s a pig on my bed,” Ford said, slightly annoyed.
“Haha, hold on, let me help you get him off,” Stan walked over to his brother’s bed and tried to pull the fat pig off.
My brother wasn’t too enthusiastic about coming here, but I was trying to look on the bright side of things. A brand new place to explore with my brother, who wouldn’t be excited?
Stan stood on top of a hill looking around, while Ford sat next to a tree observing the local fauna.
There were the occasional annoyances though, like our great-aunt May…
“Boo!” an old woman popped up behind Ford, “Haha, sorry kiddo! Here, have an apology sweater,” She handed him a sweater with a smiley face and… macaroni noodles on it?
That lady.
Our aunt had transformed her house into a tourist trap she called The Mystery Shack. The real mystery is why anyone came.
May stood in front of a crudely made statue of a sasquatch wearing underwear.
“Behold, ladies and gentlemen, The Sascrotch!” The woman said as she tossed a pinch of glitter in the air for effect. Surprisingly, people cheered.
And guess who had to work there.
Ford swept the floor of the gift shop. Stan was right next to him poking a giant fake eyeball.
“Don’t touch the merchandise, sweetie,” Aunt May said as she nudged his hand off the eye.
It looked like it was gonna be a fairly normal summer vacation, until one fateful day.
Stan peeked through a line of May bobbleheads and stared excitedly at a girl with a ponytail.
“She’s lookin’ at it, she’s lookin’ at it!” He whispered to his brother.
“Um… ‘Do you like me? Yes, Definitely, Absolutely ?’” The girl read before looking around confused.
“I rigged it!” Stan said.
“Stan, I know you’re trying to keep yourself from getting bored, but do you have to flirt with every girl you see?” Said Ford as he polished a glass jar of eyeballs.
“Ah, c’mon, Sixer! If I have to be here, I at least wanna try to kiss some babes while I can. Maybe I can have one of those epic summer romances that are in Aunt May’s books… Maybe I can date a hot vampire chick!”
“Yeah, but do you need to flirt with every girl you meet?”
Flashback to a few days ago inside the gift shop, Stan was standing next to a girl with blue hair.
“The name’s Stan, but you can call me ‘the man of your dreams,’” Stan said as he leaned on the wall next to them before shoving the poor girl into a postcard display and laughing, “I'm joking !”
Stan, at a bus stop now, snuck up on a girl holding a turtle and leaned on the back of the bench she was sitting on.
“Oh my Gosh, you like turtles? I like turtles too. What is happening here?” Stan said to her.
A pimply teenage girl in a princess costume spoke in a cracked voice, “Come one, come all, to the Mattress Princess’ Kingdom of Savings!”
Stan came out from behind some balloons and whispered, “Take me with you…” scaring the princess away.
“Mock all you want bro, but I’m as charming as can be, I wouldn’t be surprised if the woman of my dreams walked through that door right now,”
Stan pointed to the nearby door frame, and Aunt May walked in coughing up glitter.
“ Eugh— Glitter in soda, bad idea—“ May hacked out.
Ford snickered as Stan recoiled in disgust.
“Alright party people, I need someone to go hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest,” May shouted to her employees as she held up a bunch of signs with glitter and neon paint on them.
“Not it!” Stan and Ford both said, one after the other.
“I also cannot help, Ms. Pines," said the handywoman, who was drilling new shelves into the wall.
“I know Ria, nice work by the way,” May shot finger-guns at her, “Dan! I need you to put up these signs,”
The teenager at the cashier didn’t even look up from the the wood he was carving before saying, “Nope, I’m busy with this. Get someone else to do it,”
“You should fire him, Grauntie May,” Stan whispered to May.
May chuckled before turning to the boys, “Alright, let’s make it… eenie-meenie-miny…” She pointed to Ford, “You!”
“Aw, what? Grauntie May, whenever I’m in those woods I feel like I’m being watched.” He said to her.
May sighed, “Oh, this again?”
“I’m telling you, something weird is going on in this town,” Ford rolled up his jacket sleeve, “Just today my mosquito bites spelled out ‘beware,’”
May took a closer look, then grabbed an itchy-stick from her pocket and slathered it on his arm, “Well, now it doesn’t. Look champ, the whole ‘monsters in the forest thing’ is just a local legend drummed up by people like me to sell merch to guys like that,” she pointed to a sweaty kid playing with a bobblehead.
“There’s no reason to feel paranoid honey, now go put those signs up,” May said as she tossed the signs to Ford.
He sighed and reluctantly went outside.
As he hung up signs, Ford muttered to himself, “ Grauntie May, no one believes what l say, ”
He walked over to another tree and tapped a nail into the bark, only to hear the sound of hollow metal.
“Huh?” Ford hit the tree a few more times with the hammer, hearing more clanks.
He dusted off the “bark” with his hands before prying it open to reveal a hollow pocket in the tree with what seemed to be a control panel inside. He flicked a few of the levers and heard the sound of something opening behind him. Grauntie May’s pig, Waddles, had come nearby and sniffed a hole that certainly wasn’t there before.
“What the—?”
He looked down in the hole and saw a dusty blue book inside. He grabbed the book and pulled it out, cleaning the cover to reveal a silver pinetree on it. He then sat down and looked around to make sure no one was watching him.
He opened the cover to the first page that said ‘Property of,’ and a drawing of the big dipper as the signature. He picked the eyeglass and glanced at it for a moment before putting it aside and looking through the pages of the book.
“‘It’s hard to believe it’s been six years since I began studying the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls Oregon,’” Ford read out loud.
Ford kept turning pages and saw drawings of multiple different paranormal creatures, including floating eyes, giant vampire bats, faeries and cursed doors.
“What is all this?” Ford said, smiling as he skimmed through the book.
He read another page out loud, one with the words ‘TRUST NO ONE!’ written on it, “‘Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I’m being watched. I must hide this book before she finds it. Remember, in Gravity Falls, there is no one you can trust ,’”
Ford closed the book, “No one you can trust…”
“Hello!” Stan snuck up behind his brother, causing Ford to scream and almost drop the book, “Whatcha readin’? Some nerd thing?”
“Uh… uh… it’s nothing,” Ford stammered.
“ Uh! Uh! It’s nothing! ” Stan mocked, “What, are you actually not gonna show me?”
“Um…” Ford said as Waddles tried to chew on the book, “Let’s go somewhere private,”
Back at the shack, the twins were in the living room. Stan listened to Ford talk while he sat on the arm of the chair.
“It’s amazing! Grauntie May said I was being paranoid, but according to this book, Gravity Falls has this secret dark side,” Ford rambled as he paced around the room.
Ford held up the book for Stan to see, “Woah, shut up!” Stan said as he punched his brother in the arm.
“And get this. After a certain point, the pages just stop. Like the person who was writing it mysteriously disappeared,”
The doorbell rang nearby, interrupting Ford’s rant. Stan grinned and turned towards the door.
“Who’s that?” Ford said.
“Well, I guess I can’t keep a secret from you for too long, Sixer,” Stan got up from the chair, “This guy’s got a hot date!” he pointed at himself with his thumbs.
“What? In the half hour I was gone you already found a girlfriend?”
“What can I say? I’m irresistible,” Stan said as he licked his palm, using it to slick his hair back.
The doorbell rang and Stan ran to it, “Comin’!”
Once he was gone, Ford hopped on the chair and flipped through the journal. It was all so mysterious…
“Whatcha reading, jellybean?” May had entered the room and Ford quickly stashed the journal in the chair cushion.
“Oh! I was just catching up on, uh…” Ford grabbed a nearby magazine, “…’Top Hottest Celebrities Magazine?’” The magazine had a shirtless man and some cheesy quotes on the cover.
“That’s a good issue,” May said.
Suddenly, the two heard Stan from the other side of the room, “Hey guys! Say hello to my girlfriend,” Ford and May turned to him to see a tall lanky girl standing next to him.
The girl looked strange. Her body was completely covered by clothing, save for her hands and face. Speaking of her face.. was she… purple?
“Hey,” The girl said.
“Sup.” Ford said, waving at her cautiously with a perplexed look on his face.
“Hi! Welcome to the family,” May said with a smile. She didn’t seem to notice the strange skin color.
“We met at the cemetery. She’s really dark and mysterious,” Stan said, holding her arm and winking at her.
Ford squinted at the girl, “So, what’s your name?”
“Uh…Normal…Girl!” She rasped out.
“Her names’ Nora Jill,” Stan said as he put his arm around her. Some sort of red liquid was dripping from her face, and Ford felt like only he noticed.
“Are you bleeding, Nora?” Ford questioned her.
“…It’s jam,”
“Heck yeah, I love jam!” Stan shoved her playfully, “We have so much in common,”
“So… you wanna go hold hands or… whatever?” Said ‘Nora.’
Stan whispered a ‘Yes!’ under his breath and pumped his fist in victory. He took her hand and walked off, Nora hitting her head on the doorframe as she followed him. Out of sight the sound of crashing and bumping could be heard.
There was something about Nora Jill that wasn’t right. I decided to consult the journal…
Ford sat in the attic flipping through the pages, trying to find something that could explain the way Nora was. Eventually he landed on a page that seemed to fit the bill.
“Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes, these creatures are often mistaken for… teenagers! Beware Gravity Falls’ nefarious…” Ford gasped, “ Zombie!”
Downstairs, May was in the bathroom fiddling with her earrings, “Did somebody say crombie? ” She chuckled, “What a silly word,”
Ford turned to look out the window and below. Outside he saw Nora staggering towards Stan with her arms out.
“Oh no, Stan! ” Ford yelled through the glass “No, no, Stan, watch out!”
Nora got closer, and closer, and closer , until…
Nora placed a flower crown on Stan’s head and put one on hers as well. Stan blushed at this and snickered.
“C’mon Nora, this is dorky,” He said with a smile. Nora sat next to him and smiled back.
Ford turned away from the glass and placed his hand on his chin thoughtfully, “Is my brother really dating a zombie, or am I just going nuts?” He asked himself.
“It’s quite the dilemma, Stanford,” A calm voice next to him startled him.
“ Perdon , I couldn’t help but overhear you talking out loud to yourself in this empty room,” The handywoman from earlier said as she screwed in a lightbulb.
“Ria, you’ve seen Stan’s girlfriend. She’s gotta be a zombie, right?”
“How many brains did you see this girl eat, Stanford?”
Ford paused, “Zero…”
“Don’t worry, I believe you. Yo y mi abuelito are always noticing weird stuff in this town. He says that the mailman may be a werewolf,”
Ria and her grandpa were sitting at the bus stop when the mailman walked by. Ria’s grandpa gave him a side eye and scooted away from him.
“But you have to have evidence. Otherwise, people will not take you seriously,” Ria explained.
“As always Ria, you’re right,”
“My wisdom is both a blessing and a curse,”
“Ria! The portable toilets are clogged again, can you come help?” Grauntie May called from downstairs.
“I am needed elsewhere,” Ria said as she walked backwards and out of the room.
My brother could be in trouble. It was time to get some evidence.
As Stan and Nora played frisbee together in the park, Ford was hiding in a bush watching for anything peculiar. Stan threw the frisbee straight into Nora’s head, and she didn’t react at all for a moment until she fell face first onto the ground. Ford made sure he recorded the whole thing.
Nora broke the glass window on the door to the Greasy Diner , only to open it from the inside for Stan. Stan walked through and sat at a booth, Nora stumbling behind him. Ford was, once again, watching the whole time.
Stan and Nora were racing through the cemetery when Nora tripped and fell into an open grave. She pulled herself out yelling and grasping the air above her. Stan started laughing and she did too. Ford was still watching, tape recorder in hand.
I’d seen enough.
Stan was combing his hair back when Ford burst into their room.
“Stan! We’ve gotta talk about Nora,” Ford said.
“Isn’t she great? Check out this huge lipstick mark she gave me,” Stan turned his head to reveal a huge red bruise on his right cheek.
Ford yelled in terror and Stan laughed at him, “Ha, gullible! It was just an accident with the leafblower,”
Stan taped a picture of Nora’s face on a leaf blower and tried to practice kissing on it. Instead, his lips got sucked in by the machine and he tried to punch and kick it off.
“That was fun,”
“No, Stan, listen. I’m trying to tell you that Nora is not what she seems!” Ford pulled out the journal.
Stan gasped, “You think she might actually be a hot vampire chick? That would be so awesome!”
“Guess again, brother, sha-bam!” Ford opened the book and pointed it to Stan.
“Huh?” Stan said as he looked at the journal.
Ford looked too, seeing he accidentally flipped to the page about faeries, “Oh, sorry, lemme just…” He flipped a few more pages, “Sha-Bam!”
“A zombie ? That’s not funny, Sixer.”
“I am not joking! It all adds up, the bleeding, the limp…” Ford paced around the room before suddenly turning to to his brother again, “She never blinks! Have you noticed that?”
“Maybe she’s blinkin’ when you’re blinkin’.”
“Stanley, remember what the book said about Gravity Falls? Trust no one!”
“Well, what about me, man? Why can’t you trust me?”
“Stan, she’s gonna eat your brain!” Ford shook Stan’s shoulder.
“Ford, listen to me. Nora and I are going on a date at five o’clock, and I’m gonna be charming, and she’s gonna be hot—” Stan pushed Ford out of their room.
“But, but—“
“—and I’m not gonna let you ruin it with one of your crazy conspiracies!” Stan shouted as he shut the door in Ford’s face.
Ford sat down against the door sighing, “Gosh, what am I gonna do…”
When it was finally five, the doorbell rang and Stan raced down the stairs. He opened the door for Nora and noticed how she had put on some kind of glitter.
“Hey! Woah, you look shiny, I like it!” Stan took her hand, “Now let’s go before my aunt asks where we’re headed,”
Ford watched them from the living room, wondering if maybe this was just a crazy conspiracy.
“Ria is right,” He held the tape recorder in his hand, rewatching the footage he got. “I don’t have any real evidence…” He replayed a video of Stan and Nora holding each other in their arms. In the video, Nora’s hand fell off. “I guess I can be kinda paranoid sometimes and— wait, what?!”
Ford replayed the tape, and her hand definitely fell off and she just reattached it like it was nothing.
Ford screamed and jumped so hard he fell backwards off the chair. “I was right! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Grauntie May, Grauntie May!”
Meanwhile, May was touring a group of people outside.
“…and here we have Rock that Looks like a Face Rock, the rock that looks like a face,”
“Does it look like a rock?” An older gentleman in the crowd said.
“No, it looks like a face,” May said.
“ Is it a face?” A teenager asked.
“No, no, it’s a rock that looks like a face, silly,”
Ford ran up to May, trying to get her attention, “Over here! Grauntie May!”
“People, it’s a rock that looks like a face,” May was starting to get irritated, “It’s not an actual face,”
Stan and Nora walked through the forest and stopped on a clearing.
“Finally, we’re alone,” Stan said as he stretched in the open air.
“Yes… alone…” Nora said as she grabbed Stan’s shoulder.
“May, May!” Ford was still trying to get May’s attention when Dan drove up and parked the golf cart next to the shack. “Dan!”
“Dan!” Ford ran up to him and waved his hands around in fear, “Dan, I need to borrow the golf cart so I can save my brother from a zombie! ”
Dan said nothing, just gave him a look then dropped the keys in his hands and ruffled his hair. “Don’t crash into anyone, pipsqueak,”
Ford quickly started up the cart and backed up before Ria interrupted him.
“ Hola, chiquito, ” She handed him a shovel, “This is for the zombies,”
“Thanks,” Ford grabbed the shovel and put it in the trunk of the cart.
“…and this in case you get hungry,” She handed him a small bag of homemade cookies. Ria always came to work with extra cookies.
“Uh, thanks,”
“Stay safe, Stanford,” She yelled to him as he drove off.
Back in the woods, Nora turned away from Stan.
“Stan… Now that we’ve gotten to know each other, there’s…” She took a deep breath, “There’s something I should tell you,” She fiddled with her zipper as she spoke.
“You can tell me anything, Nora,” Stan said, ‘Please be a vampire, please be a vampire,” He thought.
Nora sighed, “Alright, just— just don’t freak out, okay? Keep an open mind, be cool,”
Nora unzipped her jacket and took it off to reveal a swarm of faeries underneath. The one on top shrunk her head down to a normal size for her body and started to glow a much more saturated violet color.
“Is this weird? Is this too weird? Do you want to sit down?” “Nora” conjured up a magic chair for him.
Stan did nothing but stare in shock at them.
“Ha, right, I’ll explain,” She paused for a moment, “ So… We’re faeries. First off, get that one out of the way,”
“Uhh…”
“I’m Queen Marin, and here we have Marilla, Ariel, Flora, Ivy, Carriet, Celeste, Evermore and… I’m sorry, I always forget your name,”
The little red faerie at the bottom piped up, “Agnes,”
Marin snapped her fingers, and a little faerie dust came out, “Agnes! Yes!”
Stan sat down with his head in his hands.
“Anyways, long story short, me and my hive have been looking for a king! Right, girls?”
A bunch of jingling sounds were heard as the faeries all shouted ‘King!’
“Heh, so what do you say?” A yellow fairy held out the fake hand for him, “Will you come to our home in the magic forest and join me in holy matriphony- matri- matrimony! Blegh, can’t talk today,”
Stan hissed through his teeth, “Look… I’m sorry guys, you’re really sweet, but I’m a guy and you’re faeries, and it’s just… weird. Uh… yikes…”
The faeries all looked down in disappointment, “We understand. We’ll never forget you Stan,” Stan smiled at them.
“Because we’re gonna kidnap you,”
“Huh?” Was all Stan could say before the faeries swarmed him.
“Auggghhhh!”
Ford drove through the forest as fast as he could, almost crashing into a few trees.
“Don’t worry Stan, I’ll save you from that zombie!”
Distantly, Ford heard Stan yell for help.
“Hold on!” Ford said as he drove right into a grove full of flowers and mushrooms.
“The more you struggle, the more awkward this is gonna be for everybody. Just— Ha, okay, just get his arm there, Ivy,” Queen Marin said as she sat on her throne. Stan swatted and punched the faeries as they tried to tie him down.
Ford could barely believe his eyes, “What the heck is going on here?” A green faerie hissed at him before she ran off to help the others.
“Ford! Nora turned out to be a hive of faeries, and they’re a bunch of jerks!” He said as a few faeries grabbed him by the hair and tried to pull him down, “Ack— hair, hair!”
“Faeries…? Oh, I was way off,” Ford flipped through the journal to the faerie page and read it, “‘Faeries, little women of the Gravity Falls’ forest. Weaknesses: unknown,’” When Ford looked back up, the faeries had tied his brother down with some sort of vines.
“Aw, come on!” Stan shouted.
“Hey, hey! Let go of my brother, lady!”
“Oh,” Queen Marin laughed nervously, “Hey there, brother-in-law! Um, y’know, this is all really just a big misunderstanding. You see, your brother’s not in danger, he’s just marrying me and assimilating into becoming our Faerie King for all eternity,” She turned to Stan, “Isn’t that right, Hubby?”
“You guys suck!” Stan said before a faerie slapped her hands over his mouth.
“Give him back right now, or else,” Ford held up the shovel offensively at the Queen.
“You think you can stop us, boy? You have no idea what we’re capable of. The faeries are a powerful race! Do not trifle with the—“ She was interrupted by Ford picking her up with the shovel and throwing her aside. “ Augh! ”
Ford used the shovel to slice the vines and Stan immediately got up and kicked and punched the other faeries away. He grabbed a bunch of rocks before jumping into the golf cart with his brother and driving away.
“You’ve messed with the wrong creatures, boy. Faeries of the Hollow, assemble!” The Queen yelled.
The twins raced through the forest, speeding up once they were out of the Hollow.
“Hurry, before they come after us!” Stan shouted at Ford.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, didja’ see those little wings? The suckers are tiny,”
The boys suddenly heard a loud buzzing sound, and heavy stomps filled the forest. They looked behind the golf cart to see a ginormous swarm of faeries in the shape of a person.
“Wow…” Ford said.
“Alright, teamwork ladies! Like we practiced,” The queen said as the swarm growled as one and attempted to pound the brothers with its fist.
“Go, go!” Stan yelled at Ford. Ford immediately slammed his foot on the gas and drove as fast as he could.
The swarm dispersed a bit before joining together again and chasing after them, “Come back with our king!” Marin yelled.
Stan turned around and screamed, “It’s getting closer!”
The swarm threw some of the faeries at them, who landed on the top of the golf cart and tried to rip off the top and attack the kids. One flew next to Stan and was about to throw some faerie dust at him before he threw a rock at her and a few other faeries. Another faerie tried to grab onto Ford from behind, but he grabbed it and slammed it into the car horn. A third one landed on the trunk and flew right into Ford’s face and tried to blind him.
“I’ll save you, bro!” Yelled Stan as he punched the faerie, accidentally punching his brother in the face too. The faerie fell off and went back to the swarm.
“Thanks, Stan…” Ford said with a few bruises.
“Don’t mention it,”
The swarm then pulled a tall tree out of the ground and threw it in front of the boys.
“Look out!” Stan said as he pointed at the tree.
Ford quickly swerved out of the way, spinning out and tipped the cart over. Luckily, they were right in front of the Mystery Shack. They crawled out of the wreckage to see the swarm standing over them menacingly.
“Stay back!” Stan said as he threw the shovel from earlier at the swarm. The swarm swatted it out of the way and growled.
The twins screamed as they held each other in fear, “Uh, where’s Grauntie May?”
May was inside the shack, showing something off to her customers.
“Behold! The world’s most distracting object!” She pulled a string, and the object started to spin, “Just try and look away, you can’t! …I can’t even remember was I was talking about,”
The swarm closed in on the boys, cornering them.
“It’s the end of the line, boys. Stan, marry me before I do something crazy!” Queen Marin said.
“There’s gotta be a way out of this,” Ford said, looking around for anything that might help.
Stan stepped forward, “I gotta do it,”
“What? Stan, don’t do this, are you crazy?”
“Trust me,”
“What?”
“Sixer, just this once, trust me!”
Ford looked at him and then the swarm. He stepped back, giving him space.
“Alright Marin,” Stan sighed, “I’ll marry you,”
“Woo-Hoo! ‘Xcuse me, Marilla,” Marin flew down the swarm, “Pardon, Celeste,”
She floated in front of Stan and held out a golden band. Stan held his hand out and let her put it on his finger.
“Bada-bing, bada-bam! Now let’s get you back into the Hollow, Hubby—“
“Oh, but aren’t I supposed to kiss the bride now?”
Marin paused before turning around and smiling, “Well, don’t mind if I do!”
The Queen puckered her lips for a kiss, and Stan did too until he grabbed the leaf blower from behind and turned it on, pulling Marin closer.
“Ah! H-hey, wait a minute!” Ford and the other faeries gasped, “What’s goin’ on? Agh!” She tried to fly away from the leaf blower, but she got sucked in.
“That’s for lying to me,” Stan turned the strength up, “That’s for breaking my heart,”
“Ow, my wings!”
“And this is for messing with my brother!” Stan aimed the leaf blower at the swarm, “Wanna do the honors, Sixer?”
“On three!” Ford said.
“One, Two, Three!” The twins shouted as they reversed the leaf blower and shot The Faerie Queen straight at the swarm, making it fall apart.
“ I’ll get you back for this!” Marin yelled as she soared over the trees like a glittery firework.
The faeries flew around aimlessly, “Who’s giving orders? I need orders!” One faerie said to another, “My wings are tired,” Said another.
The brothers blew them away with the leaf blower, watching as they skittered off into the forest.
“Anyone else want some?” Ford said.
One faerie got stuck on some litter that was in a tree, and Waddles grabbed her with his mouth and waddled away with her.
The boys walked up to the porch, completely exhausted from their adventure.
“Hey Ford, I um… I’m sorry for ignoring your advice,” Stan said as he looked at the ground, “You really were just looking out for me,”
“Ah, c’mon, you saved our butts back there!”
“I guess I’m just sad my first girlfriend turned out to be a hive of faeries,”
“Look on the bright side, maybe the next one will be a vampire,”
“Aw, you’re just sayin’ that,” Stan laughed as he gave Ford a playful punch.
“High-six?” Ford held up his hand.
“High-six,” Their hands clapped together and they laughed.
The two boys walked through the door to the gift shop. May was organizing the money they has earned that day and noticed how dirty the boys were.
“Yikes, did you two get hit by a bus or something?” May laughed at her own joke.
The twins just ignored her and started to walk away.
“Uh… hey! Wouldn’t you know it, I accidentally overstocked some inventory. So, uh, why don’t you two each grab something? On the house,”
“Really?” Ford said as he turned around.
“What’s the catch?” Stan said with his arms crossed.
“The catch is to do it before I change my mind, goober. Now take something,”
The twins looked around the gift shop. Ford looked at everything, while a shiny mackerel pin caught Stan’s eye. His father has mentioned this symbol before, and Stan had found it rather interesting. He picked it up and put it on his beanie that May had knitted for him earlier. He looked in the mirror and smirked at his reflection.
“And I will have a…” Ford rummaged around in a box before grabbing something, “…grappling hook!”
“Wouldn’t you rather have some sorta nerd thing, sweetie? I think I have some encyclopedias over there,” May said, gesturing to a shelf full of books.
Ford shot the grappling hook upwards, accidentally kicking over a box as he was pulled up, “Grappling hook!”
“Fair enough!”
In the attic, Stan jumped on his bed while Ford wrote in the blank pages of the journal.
This journal told me there was no one in Gravity Falls I could trust, but when you battle a hundred faeries side-by-side with someone, you realize they’ve probably always got your back.”
“Hey Stan, could you get the light?”
“Yeah, sure,” Stan stopped jumping and leaned over to turn off the light, “G’night bro,”
“Good night, Stanley,”
Our aunt told us there was nothing strange about this town…
Downstairs, May walked up to the vending machine and typed in a code.
… but who knows what other secrets are waiting to be unlocked?
The vending machine opened up, revealing a hidden passageway. May walked in, making sure to check no one was watching her, then closed the door behind her.
———————
A faerie that Ford had hit with the shovel earlier got up and started hurling rainbow faerie dust.