Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“This all stops now!” Dipper yelled, raising his hand to smash down on the button that would shut down the portal once and for all.

“Don’t touch that button!”

Dipper’s hand froze inches away from the button. All three of them turned to look at the doorway, where Stan stood panting, a frantic look on his face.

For a long moment no one said anything. The only sound was the whirring of the portal and the ominous beeping of the countdown clock.

“Dipper, just back away!” Stan pleaded, starting towards them. “Please don’t press that shutdown button! You gotta trust me!”

“And I should trust you, why?” Dipper exploded. “After you stole radioactive waste? After you lied to us all summer? I don’t even know who you are!”

Stan continued towards them, stopping just short of Dipper. “Look, I know this all seems nuts, but I need that machine to stay on. If you’d just let me explain—” He was cut off as his watch beeped and the ground shook. “Oh no! Brace yourselves!”

The portal let out a great burst of energy, the white light falling away to reveal stars an galaxies. They all screamed as gravity lessened, and they all went floating into the air.

“T minus 35 seconds,” said the computer.

Dipper scrambled frantically for something to hold on to, latching himself to a piece of wood in the corner of the room.

“Dipper!”

He turned at the sound of Mabel’s fearful cry to see her floating near the button, her foot caught on a wire. “Mabel, shut it down!”

Somehow she heard him above the roar of the portal, and she started pulling herself along the wire towards the button.

“No!” Stan pushed himself off the wall where he had been stuck, swimming through the air to try and intercept her. “Mabel, Mabel wait! Stop—"

He was tackled by Soos, knocking him off course.

“Soos, what are you doing?”” Stan yelled, hitting and punching at the handyman to no avail. “I gave you an order!”

Soos grabbed him in a bearhug as they went spinning through the air. “Sorry Mr. Pines, if that is your real name, but I have a new mission now! Protecting these kids!”

“Soos, you idiot, let me go!” Stan yelled.

Dipper launched himself off the beam of wood, flying at the two, determined to help Soos keep Stan from stopping them. He grabbed onto his Grunkle, desperately trying to stave off his attempts at getting free from both of their grips.

“Mabel, press the red button!” he yelled at his sister. “Shut it down!”

Stan cut off his cries, forcing his nephew down and away from him. “No, you can’t! You gotta trust me!”

Mabel looked up at her warring family from where she held on to the rod holding up the button. “Grunkle Stan, I don’t even know if you’re my Grunkle!” She turned her face away, unable to look at him as fear and distrust welled up inside her, manifesting in tears.

The three stopped their fighting, horrified at the sight of Mabel’s tears falling upwards into the air.

Mabel whimpered. “I want to believe you, but…”

“Then listen to me,” Stan said, determined to get as much as he could out while Dipper and Soos were distracted. “Remember this morning when I said I wanted to tell you guys something?”

“T minus twenty seconds,” said the computer.

The portal released another even greater burst of energy, flinging Stan, Soos, and Dipper back against the far wall. Mabel screamed but clung on doggedly to the pole despite the huge force pulling on her. She raised her fist, determined to end it.

“I wanted to say that you’re gonna hear some bad things about me.”

Mabel paused at her Grunkle’s words, looking up at him.

“And some of them are true. But trust me, everything I’ve worked for, everything I care about, it’s all for this family!”

“Mabel, what if he’s lying? This thing could destroy the universe! Listen to your head!” Dipper cried from against the wall.

Mabel looked back at the portal, beyond conflicted. Through the floating rubble and beyond the spinning ring of rainbows, she could see galaxies. Could it destroy the universe? Would Grunkle Stan actually do something like that?

“Look into my eyes, Mabel!” Stan’s cry brought her back to reality, and she looked at him. “Do you really think I’m a bad person?”

“He’s lying!” Dipper screamed. “Shut it down, now!”

She looked back and forth between the two of them, distraught. She loved them both. She knew Stan wouldn’t destroy the world, right?

“Mabel please!”

She was almost ready to press the button, but then she looked into Stan’s eyes. In that moment she made her decision.

“Grunkle Stan,” she said, “I trust you.”

And she let go of the pole, allowing herself to float upwards even amidst the chaos and rubble.

“Mabel, are you crazy?” Dipper yelled. “We’re all gonna—”

But then she felt a tug. With a horrible lurch in her stomach, she realized she was being pulled backwards into the spinning vortex of galaxies. She screamed, grabbing for something, anything to keep her from being pulled, but there was nothing she could do. She turned around just in time to see the brightness of the stars fill her vision.

“Mabel, no!” Dipper saw his sister being pulled towards the portal and he started trying to fight his way to her, but it was too late.

“One,” said the countdown clock with a finality that spelled out certain doom.

Mabel vanished into the swimming plain of stars with a terrible scream that echoed in Dipper’s ears just as the portal flashed with the light of a million suns. He, Stan, and Soos all cried out as they were blinded. Then with a terrible crack, the portal dislodged from its holdings and fell to the ground with an earthshaking crash.

Gravity came back full force.

With a jarring thump that rattled Dipper’s teeth together, he hit the ground. It took him a moment to get up, his body sore and hurting all over. Before him, the broken portal sparked, the light fading away.

There was no sign of Mabel.

“Mabel!” he yelled, running forward, tripping over rubble and hoping he would find her lying on the ground. His heart dropped into his stomach as he saw that she was nowhere around the portal, even as the light died from the machine.

“Where is she?”

Dipper turned to see Stan struggling to his feet, rubbing at his head.

“Where is she?” he asked again, fear on his face.

Dipper heard himself say the words, but it felt as if everything had turned to a distant dream. “She’s…she’s gone.”

Colors blurred together, rushing past Mabel’s eyes so fast she could barely register all the different shapes. She tried to scream, but the rate at which she was traveling was so fast, when she opened her mouth all the air seemed to be ripped forcefully from her lungs. Sound was all around her, a constant roar amidst the colors shooting past her. She shut her eyes, wondering how long it would be until she died.

Then everything went still. The rushing ceased, and her body felt weightless. The roaring in her ears died away into calm silence.

Mabel inhaled, opening her eyes. She floated in a shining white void. It was bright, but somehow her eyes were not hurt. It was so peaceful compared to the chaos she had just been through, she didn’t want to leave.

“Do not be afraid.”

The voice came from all around her, having no certain source. It was indescribable, like the rushing of a great river, but it filled her with a sense of peace like she had never felt before. She felt a warmth envelope her, like a hug, but no one was there that she could see. She closed her eyes, leaning back into the warmth, not wanting to leave it.

“I am with you.”

Bill felt it; the tremor as the portal was finally reactivated by Stan Pines. He rose up, and the other beings in the Nightmare Dimension growled as they felt the tremor too.

The portal was opening, and it would open for its creator, wherever he was. However, if it stayed open long enough, the rift would open, and they would be free.

“Yes!” Bill cried as he felt the trembling of worlds. The barrier that divided Earth from others was fading, and the wall was crumbling down. Just a little longer…

Then the trembling ended. The opening of the rift ceased and portal shut off, the dimension returning to their normal state.

“No!” Bill cried, growing in his anger, but his rage abruptly ceased as he saw something. A bright light traveling across the dimensions like a shooting star.

He reached out with his mind and touched the individual who had apparently passed through the portal, shutting it off. He was greeted with rainbows, puppies, kittens, and a huge amount of cuteness that was generally nauseating.

Not just a shooting star, the Shooting Star.

“Interesting…” Bill mused to himself. He considered how he could manipulate her to his will, but then she vanished from his sights.

He looked for her across the mindscape, but she had vanished. The portal was meant to send those who entered it to the Nightmare Dimension, but she was gone, having vanished from all existence it seemed.

Bill knew only one who was capable of such a feat.

“You think you can keep that girl safe?” Bill shouted. “You think you can keep that stupid little planet safe from me? You’re wrong, you hear me? Wrong!”

Silence was the answer he received, but it unnerved him slightly just the same.

He knew he had been heard.

Chapter Text

Mabel opened her eyes, squinting in the sudden light. Above her through the tree branches, a dull gray sky glared light down onto her. She sat up, taking stock of her surroundings. She was in an unfamiliar forest of some sort, full of leafless trees stretching as far as she could see. The ground was as gray and hard as the sky, bearing no greenery that she could see.

Then everything hit her like a train. She remembered Grunkle Stan and the portal, panicking and being sucked through after she chose to trust him…

“Grunkle Stan!” she yelled, leaping to her feet. “Dipper! Soos!” She turned in a full circle, looking for some sort of opening, a portal, but there was nothing but dark, barren trees and grayness.

“Dipper!” She tried again. “Can you hear me? Grunkle Stan?”

The only reply she received was the echoing of her voice.

She tried again and again, hoping and praying for a response. She pinched herself as hard as she could, thinking it could all be just a dream, but she just ended up with a sore throat and a smarting arm.

Slowly, she began to process the reality of her situation. She had fallen through the weird portal Grunkle Stan had in the basement, and now she was stuck in a strange, unfamiliar forest that didn’t seem like any forest on earth.

“Come on Mabel,” she told herself, attempting to quell the panic that was rising in her stomach. “Don’t worry. Grunkle Stan will save you.”

A sudden gust of icy wind blew through the trees, rattling the branches together. Mabel shivered, realizing just how cold it was. A sweater, a skirt, and flats were hardly ideal clothes for cold weather like this. She could already feel her hands getting numb.

Grunkle Stan would save her, but until then she had to take care of herself. She had been taught like every other kid to stay out if she got lost, but in this case that did not apply. It was freezing cold, and she had to find somewhere to stay warm.

She knelt down, grabbing her socks and yanking them up as far as they would go in an attempt to keep her calves warm, not that it did little good. When she stood up again, she noticed a blotch of pink against the bleak landscape not far from her. Intrigued, she took a step forwards, peering at the thing. As she got closer, she realized it was a little lizard clinging to one of the trees. It was an odd little thing, all pale pink with a frilly head. It turned to look at her as she neared, watching her with black, beady eyes and a cute, smiling face.

“Hey there, little guy,” she said, her voice sounding loud in the silence of the forest. “What are you doing out here?”

The little lizard blinked.

“I guess I should ask myself the same question,” she said. “Do you know where we are?”

The lizard, of course, did not respond. Mabel wondered why she was even talking to it, but it was a relief to see another living thing in this lonely place. Then it occurred to her how strange it was for a reptile to be out and about in such cold weather.

“Are you one of those weird things from Gravity Falls?” she wondered aloud. “Normally lizards and snakes like to sleep in the cold, but you’re not.”

The lizard just blinked and smiled.

“Easy, little guy.” She inched towards the lizard, extending her hand slowly. It was so cute she couldn’t resist picking it up, and she didn’t want to be alone in this strange place.

As soon as her hand came within inches of touching the lizard, it scuttled off the tree quick as lightning, scooting off across the ground.

“Wait!” Mabel cried, afraid she’d scared it off. To her surprise, the lizard stopped a little way away from her, turning its head back to her.

Confused, she took a couple steps towards it, and it took a couple steps away before looking back at her again.

“Do…do you want me to follow you?”

She wasn’t for sure, but she swore she saw the lizard nod at her. Regardless of what she saw, she took it as a yes.

Another cold gust of wind blasted through the trees, whipping her hair around her face. She moved it out of the way, resisting a shiver and tucking her arms into her armpits as she trotted after the pink lizard.

It seemed that no matter what her pace was, the little lizard was always ahead of her. If she jogged in an attempt to keep up her body heat, it sped up its pace. If she slowed down after tiring herself out, it slowed down as well.

She followed it for what seemed like an eternity, and she began to wonder if the trees would ever end. But finally, after a long time, she saw a break in the trees ahead of her. Eager to see what lay beyond the colorless forest, she sped up, and the lizard did too.

She came at last to the edge of the trees, and found herself facing a wide open plain. It stretched out flat as far as she could see, the only change in color being a fuzzy black line on the horizon denoting more forest beyond the plain.

“Wow,” she said to herself. “This place sure is big. Why did you bring me here?” She looked down at the lizard, only to find it wasn’t there anymore. “Little lizard guy?” She looked all around her, but the little splash of pink had indeed vanished.

Her heart sank as she realized she was once again alone, and fear began to claw its way into her stomach. She was alone, and definitely not on earth.

“Alright, I can do this,” she whispered. “Grunkle Stan will rescue you me. I just gotta stay positive.” A huge gust of wind pulled at her, and now that she was no longer shielded by trees it seemed even worse. “And warm.”

So she started walking along the tree line, the forest to her right and the plains to her left. The ground was perfectly flat beneath her feet. There was not a dip or hollow in the hard surface. She looked for a pebble of some sort to kick along her way, but there were none.

She carried on that way until movement caught her eye. Ahead of her, there was a small dip in the ground that turned into a small hole, not unlike a gopher’s. Next to the hole sat a small, gray rodent that resembled something between a mouse and a chinchilla, with bigger front teeth and even bigger black eyes. It regarded her, its whiskered nose twitching. If it hadn’t have moved, Mabel would have never known it was there.

She resisted the urge to squeal at its cuteness, knowing she would likely scare it off if she did. She was just relieved to see another life form after the pink lizard had left her.

“Hey there,” she said softly. “You look kind of like a mouse, but I don’t think you are.”

The rodent stiffened, its head shooting up in alarm.

“Oh, don’t be scared!” Mabel cried.

A shadow passed over her.

The rodent let out a high-pitched squealing sound, scrambling for its hole. The next thing Mabel new, a huge bird had swooped down out of nowhere, clawing for the rodent but just missing its tail as it vanished into the hole, razor-sharp talons scratching against the stone. She stumbled backwards in surprise, taken aback by the enormity of the bird as it soared off into the sky again.

It was a bird as big as Grunkle Stan. Its plumage was nearly the same color as the slate gray sky, making it nearly invisible to Mabel as she followed its path into the sky. The only thing she could see of it were burning red eyes.

“Wow,” she breathed, shielding her eyes to allow herself a better view of the creature. Briefly, she lost sight of it as it wheeled in the sky. She squinted, searching for it until she saw the red of its eyes again, and they were drawing nearer…

It was coming for her.

With a yelp she turned and ran for the cover of the trees, which was several yards away. She thought she could make it, but the bird had speed and size on its side. She screamed as she felt her sweater tighten around her midriff and her feet leave the ground.

“Let me go!” she screamed, kicking and flailing at the bird to no avail. “I’m not food! I taste nasty!”

They only continued to climb higher into the air, but that didn’t stop Mabel from screaming her head off, her cries echoing across the empty plain. This is how I die, she thought in the back of her mind. Bird food in a strange place.

Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a dark figure dart out from in between the trees. She heard a sound similar to a gunshot, and a bolt of green sizzled past her. The bird shrieked as the projectile hit it, the cry blending in with Mabel’s screams as she was jostled roughly. Another two shots rang out, and suddenly she was no longer being held.

The ground came up fast. She hit it with a sickening thud, pain exploding in her left ribs as the wind was knocked out of her. All she could do was lie there and pant as she watched the strange figure in black fire a few more warning shots at the bird.

“Get out of here!” It was a man. He shook his gun threateningly at the beast. “Get out of here or I’ll make sure you never hunt again!”

The bird let out an irritated shriek. Mabel turned her head slightly just in time to see it soar off into the sky, disappearing quickly as its plumage blended in. The next thing she knew, the man was coming towards her. All she could do was lie there, hoping he was friendly. He crouched down beside her, concealing his gun somewhere inside his black jacket.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice slightly muffled by the thick scarf around his mouth.

“I’m…I’m…” Mabel gasped, clutching at her ribs, still trying to regain her breath. “I’m hurt.” Her vision was clouding over. How hard had she hit her head?

"Wait, don’t pass out!" He was bending over her now, taking her by the shoulders. "Who are you?"

"Mabel," she slurred before she passed out altogether.

Chapter Text

When she next came to, everything was dark. She panicked at first, thinking she had gone blind, until she turned her head and saw light. She saw a small campfire not far from her, which a figure crouched over. It took her a moment to realize that it was the same black-clad man who had saved her from the bird.

He hadn’t tied her up or killed her, so that must have meant something. At that point he hadn't yet realized that she was awake, so she took a moment to survey her surroundings.

They were in some sort of shallow cave. It only went about thirty feet back, but it was enough to provide shelter. A bedroll and a bag lay stacked against the wall near her, along with a couple of books. In the center of the cave lay the crude fire pit that the strange man sat over.

She tried to shift her arms, and found something was weighing them down. She raised her head and saw she was wrapped snuggly in a dark blanket. Only then did she realize she wasn’t cold anymore.

She tried to sit up, gasping as pain shot through her rib cage. Her noise alerted the man at the fire, who turned around to look at her.

“Oh, you're awake! How--”

Mabel inhaled sharply, the pain she felt vanishing in her shock. “Grunkle Stan?”

The man gasped. “How do you know that name?”

She blinked. “You’re—” Her words were cut off as she suddenly found herself staring down the barrel of some futuristic gun.

“How do you know my name?” he snarled, his face contorting with a mixture of fear and rage. “Have you been sent to trick me? To capture me?”

“N-no!” Mabel cried, pushing herself as close to the wall as she possibly could. “I’m Mabel, Mabel Pines! And you have my Grunkle Stan's face!”

“Pines…” The man pulled his gun back slightly, rummaging around in his pocket for something. He pulled out a tiny flashlight and turned it on, shining it directly into her eyes.

She squinted at the sudden brightness. “Hey! What gives?”

He didn’t answer, muttering something about “normal” as he pulled away. “Have you come from earth?”

“Um…yeah?”

“How did you get here?” asked the man, still sounding disbelieving.

“Well, my Grunkle Stan build this weird portal in the basement of the Mystery Shack.” Mabel explained, daring to sit up a little now that the gun was no longer pointing directly at her face. “That's the name of the house he owns."

"Where is this house located?"

"Gravity Falls, Oregon."

He stared at her for a long moment. "What does 'Grunkle' mean?"

“It means Great-Uncle.  Grunkle Stan is the brother of my grandpa, Shermie Pines.”

The man opened his mouth and closed it again. After a long moment, he spoke again, his voice barely above a whisper. “I have a niece.”

“I don’t get it. You look like Grunkle Stan but you’re not him.” Mabel gasped. “Have I fallen into a parallel universe where my Grunkle is a totally awesome sci-fi warrior?”

“No, no.” The man shook his head. “I’m Stanford Pines, your great-uncle’s twin brother.”

“Stanford?” Mabel echoed. “That’s his name!”

Stanford paused for a long moment again, his face darkening. “So he took my name and my house.”

“What?”

“His name is Stanley. I am the real Stanford Pines, and I’m the owner of this so-called ‘Mystery Shack’.”

“Oh.” Mabel went quiet, trying to process all the new information. She had another Grunkle who didn’t even live on earth. Now that she got a good look at him, she saw he didn’t look exactly like Grunkle Stan. His hair still retained a bit of brown even in his age, save for a silver band running all the way across the middle, and he had a slightly cleft chin.

Stanford reached up to rub his brow. “I’m sorry. I don’t really know what to—” He was cut off by Mabel’s exclamation.

“You have six fingers!” she cried, pointing.

Instinctively, Stanford moved to hide his hands behind his back. “Yes, I do.”

“Were you the one who wrote the journals?”

“What? You’ve read my journals?”

“Yeah! My brother Dipper has been going crazy trying to find the author all summer, and I finally found you!”

“Tell me everything.”

She heartily obliged, starting at the first week where Dipper had found Journal 3 all the way up to Stan’s activation of the portal.

“Then I got sucked through,” she said. “I ended up here.”

Stanford couldn’t even begin to comprehend his anger towards Stanley. His brother had blatantly disregarded every single one of his warnings, and this innocent child had paid the price as a result. On top of that, he could have opened the dimensional rift. His brother could have been the doom of the world.

“What about you?” Mabel’s small voice cut through his anger. “How did you get here?”

Stanford rubbed his forehead. “It’s a long story…”

Mabel shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He sighed. “Well, I suppose I do owe you an explanation for all of this.” So he told her. He told her how Stanley had cost him his dream school, how he had began to study anomalies and found Gravity Falls, how he began to research a portal, and the resulting fight between them that led to him being pushed through the portal. However, he left out anything having to do with a certain dream demon.

“Oh, that’s so sad!” Mabel cried. “You two need to hug it out.”

Stanford sighed. “Unfortunately it’s not that simple.”

“Yes it is! That’s what me and Dipper do whenever we’re mad at each other.”

A hug could not fix forty years worth of grudges and fear, but she didn’t know that. “Maybe so.”

Mabel shifted, and winced as her ribs complained.

“Do your ribs still hurt?” Stanford asked.

“Yeah,” she said, her voice slightly strained as she relaxed herself again.

He dug around in his bag, pulling out a small tube of salve he had acquired from dimension 749. “Would you let me redress the wound?”

“Alright.” She flipped the blanket off of her, shivering as the cold air touched her skin. Stanford came and knelt beside her.

“Do you mind?” he asked.

Realizing what he was asking, she shook her head, and lifted up her sweater slightly to reveal her ribs. The place of injury was obvious, the skin already darkened with bruising. Stanford squeezed a bit of salve onto his fingers and began applying it to the injury. Mabel shivered at the coldness of it, but did her best to remain still.

“Stanford?” she asked.

“Ford,” he corrected. “Please.”

“Alright, Ford.” She said the name slowly, unsure if she should bestow him the title of “Grunkle” yet. “Why did you freak out when I first said your name?”

Ford grimaced. “I’m sorry about that. In my time in Gravity Falls and beyond, I learned something very important.”

“What?”

“Trust no one.”

Mabel fell silent. She knew those words all too well by this point. She watched the man who was her Grunkle’s twin brother work on her, and she realized just what a lonely man he must be.

She could change that.

“You can trust me,” she said. “I’m family!”

“So you are.” Ford found himself smiling at her exuberance. Her happy attitude was contagious, even to one such as he.

 “Do you miss home?” Mabel asked.

“More than you know,” Ford murmured.

“Don’t worry. Grunkle Stan will reactivate the portal and we’ll be back at the Mystery Shack before you know it!”

Ford exhaled wearily. “As much as I hate to say it, neither of us will be returning to Gravity Falls.”

“What?” Mabel stiffened in shock, jostling her wound. “Why?”

Ford pulled away, placing the cap back on the tube, avoiding her gaze. “Reopening the portal in the first place was an insanely dangerous move. If Stanley isn’t as much of an idiot as I think he is, he’ll keep the portal closed for good. To reopen it again would mean nothing but destruction.”

“An idiot?” Mabel cried. “He was trying to save you!”

“He is a foolish and selfish man,” Ford growled, rising to his feet. “All he does is the opposite of what’s right.”

“Maybe that’s what you think,” Mabel argued, “but beneath all the mistakes he’s made he has a heart of gold!”

“You’re too young to understand just how bad of a person he is,” he retorted. “All he’s ever thought about was himself.”

“I understand he’s spent a very long time trying to activate that portal and you back!” Mabel shouted. “He didn’t have to do that, but he did because he loves you.”

“Well, he should have left me,” Ford said, stepping to the other side of the plasmafire. “He could have destroyed us all. The portal should stay closed. Forever.”

“Forever…” Mabel swallowed hard, her heart pounding as the reality of her situation began to settle. “What about my brother, Grunkle Stan, my friends?”

Ford cast about for an extra blanket. “It is highly unlikely you’ll see them again.”

Panic overtook her now. Her breaths came deep and fast, unable to stop herself from hyperventilating despite the pain in her side. Tears spilled over from her eyes onto her face, and she let out a loud sob that echoed through the cave.

Ford turned back to her, the rage he had felt previously fizzling away as he realized what was happening. She was coming to terms with the harsh reality that lay before her, and he knew the feeling all too well.

He knelt down at her side, only intending on giving her the blanket until she literally threw herself at him. He froze as she sobbed into his jacket, having not felt the embrace of another human being in over thirty years. Then, hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her shaking form, gently stroking her hair in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.

“I know,” he murmured. “I know.”

He had come to terms with his feelings of despair about never going home long ago, but even then he had been an adult. She was a child, and he couldn’t begin to imagine the emotional upheaval.

“There…there might be a way for us to return that I just haven’t thought about.” He wasn’t completely lying. There could be a way to return, but it was highly unlikely. He just wanted to give her a sense of hope.

“Really?” she sniffed.

“Perhaps. I’ve learned that anything is possible.”

Mabel pulled back slightly, wiping at her eyes as she smiled a watery smile. “I know anything is possible. I’ve lived in Gravity Falls for two months now.” A cold gust of wind blew into the cave, and she shivered.

“I suppose I’ll need to get you some better clothes the next inhabited dimension we visit,” he mused. He looked back at the mouth of the cave and saw that night was swiftly oncoming. “You should get some rest. It’ll help your wound to heal.”

“Alright.” Mabel took the blanket from him, wrapping it around herself and making herself look like a burrito with a head sticking out of the end. “Ford?”

“Yes?”

“Do other dimensions have sweaters?”

He couldn’t help a smile at the question. “I would assume so.”

“That’s good to know. Good night.” She laid down on the floor as gingerly as she could, using her arm as a pillow.

“Good night,” he replied quietly.

Not long after, her snores filled the cave, emotional and physical exhaustion having taken its toll. However, Ford stayed up long after the inky blackness of night had descended over the dimension, staring into the flames of the fire.

Of all he things he had seen and experienced over the past thirty years, this was the most mind-boggling. A human had been dropped into his arms, and not just any human, his own niece that he wasn’t even aware of. On the one hand he was overjoyed. He had more family than he realized and she seemed like a lovely girl. But on the other, he was terrified. Dimensions beyond earth were extremely dangerous, especially for a child. On top of that, if the hunters realized he had someone with him, they would try to use her to get to him. Mabel wouldn’t be safe.

But there was one place…

Ford sighed deeply, removing his gloves. He didn’t know how to feel about Stanley. He had ignored his warnings and could have destroyed the world, and that filled him with anger at his sheer stupidity. But, somewhere in the depths of his heart, he felt the faintest flutter of gratitude. All those decades, all those long years, Stanley had worked to bring him back. But any gratitude he felt was swiftly buried by a wave of bitterness at all the things his brother had done to wrong him as he thought back over the years.

He scowled down at his hands, the anomaly that had led him on this path. His brother was to blame, yes, but it was his own fault too, and he knew it in the depths of his heart.

Knowing that there was no danger posed to the two of them at night in this dimension, Ford settled down on his own makeshift sleeping pallet, but it was a long time before he actually slept.

Chapter Text

“…Mabel.” Grunkle Stan was shaking her. “Mabel, it’s time to get up.”

She groaned and rolled over. Her bed was harder than she remembered it being, and why did her side hurt so much?

“Mabel.”

Grunkle Stan sounded different. Not as raspy, a bit deeper and clearer. Wait, it wasn’t Grunkle Stan, it was Ford, Stan’s brother. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

Ford smiled. “Finally. You’re a deep sleeper.”

“Yeah…” Mabel blinked blearily, looking around the cave as her memories returned to her. She wasn’t at the Mystery Shack, she was in another dimension entirely. Light filtered in through the mouth of the cave, illuminating all of Ford’s equipment, which had been packed up at some point. “What time is it?”

“It’s hard to say in earth hours,” Ford said, moving to his pack. “Days here seem to last for approximately twenty hours, not twenty-four. If I had to guess, I would say it’s about seven in the morning.”

“Why are we up so early?” she asked through a huge yawn.

Ford returned to her side, handing her a small package and a canteen. “There’s a dimensional portal not far from here that will be opening soon. Hopefully it will take us to a more hospitable dimension.”

 “What is it?” she asked, eyeing the liquid inside the canteen suspiciously.

“Water.” When she gave him a skeptical look, he raised his hands helplessly. “It’s water jus like on earth. Not even interdimensional beings can survive without it.”

She placed the canteen to her lips and tilted it back, taking a small sip. To her surprise and delight, it was a Ford had promised: just water. She drank her fill, not realizing just how thirsty she was until her first sip.

“Feel better?” Ford asked as he took the canteen back.

“Yeah.” Mabel turned her attention to the package in her hands and frowned at the label. “’Dehydrated Nutrients’?”

“It may not sound appetizing but it’s actually quite good. Can you eat on the go?”

“It’s what I do best!” She slowly stood up, expecting her ribs to flare with pain, but to her surprise they didn’t hurt nearly as much as they had yesterday.

“Feeling better?” Ford asked.

“Yeah!” Mabel exclaimed with wonder. She patted her side experimentally, and found it hurt just as much as a large bruise might. “What stuff did you put on it?”

“A salve I picked up a long time ago,” Ford explained as he took the blanket she had been using and started to fold it. “It speeds up the healing process, but you have to use it sparingly because it’s meant for other life forms.”

“Oh.” Mabel said. “That’s so cool!” She undid the wrapper of the “Dehydrated Nutrients” bar and found herself looking at a relatively colorless block of…something. She bit into it and found it tasted a carrot. “Not bad.”

Ford stuffed the blanket into his pack and zipped it. “I suppose you’ll be needing something to keep yourself warm.”

“Yeah,” Mabel said through a mouthful of food as she eyed the outside. A large gust of wind rattled the branches of the trees.

Ford undid his cloak and handed it off to her. “This should do the trick until we can get you some real clothes.”

Mabel wrapped herself in the cloak. The fabric was soft and light, but thick enough to keep her warm. “What’s this made out of? It would be great for sweaters!”

“The wool of a Steel Sheep,” Ford replied, as if that were completely normal.

“Huh?”

“Ever heard of steel wool? It’s like that but softer. Incredibly hard to sheer, or so I’ve been told.”

“Wow,” she breathed, stroking the soft material. “I want a Steel Sheep.”

“I wouldn’t if I were you. They’re quite formidable creatures.” Ford hoisted his pack along with a large gun Mabel had not noticed before, setting the strap securely across his shoulders and letting the gun hang diagonally across his back.

“What’s that for?” Mabel asked, pointing at the weapon.

“It’s just in case we run into something unfriendly,” Ford murmured, focusing on putting on his gloves. “You can never be too careful.”

“What sort of unfriendly things?” Mabel asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

“You can never be sure.” Ford looked up, and saw the look of apprehension that was steadily growing on his great-niece’s face. He offered her a smile that he hoped was sincere and reassuring. “Don’t worry. I’ve survived thirty years of hopping dimensions.” Barely.

“I’m glad you have,” Mabel said. “If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met the coolest person ever!”

“Thank you.” Ford straightened out his jacket and came up beside her. “Are you ready to go?”

“Mm-hm.” Mabel stuffed the last piece of the Dehydrated Nutrients bar into her mouth.

“Let’s go.” He stiffened as he felt a small set of fingers lace with his abnormal ones. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had held his hand. Even back on earth among other humans, many were put off by the number of fingers he possessed. Stealing a glance down at Mabel, he saw she was clutching him like a lifeline. The sight made his throat start to close up, but he cleared it and started on his way.

“So where is it that we’re going exactly?” Mabel asked as they began their trek through the bleak landscape.

“As I mentioned before, there is a dimensional portal not far from here. It should be opening soon,” Ford explained.

“How do you know where it is?”

“I figured out its location a few days ago when I landed here. The portal opens every few hours, but I decided to stay for a couple of days longer to study this dimension.” Ford smiled a little. “I’m glad I stayed, or I would have missed you.”

“And I’d be bird food,” Mabel said with a shiver.

“Yes, I’ve found those birds to be quite nasty beasts,” Ford said, squinting at the sky. “But they are definitely not the worst creature I’ve encountered in my time.”

“What are they called?”

“You’ve heard of Rocs from Middle Eastern mythology haven’t you?”

Mabel nodded.

“I decided to call them ‘Rocks’ with a ‘k’, since they’re gray and blend in with the sky.”

“Everything in this dimension seems to be made out of rocks,” Mabel observed.

“Yes. It’s definitely one of the less accommodating dimensions I’ve found myself in.”

“Where are we going next? Somewhere warm, I hope!”

Ford shrugged. “That’s just it. I have no way of controlling or knowing what dimension we might end up in once we go through the portal.”

“How will we get home then?”

“Well, there are ways to get to the dimension you want, and if I can find a way to get to a certain dimension, there is someone I know who might be able to help us.”

“Why can’t we just go straight back to earth?”

“Dimension 46’\ is largely unaffected by other dimensions, save for Gravity Falls. Because of this, the only way back that I know of is through the portal I built. Other than that, I don’t know.”

“But your friend knows a way back?”

“Yes.” I hope so.

“Great! Are they nice?”

“She is very nice.”

Mabel nudged her great-uncle in the ribs with her elbow. “Ooh, she? Are you a lady’s man?”

Ford almost laughed aloud at the insinuation. “No, it’s not like that.”

She pouted a little. “Oh.”

“Here we are.” Ford stopped, and Mabel stopped too. They stood in front of a gap between two of the trees, but it was empty.

Mabel squinted. “Where is it? I don’t see anything.”

“Watch.” Ford went over to one of the trees and broke off a small twig. He returned to Mabel’s side and tossed the object in between the two trees. Instead of falling and hitting the ground, it vanished as the air shimmered like a heat wave.

“Wow,” Mabel breathed. “Where’d it go?”

“If the dimensional connection is fully formed, it should have crossed over into whatever dimension it’s connected to,” Ford said. “If not, it should come back out.”

They waited for a minute, but the stick did not return.

“The connection is fully formed,” Ford determined, taking a step forward. “It’s time to go through.”

Mabel clutched the jacket closer to her body. “Um, does it hurt to go through?”

Ford looked back at her. “Most of the time it doesn’t. It depends on the dimension you’re going to, really.”

“Oh.” She gazed at the space where the portal was, clutching the jacket closer to her in apprehension. “A-are you sure about this?”

He came and knelt in front of her. “I don’t know what lies on the other side of that portal, but I promise that if it’s bad, I will not let it hurt you.”

Mabel nodded, the intensity in his words convincing her he meant it. “Alright.”

Ford stood up. “Would you like me to carry you through the portal?”

“Yes,” she said softly.

He grasped her under the arms and lifted her to his chest, pleasantly surprised to find she weighed a manageable amount and didn’t throw out his back. “Hold on tight.”

Mabel nodded, pressing her face into Ford’s shoulder. He stepped towards the portal, and the sensation of static electricity tingled across her skin, causing the hairs on her body to rise. Then he stepped through, and her stomach dropped with a falling sensation.

“Foooraauuugh!” she screamed, streaks of color shooting past her vision.

Just as suddenly as it had happened, it was gone. The next thing she was aware of was a warm breeze caressing her face.

Ford pulled back slightly, looking her in the eyes. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” she breathed, trying to still her quivering limbs.

“I told you it wasn’t so bad,” he said with a small smile. “It just takes some getting used to.” He set her down on the ground, and both of them took the chance to survey their new surroundings.

They stood on a large grassy plain that at first glance seemed to be dotted with huge fluorescent trees. However, they were not trees at all, but huge flowers with purple petals that spread out and covered several yards of grass in violet light. The sky was a normal shade of blue and only one sun hung in the sky, but several moons could be seen faintly beyond the glare of the sunlight. A sweet aroma hung thickly in the air, most like caused by the huge flora around them.

“This place is so much better than the last one!” Mabel exclaimed as she craned her neck to gaze at the huge petals above her.

“So it seems,” Ford mused. He rummaged around in his coat, pulling out a notebook and a feather quill of some foreign bird.

“What are you doing?” Mabel asked, finally tearing her eyes away from the sights around her.

“Mapping,” he said.

Mabel came to his side, watching what he was doing. The page he was on was littered with many circles, each labeled and connected by a line that went from circle to circle across the page. When the line met the end of the page, the line went down to a new circle and started across the page in the opposite direction. He drew a new section of line from a circle labeled “Rock Dimension” to a new, blank circle.

“Is that a super weird interdimensional game of connect the dots?” she asked.

“No,” he said, his lips twitching upwards. “I’m keeping track of which dimension connects to which. So far I haven’t visited the same dimension twice, which is why the line never goes to one circle twice.”

“You’ve only visited”—Mabel did a quick count of the circles on the paper—“twenty-two dimensions so far?”

“Oh no. Far more than that.” Ford took the pages of the book under his thumb and skimmed through them just slow enough to allow her a glimpse of the contents. Her mouth slowly grew wider as she saw pages upon pages of circles connected by a line that never went back; always forward. There was a great number of pages already filled, and an even greater number of circles, labeled with small notes beside them accordingly.

“That has to be like, at least a thousand,” she said.

“Probably,” Ford agreed, snapping the book shut and stowing it away in his coat. “This one is new too, just like all the others.”

“I like it.”

“I do too so far. Seems generally non-threatening, and could be inhabited by sentient lifeforms.”

“Well, which direction do we go in?” Mabel asked, turning in a full circle. Every direction looked the same with grass and large flowers stretching out as far as the eye could see.

“That way,” Ford said, pointing in the direction they had been facing when they first exited the portal. “I’ve found that if the dimension is accommodating, towns and cities generally exist not far from portals. Sometimes, the portals are right in the middle of a city for interdimensional traffic.”

“Like going on a highway to a different town,” Mabel said. “Except it’s different dimensions.”

“Essentially.”

“What happens if we can’t find a town?”

“We’ll find a portal and hop to the next dimension.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“This is so amazing,” Mabel said. “I feel like my brain is exploding.”

“You’ll get used to it,” said Ford. “Let’s go.”

They started on their way, trekking through the tall grass. They hadn’t gone far when Mabel found herself removing the scarf Ford had given her, the warmth of the dimension ridding her of the need for it.

“What is earth like?” Ford asked as they walked.

“What do you mean?”

“How has it changed in the past thirty years? What advancements have been made?”

“Weeeeellll…” Mabel trailed off, thinking of something good to tell him. “We have flat-screen TVs and handheld phones that can do pretty much everything a computer can do.”

“What about floppy disks? Do people still use those?”

“Floppy what?”

Ford laughed aloud. “I guess it’s been a while.” Then he sobered. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I’ve been away from home for thirty years.”

“Aw, you’re homesick?” Mabel asked, frowning up at him.

He sighed. “I suppose you could say that, yes.”

She took his hand in hers. “What do you miss about it?”

Ford smiled at the warmth of her grip. After thirty years of loneliness, her companionship was new but not unwelcome. “Well, I miss coffee.”

“I get that,” she agreed. “But if you really want to get a pep in your step, you should drink Mabel Juice, not some lame ol’ coffee.”

“Mabel Juice?” he echoed.

“Yeah! I mix Pitt Cola and four cups of sugar with glitter and plastic dinosaurs. It’s far superior to coffee if you ask me.”

That explained her hyperactivity. “It sounds like a heart attack waiting to happen for me.”

Mabel shooed away Ford’s suggestion. “Nah. What else do you miss about earth?”

Ford turned his gaze to the flowers. “I miss regular plant life. I miss knowing what’s edible and what’s not. I miss having a bed to go sleep in every night, and not having to worry about it getting blown up or overrun by creatures.”

Mabel listened quietly, taking in what her Grunkle missed as he listed them off. As he spoke of simple things such as a bed, she realized just how much she took them for granted.

“But most of all, I missed people, regular humans.”

“Well, now you have me!” she exclaimed.

Ford smiled. “Yes, that’s why I said missed. Now that you’re here, I finally have someone to talk to that’s not my own reflection.”

“Hey, I’ve found reflections can be really good listeners,” Mabel said. “No matter what you say, they never leave you.”

“True,” Ford said. “What about—” His words cut off as he looked up suddenly.

“What’s—”

“Shh!” Ford hissed, cutting off the beginning of Mabel’s inquiry. “I hear something.”

Mabel listened silently, her heartbeat quickening. At first she heard nothing but the breeze whispering through the grass, but then her ears picked up a new sound. It was a humming sound like a helicopter in the distance.

“What is that?” she whispered.

“I’m not sure,” Ford muttered. He took out his journal and scribbled something in it. “But we’re about to find out.”

They continued on a little way, the humming growing steadily louder as they progressed. Then suddenly the ground took a sharp dip that was nearly invisible thanks to the tall grass. Mabel nearly tripped and fell down the decline if it weren’t for Ford grabbing the back of her sweater and hauling her backwards.

“Get down!” he hissed.

Mabel instantly dropped to her knees in the tall grass. Ford crouched down beside her as they both gazed at the sight before them.

The ground dipped down into a large hollow that went down about thirty feet. At the base of the hollow, a large muddy brown mound rose up, at least several yards high. Dotted around the mound were gaping black holes from which the ominous humming emanated.

“What the heck is that thing?” Mabel whispered.

“I’m not sure,” Ford murmured. He pulled out his journal and began flipping through it, looking for any information that could possibly relate to the odd structure.

Mabel kept her eyes trained on the mound. After a moment, she noticed movement in the darkness of one of the holes.

“Uh, Great-Uncle Ford?”

“What?” He looked up just in time to see a creature emerge from the opening. It was insectoid, like a bee or a wasp but ten times bigger, and its color was bright orange. Bright red eyes glinted in the sunlight as it crawled from the hole, and once it was fully out in the open, they both saw the massive stinger on its rear end.

“What is it?” Mabel asked, regarding the creature apprehensively.

“This is a beehive,” Ford muttered. “Of course.”

The insect’s wings fluttered a little, creating a humming noise like the one that came from within the hive, but less intense. It skittered a little ways down the mound, closer to the base, seeming to be searching for something.

“Do bees have a sense of smell?” she hissed.

“Earth bees have a sense of smell, but I don’t know if this creature does,” he replied. “Regardless, we should probably go before it—”

The insect’s head snapped up, eyes focusing right on the spot where they hid. With a buzz of wings, it left the ground and started directly for them.

“Run!” Ford yelled.

Mabel took off away from the hive, stumbling as she tried to maneuver through the grass. Her bruised ribs cried out in pain as she moved unnaturally, causing her to slow down. Ford, who was right behind her, nearly ran right into her. He looked over his shoulder and saw the insect coming for them, wings buzzing like a helicopter. Desperate, he snatched Mabel up into his arms and continued to run, but there was nowhere to hide. The flower petals were too high up to offer any shelter, and the rest was grassy plains.

A large blast of air hit him in the back, knocking him off balance and sending them both tumbling to the ground. He was back on his feet in an instant, watching as the insect flew over them before turning around to face them, its stinger bared angrily, the air from its wings buffeting him wildly though he held his ground.

“Mabel, hide!” he hissed.

Mabel picked herself up off the ground, looking at him. “What about you?”

“Just go!” he snarled, pushing her away from him.

She did as she was told, running off to the nearest flower and hiding in the grass at the base of the huge stem. The sweet, cloying smell of the flowers was so powerful there she found herself having to plug her nose to breathe.

Ford whipped out his ray gun, pointing it at the beast. “Stay back, I’m warning you!” He had found over the years that phrase had little effect on anyone, wild animal or not, and this was no exception. The insect buzzed angrily and charged at him. He fired off several blasts, but to his dismay, the creature was more agile than he had previously anticipated. It dodged all his blasts, and the next thing he knew he was lying flat on his back, staring into the angry red eyes of the insect.

It happened so fast Mabel barely had time to process what had happened. the next thing she knew, her Great-Uncle was trapped underneath the insect, its stinger raised to gore him through.

“Hey ugly!” she shouted, leaping out from behind the stem.

The insect turned its head in her direction, and she nearly froze as its attention settled on her.

Ford gasped. “Mabel don’t—”

“Grappling hook!” She pulled the weapon from the hidden pocket inside her sweater and pointed it at the beast. Her hands were shaking but she fired anyway, and by some sheer luck the grapple hit it square in the eye. It hissed and stumbled, shaking its head, giving Ford just enough time to grab his gun from the ground and shoot it straight through the head. The buzzing of wings ceased and the carcass fell to the ground with an unappetizing thud.

They both stood there in silence for a moment, staring at the body. Small wisps of smoke drifted up from the bullet hole the ray gun had inflicted. Mabel felt like her legs were about to give out.

Ford opened his mouth to say something, but faltered as a loud humming rose up from the direction of the hive.

“More are coming!” Mabel squeaked. “Quick, hide under the flowers! They won’t be able to smell us there!”

Knowing it was their best chance of survival, Ford did as she said. He sprinted towards her and grabbed her, flinging them both to the ground near the base of the stem where the smell of flowers was overpowering. The humming rose up loud behind them before stopping. Ford dared to turn his head ever so slightly, peering at the scene between the stalks of the grass. Several more of the insects circled around the dead one, feeling it with their antenna. He tightened his grip on his gun, preparing himself to run just in case they noticed them, but after a few moments they lifted up and flew away.

Ford exhaled a huge breath he didn’t even realize he was holding, lifting himself up off the ground slightly.

“Are they gone?” Mabel asked, her voice muffled as she pressed her face hard into the grass.

“Yes,” Ford said. “They’re gone.”

She sat up, looking about with wide eyes. “That’s a relief.”

“Come on, we need to get out of here before they come back.” Ford grabbed her hand and lifted her to her feet.

“Where are we going to go?”

He started walking, this time taking the initiative to hold Mabel’s hand instead of the other way around. “Anywhere but here. If we don’t find a town or civilization by tomorrow, I’ll start looking for another interdimensional portal to take us to the next dimension.”

They walked in silence for a while, both of them hypervigilant for the sound or sight of more deadly insects, but there was no indication they were nearby. Once Ford was sure they were safe for the time being, he spoke up again.

“That grappling hook stunt was by far one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen someone do in my life,” he said, an edge to his voice.

Mabel winced. She had expected to get scolded, but it made his words sting no less.

“…but you saved my life, and I am grateful for that.”

Surprised, she looked up at him and saw he was smiling. “Really?”

“Yes,” he said. “Without you I’d probably be wounded at the very least, and that’s the last thing I need, especially now. However, don’t make a habit out of doing things like that. I just found out I have a great niece, and I don’t want to lose you so soon.”

She grinned back at him, squeezing his hand. “Aw, don’t worry too much about me. I’ve survived two months of Gravity Falls wackiness so far. How much worse could another dimension be?”

He felt a twinge of sadness at her words. She had no idea. “You’re right. Just be careful, alright?”

“Alright!”

“By the way, where did you learn to be such a good shot with that grappling hook?”

“Well, it all started when Grunkle Stan said we could take one item from the Mystery Shack gift shop…”

They walked off hand in hand, chatting away.

"What do you think about 'Gore-nets'?"

"Huh?"

"Gore-nets," Ford repeated. "The name I came up with for those insects."

"Oh." Mabel laughed. "That's a good name. I like it."

Ford smiled at her approval and returned his attention to his journal where he was busy documenting all he knew about the dimension they were in.

They sat on opposite sides of the campfire, powered by a strange little device Ford had on him. They had walked for the rest of the day, coming upon no civilization, but no killer insects either. At some point they had exited the flowers onto and empty grassy plain, and though Ford was loathe to camp out in the open, but when the sun started to get low he could see Mabel tiring, so they had no choice but to stop without shelter.

The night sky was significantly brighter than Earth's, several moons of varying sizes and stages of fullness. Additionally, the sky was dotted with many stars and constellations that both of them were unfamiliar with. Ford was tempted to try and document them, but he knew there was no point. He never stayed in one dimension long enough to write down all the information that could be cataloged.

"Do you think it's been at least twenty-four hours since I ended up here?"

Ford looked up at Mabel, who sat curled up in his spare blanket, watching the plasma-fire flicker its bluish light across the grass. "I would think so. Why do you ask?"

"I've been gone for a full day now," she said. "They must be going nuts back in Gravity Falls, Dipper especially."

He felt a surge of sympathy for her and her brother. "Why don’t you tell me more about this brother of yours?" He asked in an attempt to get her mind off of home. "He seems like a smart kid."

Mabel's face brightened visibly. "He is. Sometimes I wonder how he hasn't ended up in high school already. He's obsessed with mysteries and all the weird stuff in Gravity Falls. I think it's cool too, but he's just nuts about it."

"Sounds like me when I was younger," Ford said with a chuckle.

"He'll probably pass out when he finally meets you!" Mabel exclaimed. "He's been trying to figure out who the Author is for so long, he investigated every person in Gravity Falls, but neither of us thought it would be Grunkle Stan's twin brother!"

Ford sighed at the mention of his brother. He had tried his best to avoid thinking about Stanley, as any thought of him made him angry. "I just wish he had told you kids what was going on in the first place, then maybe all of this could have been avoided."

"Me too," she said. "But I'm glad I trusted him."

He regarded her quietly for a moment. She did not know better. She did not know to trust no one. "If you hadn't trust him," he said quietly, "you wouldn't be stuck here. You would still be at home."

"Yeah, but I would have never met you."

“Is it really that important to you?”

“Of course! My second Grunkle has been trapped alone for like, thirty years, so I’m happy to be with you.” She shrugged. “But I also can’t wait to get home.”

Ford’s heart sank on the last word. She still thought getting home was a viable option. “Yeah, me too.” He took a deep breath. “Go to sleep. It’s been a long day. I’ll stay up and keep watch for a little while.”

“Alright.” She eased herself down onto the grass. “Good night, Great-Uncle Ford.”

He smiled at her. “Good night, Mabel.”

She pulled the blanket up around her head and secured it tightly around her. Not long after, her breathing began to slow as she drifted off to sleep.

Ford stayed up for a long time, watching the tall grass for any signs of predators or unsavory creatures, but he saw none. When he was satisfied that they would be safe for the night, he too laid down and finally drifted off despite his tumultuous thoughts.

Worlds away, two brothers mourned their lost siblings.

Chapter Text

“Gone?”

Dipper turned around at Grunkle Stan’s exclamation. The old man staggered to his feet, staring at the sparking remnants of the portal.

“She can’t be gone!” he said, starting forward. “She must be around here somewhere. Mabel--!”

“She’s gone!” Dipper yelled, hot tears of fury springing to his eyes. “She went through that portal and it’s all your fault!” The next thing he knew he was running at his Grunkle, swinging his fists wildly and yelling with every hit. “You did this! You wanted to end the world, and now look what you’ve done! Mabel’s gone, and she could be hurt, or—or—”

After a moment’s struggle, Stan pushed Dipper off of him, managing to hold him at arm’s length with his superior strength. “Listen to me, kid.”

Dipper continued to try and attack him, kicking and punching at his arms while tears streamed freely down his face.

“Listen to me!”

He froze as his Grunkle shook him with a ferocity he had never before experienced. He dared to look into his eyes, and saw tears had gathered there.

“I never, ever meant to end the world or whatever you think I wanted to do. Everything I did was for the good of this family, you understand?”

“No, I don’t understand!” Dipper shouted. “Mabel is gone and it’s all your fault!”

“Yeah, dude, it seems kinda like you were trying to end the world and stuff.”

Both of them looked over at Soos, who they had completely forgotten about. He looked no better than they did, with several scratches and bruises visible on his body.

“Please just let me explain myself,” Stan pleaded. “I’ll try and answer every question I can.”

Dipper hesitated, eyeing Stan warily.

“Please, kid,” Stan said. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, but Mabel trusted me and rightly so. Let me explain myself.”

After another long pause, he exhaled shakily. “Alright. Talk.”

Stan flinched at the unbridled vitriol in the boy’s voice but decided to let it pass. He lowered his aching body onto the ground and took a moment to think about how to start. “It all started a lifetime ago in nineteen sixty-something…”

With every word that came out of Stan’s mouth, Dipper’s disbelief grew. It seemed like the typical movie cliché with the secret evil twin, but this twin wasn’t evil…he was the Author of the Journals, or so Stan claimed.

“I don’t believe you,” Dipper said bluntly when Stan finished his tale. “If this brother of yours truly exists, why did he build this portal?”

“That I’m not for sure about,” Stan grunted. “He was always into crazy science stuff and anomalies, especially because he has six fingers himself.”

“So you pushed him through that thing and you don’t even know where it leads?”

Stan’s gaze sharpened. “I didn’t push him. It was an accident, and I regret it every day. But no, I don’t know where it goes. All I know is that I thought by turning it on I would get him back.”

“Do you even know if he’s alive?”

Stan paused a moment too long.

“Do you?” Dipper pressed.

“No,” Stan muttered, rubbing the back of his head. “I guess I don’t.”

Dipper felt the tears threatening to flow again. He threw up his hands, turning to survey the sparking wreckage. “So Mabel could be dead.”

“No, don’t say that kid—”

“Who are you to talk?” Dipper shouted, rounding on his Grunkle with a rage that surprised even him. “You don’t even know what that thing does, much less what happened to your brother, if you even have one!”

“I do have a brother,” Stan growled. “I’ll show you proof. But there’s always been this little voice inside me, telling me he’s out there somewhere, alive, and if he’s alive then Mabel’s alive too.”

A shaky sob escaped Dipper’s lips, and he turned his head downwards towards the ground. The next thing he knew, a pair of arms were wrapped around him, pulling him close in a comforting embrace.

“Don’t worry, kid. We’ll get her back, I promise.”

Somewhere above them, shouts rang out and footsteps thundered across the floor of the Mystery Shack.

“It’s the government guys!” Dipper hissed, his head jerking up in alarm.

Stan looked up as well, gritting his teeth. “Okay, give me a second to think and maybe I can find us a way out of this.”

Dipper looked around wildly, his mind racing. Then his eyes fell upon the Memory Gun that lay on the ground from where it had fallen out of his vest.

“We can use this!” he cried, grabbing it up.

“What’s that?” Stan asked.

“A Memory Gun. You set it to something and whoever you hit with it loses their memory of whatever you put in.”

Stan snatched the gun out of his hands. “I’ll take care of this.” He turned to Soos. “Watch the kid. Don’t go anywhere until I come back to get you. Got it?”

Ever enthusiastic despite the circumstances, Soos saluted smartly. “Yes sir, Mr. Pines, sir!”

Dipper chewed on his lip as he watched Stan run for the elevator, gun in hand. He punched the button and the doors closed behind him, the elevator ascending with a creaking groan. Both of them waited with baited breath as an eerie silence fell over the destroyed room.

Dipper jumped as noise rang out overhead. Gunshots echoed loudly and feet stomped across the floor. People shouted and yelled.

Then silence.

“Do you think he’s okay?” Dipper whispered.

“I dunno, dude,” Soos said, looking just as worried as he felt.

Then they heard the creaking of the elevator again. Soos moved in front of Dipper, shielding him from what could possibly be government men coming to take them.

The elevator dinged and the doors rolled open. They both sagged with relief as Stan was revealed, a little disheveled and breathing heavily, but no worse for wear.

“What happened?” Dipper asked.

“I got ‘em all,” Stan said with a triumphant grin. “Told them they had completely misread their orders and chewed them out. Got this too.” He held up a thumb drive labeled PINES.

Despite the situation, Dipper grinned.

Stan gestured for them to enter the elevator. “C’mon. They’re gone, but they kinda trashed the place.”

Dipper looked back at the wreckage of the portal doubtfully. “But…”

“There’s nothing we can do right now, kid,” Stan said, not unkindly. “It’s probably best we get out of here for now.”

Reluctantly, he joined Soos and Stan in the elevator.

Stan wasn’t lying when he said the Mystery Shack had been trashed. The government men had practically turned the whole place upside-down looking for the way to the portal. That and the gravity anomalies had left the house a complete mess.

They set about trying to clean things up as best they could. Dipper welcomed the work; it took his mind off of Mabel and the Author for the time being.

Then someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and saw Stan standing there, looking slightly uncomfortable and playing with something in his hands.

“I said I’d give you proof, so here it is.” He held out the object.

Dipper took it and saw it was a weathered photograph. It showed two boys standing on a sunny beach somewhere, huge gap-toothed grins on their faces. They had scruffy brown hair, and would be practically identical safe for the fact that one was wearing glasses and the other had bandages and bruises on his face.

And the one with glasses had six fingers on each hand.

Dipper inhaled sharply, looking from Stan to the photo. He hadn’t been lying after all.

“For once I was telling you the truth,” Stan said, furiously avoiding eye contact.

“So your brother is out there with Mabel?” Dipper asked, feeling a faint spark of hope deep within him.

“I hope so, but I don’t know how we’re gonna reactivate that thing now that it’s destroyed.”

Dipper handed the photograph back to Stan, a plan forming in his mind. “I think I know someone who can help us.”

Nighttime came quicker than expected, and by the time the sun had set, Dipper found himself exhausted by the day’s events. He retreated to his room to sleep, which was no less messy than the rest of the Shack.

Despite his exhaustion, he could not sleep. He found himself staring at Mabel’s empty bed, the stuffed animals she so meticulously arranged lying scattered across her sheets. He could not stop thinking about her and what could happen to her beyond the portal. She might not be alive anymore for all he knew, but he would not allow himself to dwell on that possibility. Stan had believed his brother was alive for almost thirty years, and he had to do the same for his sibling.

But yet he still felt sick to his stomach. Everything had changed in just a single day. They had gone from playing with water balloons and laughing to losing Mabel to an interdimensional portal built by Stan’s secret long-lost twin brother.

His trust in Stan was all but gone. Though the old man was rough around the edges, Dipper had come to believe he had a good heart. However, after everything that had happened, the lies, Mabel, and his knowledge of the Journals and the Author for so long, he found himself quite distrustful of his Grunkle.

The Journal had said to trust no one, after all.

He clutched at his head, groaning. It all made his head throb. Banishing hard to grasp thoughts from his mind, he turned over, resolute to get some sleep. He knew he was going to have to be well-rested if he was going to get his sister back.

Stan sat on his bed, staring down at the weathered photograph in his hands. The goal he had worked for all those long years had been failed. Once again, he had managed to screw everything up. Instead of gaining his brother, he had lost his niece.

His chest tightened at the thought of Mabel. For decades he had been clinging to the hope that Ford was still out there, alive somewhere. He didn’t know where the portal led to, or what it was truly meant for. For all he knew, both Mabel and Ford were dead.

Then there was Dipper and the kids’ parents. Stan swore under his breath. How could he possibly explain to them he had gotten their daughter killed? He would be incarcerated for life, but he deserved it. The look of pure distrust and anger in Dipper’s eyes had shook him to the core, but he didn’t blame him. Not one bit.

Stan set the photo on the table with a shaky sigh and laid back on his bed. All he could do now was follow whatever Dipper had planned and pray he got Mabel and his brother back. He might never see Mabel’s bright smile again, and it was all his fault.

Then, for the first time in decades, he wept.

Chapter Text

A Rock drifted through the sky of its dimension, its keen eyes peeled for any sign of movement on the smooth plain of gray stretching out endlessly below. At last a movement caught its eye, and it wheeled in the sky to get a better view.

It was not what the bird was expecting. Rather than the juicy morsels of rodent that it was expecting, it was a taller, humanoid figure having popped up out of nowhere. The Rock swooped down a little closer, wondering what new being had entered its territory and if it would be a worthwhile meal.

The silence of the dimension was shattered by the crack of a shotgun blast, echoing and rebounding off of the rocky surfaces over and over again before finally fading into silence once more. The Rock dropped from the sky, a sizzling hole through its feathery chest.

Gromar lowered his gun, returning it to his holster. He was not about to take chances with predators, even if they did not intend to hunt him.

He sniffed the air, the slit nostrils in his scaly face flaring as he breathed in the cold air. His sense of smell was unmatched by any other species across the dimensions; that was why the dream demon had hired him to hunt down his quarry in the first place.

The icy wind blew across the barren plain, blasting against Gromar, but he barely felt it through his heavy gear. The air carried with it a familiar scent of warm blood, ray gun energy, and parchment. It was the undeniable scent of the six-fingered man he had hunted for years, but always seemed to slip through his fingers at the last second.

But the wind also carried another scent, a new one Gromar had never smelt before. It too carried the smell of warm blood, but there was something sweeter about it. He tilted his head and inhaled again, intrigued by this new development. He would have to investigate this.

He loped off in the direction of the scent, leaving the carcass of the Rock behind as a testament to his ruthlessness.

“Mabel, wake up.” Someone shook her gently by the shoulder, and she rolled over groggily, looking up into her Grunkle Ford’s face.

“What time is it?” she asked, not thinking about where they were.

“Dawn,” Ford said with a smile.

“Oh.” Mabel sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking around. True to his word, the sun was rising in the distance, shading the sky in rosy hues of pink and a soft orange.

“The night lasted roughly nine hours,” Ford said. “Same as the day I presume.”

“How do you know that?”

“I time it starting at sunset.” He pulled out a small device that was akin to a watch from one of the many pockets of his coat. “It pays to be aware of how much daylight you have.”

“Is there anything you don’t have in that thing?”

Ford shrugged. “A way to get to the dimension I want to go to.”

Mabel frowned slightly. “Yeah.”

Ford handed her a bar of Dehydrated Nutrients. “Eat up. We’re going to be doing a lot of walking today.”

Mabel accepted the bar and dug in. Today, her ribs were practically back to normal after another application of the cream last night, much to her relief. She could finally take a deep breath again.

As she ate, she watched Ford pack up the plasma fire starter and pull out a small device that looked like a TV remote.

“What’s that?” she asked around a mouthful of food, pointing at the device.

“An Dimensional Rift Sensor from Dimension 50-Beta,” he said. “it will let me know if there are any rifts to other dimensions nearby.”

“Are there any?”

“Not at the moment, but we’re bound to run into one when we keep traveling.”

Mabel finished off her food and took a drink of water. By that time, Ford was ready to go, and they struck out in what she figured was the same direction they had been going in. As they walked, a thought occurred to her.

“Did you know Old Man McGucket?”

Ford started visibly at her words. He had barely thought about his former friend and colleague in the past thirty years. If anything, he had figured he went back to Palo Alto.

“I knew Fiddleford once upon a time,” he said softly. “Do you know him?”

Mabel nodded. “He’s a crazy old man who lives in the Gravity Falls dump. For a long time I thought he was just weird, but not too long ago we figured out he worked with you.”

“He lives in a dump?” Ford exclaimed. “How? Why?”

She told him everything she knew from watching Old Man McGucket’s memories, from the founding of the Society of the Blind Eye to his slow descent into madness. By the time she finished talking, Ford felt sick to his stomach. He had seen the Nightmare Dimension too, and he had suffered things he would rather forget, but he never would have imagined it would drive Fiddleford to wiping his own memory.

“So…he doesn’t remember me at all?” he asked, forcing the words from his mouth.

“I don’t think so,” Mabel said sadly. “In the videos we watched of his memories, he didn’t call you by name. I don’t know if he remembers who you actually were.”

Ford stopped in his tracks, placing his head in his hands. “Oh, he probably hates me. I never meant for anything to happen to him, but…”

Mabel tugged on his arms, lowering his hands from his face. “Come on, Great-Uncle Ford. He may be a little bit crazy, but he’s a really sweet man. I’m absolutely positive he would have no trouble forgiving you for what happened to him.”

“You really think so?”

Mabel nodded. “I know so. You haven’t seen him in like, thirty years, right?”

“Yes, but…” Ford’s mind drifted back to the last time he had seen his friend.

“This machine is dangerous. You’ll bring about the end of the world with this! Destroy it before it destroys us all!”

Shock, disbelief, and fear had jolted him all at once. “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!”

He hadn’t wanted to believe Fiddleford. He hadn’t wanted to admit the goal he had worked so hard to achieve was dangerous and needed to be destroyed. “Fine! I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone!”

He had been selfish in trying to keep the portal intact, and it had cost him. Eventually he too had seen the horrors of the Nightmare Realm, and he fully understood Fiddleford’s fear, but would it truly drive a man to utter madness?

He flinched as the horrors he had seen came afresh to his mind. Maybe so.

“Great-Uncle Ford?”

He looked down and remembered Mabel was still there. She still held on to his arms, and though physical touch was still something he was working on getting used to with her around, it was a grounding force against the storm of memories in his mind. Suddenly he was even more grateful for her presence.

“Are you alright?” she pressed.

“I…I’m fine,” he replied, shaking his head to clear it. “I was just remembering some things, is all.”

“Was it really that bad?” she asked.

Ford considered not telling her about the Nightmare Realm at all, but the look of genuine concern on her face convinced him otherwise. “Yes, it was. He saw a nightmarish dimension beyond our own, but I didn’t want to believe him. I was selfish and didn’t want to give up what I had worked so hard to achieve, until I saw that place for myself.”

“What did you see?” Her voice was now a hushed whisper.

“Nothing you need to worry about. It was a long time ago.” He started walking before she could ask any more questions. “Come on. We need to keep moving.”

Mabel knew he wasn’t telling her everything, but she decided to let it slide for now as she jogged to catch up with him.

They walked in silence for a while longer, the only sound the whispering of the grass in the warm breeze. Then a loud beeping broke the stillness, causing Mabel to jump and yelp.

"It's alright," Ford reassured her, digging through the pockets of his coat. "It's just my Interdimensional Rift Sensor." He pulled out the device and peered closely at it. "That way!" He cried, pointing in a direction diagonal to where they were standing.

Mabel trotted with him, hoping and praying that the dimension they ended up in was more civilized than the last two. She needed a shower.

They kept walking until Ford grabbed Mabel's shoulder, stopping her. She looked up at him expectantly, and he pointed. She followed his finger with her eyes and saw a faint shimmer above a patch of grass a few feet away.

“Is that it?” she asked.

“Yes.” Ford tore up a bunch of grass and wadded it up into a ball. He flicked it at the shimmering area, and it vanished into thin air.

Mabel was not surprised this time, but it was still strange to see something vanish into thin air, despite all the strange things she had seen over the course of the summer.

They stood and waited for a few moments, but the grass did not return.

Ford looked down at her expectantly. “Ready to go?”

Mabel shuffled her feet in the grass. “Uh, can you carry me again?”

He felt a strange swell of affection stir in his chest, the likes of which he had not felt in a long time. “Of course I will.”

Mabel smiled gratefully and lifted her arms up slightly. He hoisted her up and held her closely to him with one arm, the other falling to his blaster just in case they ran into something unsavory on the other side. Then he stepped forward, and the bright sunny plains vanished.

She did not scream this time, but she clenched her teeth together so hard it hurt as they seemed to drop into nothingness. Then it was over, and Ford was stumbling to maintain his balance as they shot out of the portal.

The first thing Mabel was aware of was the noise. It reminded her of a busy street back in California, with the sound of cars zooming up and then fading away just as fast. There were also voices, but not the type of voices she was used to hearing. Everything was a jumble, but she picked out clicks and grunts and things that generally weren’t considered part of human language.

She opened her eyes the, her curiosity getting the better of her as she looked about. They were in some sort of alleyway, high walls of buildings rising up on either side of them. There was barely enough room between them for her and Ford to stand side by side, and it made her feel slightly claustrophobic. Far above them, a sliver of sky was visible. It was black, with neon-colored nebulous wisps scattered across the darkness and providing a faint glow of light.

“Cool,” she whispered.

“Are you alright?” Ford asked in her ear, taking her away from her observations.

“Yeah,” she said, turning to look him in the eyes. “Are you?”

“Yes. There seems to be no immediate threat.” He gently deposited her on the ground and stowed his gun in its holster. “We seem to have landed in a city of some sort, fortunately.”

“Yeah, and its awesome!” Mabel said, turning in a full circle to see more of her surroundings. The ground beneath her feet was hard and dirty, but she felt delighted. She was finally in a civilized place again.

“While we’re here, I want you to stay close,” Ford said. When he received no answer, he looked around and saw her heading for the open end of the alleyway. “Mabel!”

She stopped, turning to him. “Yeah?”

“I want you to stay close,” he said firmly, coming up beside her. “There’s no telling who would see a rare species such as us and try to capture us, especially you.”

Mabel frowned. “A rare species?”

“As far as I know we’re the only humans to have ever made it into other dimensions. I cant tell you the number of bounty hunters I’ve had to fight off over the years because they saw me as a huge profit.”

“Oh,” she said weakly, staring at the open end of the alleyway. Suddenly the bustling alien city did not seem inviting, but dangerous and foreboding.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Ford reassured her. “Most aliens are generally nice, but if they try to take you they’ll have to go through me first.”

Mabel glanced up at him, and she did not doubt he would be a formidable foe.

Ford took her hand. “Let’s go.”

As they stepped out of the alleyway, they were almost immediately run over by some sort of creature. Ford leapt smartly out of the way, taking Mabel with him. The creature was sort of like a camel, except with neon blue fur and huge dinosaur-like feet. Upon its back it carried a huge load of bundles, its dark liquid eyes focused on the path ahead.

"What is that thing?" Mabel asked.

"Not sure," Ford said, studying the creature as it loped on down the street. "It looks like some sort of odd mix between a camel and a dinosaur."

"A Blue Dino-Camel!" Mabel exclaimed. "I'm the best with names, you know."

"I gathered," Ford replied wryly. "Come on, we can't stand around all day."

They started down the street towards what seemed to be the busiest intersection. Buildings towered high above them, almost completely blocking out the whimsical sky above them. Strange, crooked street lamps cast soft blue light down on the street as they walked, making the aliens they saw look even stranger.

Mabel could not stop staring at every creature they passed. There were slender bug-like creatures with gossamer wings, a huge, hulking brown-furred creature with four arms and six red eyes, and a tentacled creature in a tuxedo of sorts, to name a few.

"Try not to stare," Ford murmured in her ear. "Some cultures find being stared at highly offensive, and I found out the hard way."

"Oh." Mabel tore her eyes away from a bipedal creature that looked sort of like a green tiger and focused on the ground.

They reached the busy intersection, and saw it was exactly what the needed. The whole street as far as they could see in either direction was a strip mall, with bright neon signs written in a strange language packed into every square inch of space and street vendors along every free bit of sidewalk. Many different creatures of various shapes and sizes walked up and down, browsing what the market had to offer. It reminded Mabel of the pictures she had seen of Las Vegas.

“This is so cool!” Mabel said, unable to find one place to rest her eyes for longer than two seconds. “But how will we find what we’re looking for? None of these signs are in English.”

“Fortunately for us there is a universal language for all dimensions, which I have learned over the decades.”

“Fluent in alien? You just keep getting cooler and cooler!”

Too pleased to say anything at her praise, Ford focused his attention on the market around them. Fortunately the signs were generally high up, allowing him a good view of what stores were around despite the pressing crowds that surrounded them.

He finally saw what he was looking for a good distance down the strip. The flashing neon sign read “CLOTHES” in the alien language.

“There,” he said, pointing. “Let’s go.”

“Are they gonna let you in with…that on your back?” She gestured to the big gun that was still hanging off his back as they started walking. “Seems kind of threatening.”

“Trust me, some species walk around with bodily weapons far worse than that,” Ford said. “This is nothing.”

“Alrighty then.”

They went with the flow down the sidewalk. Street vendors shouted in a strange language, selling even stranger wares. The windows they passed were full of glittery doodads the likes of which Mabel had never seen on Earth. She couldn’t even begin to figure out what they were for in the first place.

“Don’t try to talk to anyone,” Ford murmured as they walked. “You won’t understand anyone anyway, but you could be seen as an easier target.”

“Okay,” she said, latching onto his hand in an effort to avoid being swept away by the crowd around them.

They made it to the clothes shop with no incidents, much to Ford’s relief. He ushered her inside, instinctively keeping one hand on her shoulder as he knew she was too busy looking at all the weird things rather than where she was going.

The layout of the store was much like any clothes store on earth. Wide aisles cut through large forests of clothes hanging on racks, with signs advocating a sale here and there.

That was where the normalcy ended.

There were numerous different sections of clothes for creatures of all kinds. There was a section for three-armed beasts, four-armed, five-armed, and the numbers only continued to go up. Sweaters clearly meant for creatures with tentacles had numerous sleeves that brushed the floor with their extensive length. Pants came equipped with holes for tails—or extra legs, perhaps. A sunglass stand had pairs for innumerable amounts of eyes, in all shapes and sizes.

“This place is crazy!” Mabel said, gawking at a pair of shorts that were longer than she was tall.

“You’ll get used to it eventually,” Ford said. “Come on.”

They made their way to the bipedal section, which was not as hard to find as Mabel would have guessed amidst all the other options. Immediately Ford began flicking through the smaller sized coats, murmuring to himself as he did so.

“What are you looking for?” she asked, peering around him as he searched.

“Something like what I’m wearing,” he said, still looking through the rack. “Something that’s light but durable that can withstand ray gun blasts.”

“Ray guns?” she echoed.

Ford did not answer, instead pulling out a coat from the rack. “Ah ha! This is what I was thinking!”

Mabel studied the coat. It was black, and looked very much like Ford’s, except that it was in her size. “Does it have to be black?”

“What’s wrong with black?”

“Black is so…blargh. I prefer bright colors, like this.” She showed off her sweater, still bright and cheery despite the stains and dirt on it.

“Well, bright colors would be easily noticed if we were being hunted. It’s best to keep to darker colors just in case.”

“Why would we be hunted?” Mabel asked.

“You never know.” Ford held the coat out to her. “Try it on.”

She took it into her hands. It was surprisingly soft; not at all what she had expected. She put her arms through the sleeves and pulled it around her. It was light, and fit perfectly.

“This will stop ray guns?” she wondered, plucking at the sleeve.

“Not at point-blank range, but in general it should,” Ford said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Now, what else do we need?” He went off through the sea of racks, Mabel trailing behind him with the coat still hanging from her shoulders.

“What do we need?” she echoed, arranging the coat around herself more comfortably.

“The basics,” he said, waving his hand absentmindedly. “You know, pants, shirt, boots, a bag, a weapon…”

“Hold up!” Mabel cried. “A weapon?”

“Yeah. You never know when you might need to defend yourself, and I don’t think a grappling hook alone will cut it.”

“But I’m twelve!”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t shoot a ray gun, right?”

“Uh, I guess not…”

“I think this will fit you nicely.” Ford pulled a shirt off the rack and held it up to her shoulders, checking its size. “Unobtanium weave, very sturdy.”

“Wouldn’t a shirt like that be super expensive?” Mabel asked.

“On earth, maybe,” Ford said, handing her the shirt. “However, in he multiverse, strong metals are far less rare because there is a seemingly never ending number of dimensions to get the metals from.”

“Oh.” Mabel tugged on the shirt experimentally. It was stretchy, and didn’t seem like it would be at all uncomfortable, but she didn’t see how it could be made with metal.

“Here, try these on.” Ford handed her a pair of pants and boots he had grabbed from somewhere and pushed her towards a dressing room.

“Uh, is it safe?” she asked, apprehensive about changing clothes in a foreign dimension.

“Entirely. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t think it wasn’t,” Ford said. “I’ll be right outside in case something happens.”

“Okay.” She stepped into the dressing room, shutting the door behind her.

Two minutes later, she emerged, fully clothed in dimensional traveling gear. She looked almost exactly like a miniature version of Ford.

“I look kind of like the Terminator,” she said grinning down at her new clothes. Then she looked up at him and said in the deepest voice she could manage: “Come with me if you want to live.”

Ford laughed aloud. He had no idea what she was talking about, but her enthusiasm never failed to amuse him. “These should do just fine as pajamas. They’re about the same size.” He handed her another shirt and pair of pants, that felt like she was touching a cloud.

“Ooh, what are these made out of?” she asked, stroking the soft material.

“Clouds,” he said, grinning at her mystified expression. “From a dimension where clouds can be woven into clothes, of course. Says so on the tag.”

“Of course.” She looked at the tag herself, but found it was written in the weird alien language.

“Now, change back into your regular clothes and let’s get you a bag.”

She changed back into her regular clothes from Earth and they continued through the store, passing several odd creatures as they did so. Ford stopped at a display, eyeing the various bags hanging on hooks. There was a bag that looked like a perfect sphere with a handle, a square, a tiny bag that looked like it would only hold a marble, and many more.

Mabel took in the bags, wondering which one Ford would go for, and as he stood there considering, her eyes wandered to the other displays. Her gaze settled upon a table lined with bandannas of various sizes, and she wandered over to them in interest. After sifting through a couple, she came across the best thing she had ever seen in her life: a hot pink bandanna that would fit her perfectly.

“Great-Uncle Ford!” she cried, running back to him. “Look what I found!”

He took them item from her, inspecting it. “What is it?”

“It’s a bandanna! Can I have it, please?”

Ford frowned. “I don’t know…”

“Come on! It’ll keep my hair from getting into my face! Pleeeeeeee…”

“It’s not necessary…”

“…eeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaa…”

“Alright!” He relented, unable to take her begging face any longer. He handed the bandanna back to her. “Consider it my gift to you. After this we’re only getting what’s absolute necessary, understand?”

Mabel nodded her understanding, knowing full well her would easily succumb to her charm again in the future. “Thank you, Great-Uncle Ford! You’re the best!”

Ford plucked a medium-sized bag off of the rack, inspecting it both inside and out. “This should do well for you. What do you think?”

Mabel took the bag and looked it over. It was shaped like a duffle bag, colored black, of course, and would do well for carrying the few personal items she had with her. “I think it’ll do just fine.” She stuffed her new clothes and bandanna inside, as her arms were getting quite full at that point.

“I don’t think they’ll have any weapons in a clothes store,” Ford said. “But now that I’ve considered it, I think that grappling hook will do you just fine.”

Mabel nodded, not exactly keen on handling a possibly highly volatile ray gun.

They made their way to the front of the store. The cashier was a round creature with an uncountable tentacles and one fluorescent blue eye that seemed barely lodged in scaly green skin.

As they walked up, the cashier greeted them in some alien language in a burbling voice. Ford answered easily in what seemed to be the same language, which sounded absolutely bizarre to Mabel. To her surprise, the cashier turned his bulbous eye towards her, making what sounded like a polite inquiry as one would find back on earth.

Mabel did her best to smile and nod as if she knew what she was doing in an alien land, glancing at Ford helplessly. Fortunately he caught on to her predicament and told the cashier something else. The creature burbled and bobbed like he was nodding, before taking the items they had picked out. He fed them through a small scanner device, and Ford pulled out something like a credit card to pay. The creature took the card and scanned it as well, before typing in a series of numbers into his computer in a flurry of tentacles. He then handed Ford a translucent luminescent bag full of the items he had purchased.

“Cool!” Mabel breathed, grabbing the bag from his hands. She poked at the material experimentally. It felt kind of like stretchy plastic, but it glowed green.

Ford chuckled and bid farewell to the cashier in the other language before ushering her out of the store.

“What’s this made out of?” she asked, shifting the bag from hand to hand.

“Flouretic polymers.” When she gave him a look of hopeless confusion, he continued his explanation. “Plastic on earth is made from synthetic polymers. This material is made from fluorescent synthetic polymers, hence flouretic polymers.”

“Cool!” she said, even though she didn’t understand it really.

“How would you like some food?” he asked as they stepped back out on the street.

“Real alien food?” she asked. “Not dehydrated nutrients?”

He laughed. “Yes, not dehydrated nutrients.”

“Sure!”

She left it to Ford to find a place to eat. She was hopelessly lost amidst the whirl of strange sights and sounds. It didn’t take him long to find one; soon enough they were stepping into what seemed to be the alien equivalent of a regular restaurant. It didn’t seem suffocatingly fancy, but it definitely wasn’t a fast food place.

The host, a tall, brown, stick-legged creature, led them to a table for two. Mabel barely registered the glass of water placed in front of her as she focused on the swirling lava lamp light above them, the fat, slimy patron off to her left, and the fuzzy one off to her right.

“What looks good to you?” Ford asked, breaking the spell.

Mabel looked down at the menu on the table in front of her for the first time. Unsurprisingly, everything was written in a foreign scrawl.

“I can’t read this, Great-Uncle Ford,” she said.

Ford looked up from his own menu, a somewhat sheepish expression on his face. “Oh, right. Well what do you like?”

“Do they have macaroni and cheese?”

Ford looked back at the menu. “Uh, not necessarily, but I can get you something similar.”

“Alright, that’s fine with me!” she said cheerfully.

The waiter, a spotted, horned creature, came to take their orders not long after. Ford did the ordering of course, and soon enough they were waiting for their meals.

“This is like Star Wars,” Mabel said as she watched the strange patrons of the restaurant come and go. “Do you know what Star Wars is?”

“Yes I do, actually,” Ford said. “It was quite the trilogy.”

“It’s not just a trilogy now,” Mabel said, delighted to impart some new pop culture knowledge to him. “They made a prequel trilogy as well.”

Ford’s eyes widened with interest. “Really?”

“Yeah, though they weren’t as good as the original three. They made some TV shows and spinoffs as well.”

“I’ll definitely have to check those out when we get back to Earth,” Ford said, careful to leave out the looming “if”.

A few minutes later, the waiter returned with their food. Mabel frowned as the bowl was set down in front of her. It was filled with steaming pasta that looked normal, but it was covered with a blue substance.

“Great-Uncle Ford, why is my pasta covered in blue paint?” she complained.

Ford laughed, taking a bite out of what looked to be a red salad. “It’s blue cheese.”

“Oh.” Mabel grabbed the smallest fork out of the several sizes offered and took an experimental bite. The blue cheese tasted like a mix between cheddar and mozzarella, and she found it absolutely delicious. Ford watched in awe as she ate the entire bowl, leaving not one noodle left.

“You can pack it in,” he said, finishing his own food a couple minutes after her.

“Yeah, Dipper says my stomach is a bottomless pit,” Mabel said, using a napkin to wipe a blue smudge of cheese off her face.

“He’s got that right.”

Ford paid for the meal and they left the restaurant, Mabel bouncing her bag as they went along. The multicolored nebulas in the sky were beginning to dim, signaling the oncoming of night according to Ford.

Lodging was a must, so they began to seek it out. It only took a few blocks for them to come across a skyscraper that towered into the sky, which Ford said was a hotel. Several well-dressed aliens perused the outside steps, meeting up and talking under the gaudy flashing lights of the sign.

“This is a hotel?” Mabel asked as they entered, looking around the lobby. The room was huge, with several exotic-looking chandeliers that looked like they were made out of luminescent flowers hanging from the ceiling. Off to their right was a long desk with several attendants, to their left was what was probably the elevators, and ahead of them was a grand staircase that descended into a room from which loud laughter and talking issued.

“It is a hotel,” Ford confirmed as they walked up to a free attendant at the desk. “And it is also apparently a casino.”

“Ooh, can we go look at the casino? Alien gambling sounds so cool!”

“Not a chance.” Ford switched over to the alien language as he spoke to the attendant, a small, fuzzy creature with bug’s wings, ending the conversation then and there.

As he spoke, Mabel let her eyes wander around the lobby. It was quite busy, with aliens going in and out of the front doors constantly. They swarmed thickly around the staircase that led to the casino, likely placing bets and exchanging winnings.

Entranced by the varying shapes, sizes, and colors, it took her a few moments to notice that she was being stared at as well. She locked eyes with the creature, a bipedal, six-armed alien with hulking muscles, orange skin, and piercing red eyes set in a scaly head.

Mabel swiftly looked away, turning back to face the desk just as Ford finished up acquiring a room key. He looked down at her and smiled.

“We’re all set!”

She smiled back, forgetting about her strange eye contact with the alien.

The elevator was surprisingly normal considering the circumstances, save for it being overlarge to accommodate bigger species. Since the numbers were also written in alien, Mabel counted the number of floor buttons as they ascended, coming to thirty altogether, and they were staying on the twenty-first.

They did not have to walk far down the hallway, Ford letting them into the room with his card. The room was spacious, with two humongous beds that were twice the size of a king, a bathroom, a closer, and a window on the far side.

Mabel immediately ran to the window, throwing back the curtains. The view was the best she could’ve asked for; the window looked out towards the street they had come off of, offering her a view of all the bustling activity and flashing lights below.

“This is so cool!” she cried, pressing her nose hard against the glass in an effort to see more.

“It is quite the sight,” Ford said, coming to peer out beside her. “It never gets old, because every city I visit is different. Sometimes there’s nobody, sometimes there’s so much going on you don’t know where to look.”

Mabel watched a flying alien swoop by several stories below. “You’re right. There’s too much awesome for me to look at!”

Ford chuckled quietly and turned away. “I know you want to look at everything but you should go ahead and get a shower in.”

Mabel straightened at the suggestion. Normally she found bathing a hindrance to whatever project she might be working on, but now she was more than glad for the opportunity, feeling quite gross after going three days without and sleeping in the dirt. She snatched her new pajamas out of her glowing bag and made a beeline for the bathroom without hesitation.

It contained all the usual facilities; a sink, a toilet, and a shower. They all seemed normal save for their larger size. “Hot” and “Cold” in the shower were written in alien, but fortunately for Mabel it still contained the universal red and blue indicators. She turned it as hot as it would go, and she could almost hear Dipper and Grunkle Stan complaining about her steaming up the bathroom. The thought made her smile.

The water was absolutely heavenly, washing away the three days worth of grime and making her feel lighter. She had to guess which little bottle was shampoo, but after accidentally pouring purple body wash onto her hands, she figured it out.

She emerged from the shower feeling like a new person, drying herself off with a towel so soft it felt like it was made out of the same cloud material her pajamas were made out of. She changed into them, enjoying the feel of the soft fabric caressing her skin. It made her realize just how tired she was.

She exited the bathroom with her old clothes on hand. Ford looked up from his journal where he was documenting everything about the dimension they were in.

“How was it?”

“Great,” she said.

“It’s probably time for you to go to bed,” he said, shutting his journal and rising from his bed.

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” she said through a yawn.

Ford went to gather his own things as she crawled into bed. When he turned back around, he saw her curled up in the middle of the huge bed, hugging her sweater.

“Why are you holding that?” he asked.

“Feels like home,” she mumbled. “Smells like it too.”

He felt a pang of sympathy for her. He too had hung on to his earth clothes for as long as he possibly could, until they got torn, burned, or ripped away. He still had a scrap of his original trench coat ducked away in the deepest recesses of his newer coat, and every now and then he would take it out, just to feel the cotton and smell what little scent of Earth remained. It was all e had left of home.

He opened his mouth to offer some sort of comfort, but he became tongue tied and made his way to the bathroom. Mabel fell asleep not long afterwards, exhaustion overtaking her as her breathing eased into a slow, comfortable rhythm.

But all was not so peaceful in the realm of dreams.

Mabel ran through the colorful scape of her dreams. The sky was pink fairy dust and rainbows, the streets made out of bouncy jello, and the grass as green as could be with lollipops for trees. Large pink kittens roamed the plains, and one came up to her, nuzzling her. She laughed as she petted its downy fur, all her stresses gone.

Then something changed.

The sky turned blood red, the grass withering and the lollipops melting into ooze. The kitten Mabel was petting started to transform and stretch, and she scrambled away in fright.

“Well, if it isn’t old Shooting Star!”

Mabel watched in horror as the kitten transformed into the one being she had never hoped to see again: Bill Cipher.

“What are you doing here, you stupid dorito?” she yelled.

Bill twirled his cane idly, seeming to enjoy her irritation and fear. “Just thought I would stop by and see how you were doing. I couldn’t help but notice you’ve gotten yourself in quite the predicament. You aren’t in Kansas anymore, now are you?”

“How do you know I’m not on Earth anymore?”

“I know when the portal opens and when the portal closes. After all, I was the one who built it.”

Mabel frowned. “What?”

Bill floated a little closer. “Oh yeah. Me and ol’ Stanford are buddies. We go way back. He was just the muscle for building the portal, and I was the brains.”

“Why would he do that?” Mabel asked. “He wrote in the Journals that you were dangerous!”

“That was after I told him the truth of what I was trying to accomplish with the portal.”

“Which is?”

Bill spread his hands as if it were obvious. “To enlighten humanity about the multiverse, of course!”

Mabel scowled skeptically. She knew better than to believe that.

“Look, the truth of the matter is, your Great-Uncle won’t get you home. He’s just taking you to a place where he can sell you for the means to get himself home.”

“That’s an even bigger lie!” she yelled. “Great-Uncle Ford would never do something like that!”

“Wouldn’t he?” Bill inspected his nonexistent fingernails. “How well do you really know him?”

“I know he made the portal and he accidentally got sucked through—”

“But he never mentioned me, did he?”

Mabel chewed her lip. She hated to admit the dream demon had a point. “Well…no.”

“So how do you know he’s really taking you home?”

“I trust him,” Mabel affirmed, attempting to push all niggling thoughts of distrust from her mind. “I know you’re a liar.”

“Well, if you find yourself needing a way home, I can help you in that regard,” Bill said. “All I need is one teensy little favor.”

“Uh-huh.” Mabel knew it was coming. “And what favor is that?”

“I need you to come to my dimension and give me a little piece of yourself. A bit of hair, an eyelash, a fingernail, anything really.”

“Why?”

“Once you’re back in that trash heap you call a dimension, I can use your DNA as a means to get into that dimension, because you’ll be there already.”

“Okay…” she said slowly, not even trying to understand how it worked. “Why in the world would I let you come to earth? You’re terrible!”

Bill pressed a hand to his bowtie in mock surprise. “How you flatter me! I just wanna take a look around, see what’s going on. Your dimension is one of the few I haven’t seen in all the years I’ve lived.”

“Sure.” She was far from convinced.

“Well, if you ever find yourself needing an alternative way home, just ask me! Avoid Dimension 52 like the plague and trust no one, not even Ford!” He snapped his fingers, and vanished in a flash of light.

Ford exited the bathroom, switching off the light and plunging the room into darkness. As he shuffled over to his bed, he managed to make out the outline of Mabel curled up in the center of her humongous bed, fast asleep and clutching her sweater like a teddy bear. She looked horribly small and alone on that moment, and it only solidified his resolve to protect her and get her home as soon as he could.

He slipped into his own bed, relishing the feel of the silky sheets settling over his body. He was in peak condition for a man his age, but that didn’t rule out aching joints, back pains, or sore muscles.

He rolled over, facing towards Mabel to ensure he could see her from where he slept, and slipped a small ray gun underneath one of the massive pillows. In his years of dimensional travel, he had learned to never sleep without one within arm’s reach, just in case.

Soon enough, he too was out, dead asleep.

But he also found himself dreaming.

He woke up in his dreamscape: a drab field of wheat with a swing set, a broken down old ship, and a broken version of the portal he had so stupidly constructed.

He scrambled to his feet, panic sending his heart lurching in his chest. When he woke up in this place, it could only mean—

“Well, it’s been quite a while since we’ve had a nice chat, hasn’t it?”

Ford shut his eyes tight at that sound of the sound of the familiar, grating, annoying voice. He did not want to look, but he knew he had to. Slowly he turned, opening his eyes to see his worst enemy floating in front of the broken portal perfectly in line with it, as if mocking it.

“Ol’ Sixer, we meet again!”

“Why are you here?” Ford snarled, marching forward until he was nearly in what could be considered Bill’s face. “The Oracle made it clear that you were to stay out of my mind!”

Bill rolled his eye. “Well, she’s not here, now is she? Over the time you’ve been separated, her power has faded away, and here I am!” He spread his arms as if that were some stupendous revelation.

Ford scowled. “Let’s get this over with. What do you want?”

“It’s come to my attention that you are no longer traveling alone.”

Ford kept his face a practiced calm. The last thing he wanted was for Mabel to know about Bill. “So?”

“So, she’s young, and your niece. You must want to get her home pretty badly. Humans with their emotions and love and whatnot.”

“And what do you have to do with it?”

“Well, instead of trying to get to that stupid Oracle, I can offer you an easier road home. All you have to do is—”

“I don’t want to hear it!” Ford shouted, cutting the demon off. “The Oracle can be trusted, and you can’t. I’d much rather struggle getting to her than listen to you one more minute.”

Something akin to anger smoldered in Bill’s eye, but it vanished as soon as Ford noticed it. “Whatever. It’s either come to me willingly or have my hunter catch up to you. Trust me, he’s far more rough than I am.”

“I killed all the last ones,” Ford growled. “I’ve evaded this one for over a year. If he does catch up, I’ll kill him too, make no mistake.”

Bill shrugged. “Have it your way! Just remember, I’m always here.” With that less than comforting reassurance, he vanished and Ford woke up.

He sat up in bed with a gasp, looking around for Bill, only to find that he was in the same hole room he had fallen asleep in. He dared to relax, only to tense again as he saw a figure move by the window, silhouetted by the light. He reached for his gun, only to freeze as he heard the voice.

“Great-Uncle Ford?”

Ford sighed with relief, letting his hands fall to his sides. “Mabel, what are you doing up?”

The small figure drew a little closer “Just couldn’t sleep.”

He scratched the back of his head. “I guess I can’t either.” He reached over and tapped the bedside lamp, turning it on. He briefly took in Mabel’s appearance, and noticed she seemed less vibrant than normal.

“Are you alright?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Are you?”

“Yeah, just some bad dreams.”

“When I’d have bad dreams, Dipper would stay up with me and play games until I couldn’t even remember what the dream was about.”

Ford smiled, groping for his glasses. “Well, why don’t we do that?” He leaned over and grabbed his bag, beginning to rummage around in it. “I don have much, just a deck of cards that changes for whatever game you’re playing.”

“Cool!” Mabel said, hauling herself up onto the bed with him.

He pulled out the pack triumphantly. “What do you know how to play?”

She tilted her head, considering. “I can play poker.”

Ford resisted the urge to scoff aloud. He would destroy her at it. “What are we betting?”

“If I win, you have to give me something cool out of all your dimensional stuff. If you win, I have to give you… a hug!”

He smiled. “Sounds fair to me.”

Ten minutes later, he sat open-mouthed, staring at the winning hand Mabel had played against him.

“I win!” she cried, bouncing where she sat. “You have to give me something cool!”

It took Ford a few seconds to regain the use of his voice. “…Where did you learn to play like that?”

“Grunkle Stan taught me!”

His shock immediately turned to annoyance and bitterness. Of course Stanley would teach her how to play poker. Why wouldn’t he? He was a con man after all, and apparently he was passing it on to his relatives. Great.

“So what did I win?”

Ford snapped back to the reality that held Mabel’s gleeful grin in front of him. He sighed, rubbing his eyes behind his glasses. “I suppose you can have the card deck.”

“Awesome!” She smiled charmingly. “Want to play again?”

“No,” he said firmly. “There’s only so many things I have, and most of them are far too dangerous.”

“Aw, alright.” She started gathering up the holographic cards and put them back in heir case. “Can you tell me some stories of your adventures then?”

“What do you want to hear?”

“I don’t know! You’ve probably done all sorts of crazy stuff.”

“How about the time I ended up in the dimension that had no ground?”

Mabel sat forward, her interest piqued. “Ooh, that sounds interesting. What was it like?”

“Well, I was constantly falling, and at first I thought surely I hold hit the round, but after a few minutes of falling I realized there was no ground in sight. It was just air all around me.”

She frowned, trying to make sense of it in her head. “What did you do?”

“I started scanning for dimensional rifts. I fell past several of them before I finally managed to get through one."

“That kind of reminds me of the time we fell into the bottomless pit!”

Ford’s eyebrows shot up. “You fell into the bottomless pit?”

Mabel nodded as if it were no big deal. “Yeah. It was me, Dipper, Grunkle Stan, and this other guy named Soos who works at the Mystery Shack.”

Ford scrambled for his journal and a pen. “Tell me what it was like! I threw some stuff in when I was researching it, but I never jumped in myself.”

They stayed up for a long time, talking and laughing, until finally, while in the middle of one of his long-winded stories, Ford was interrupted by a small snore. He looked down and saw that Mabel had fallen asleep, curled up on the bed. He smiled to himself and lay back on the pillows to fall asleep himself, his dreams of Bill almost forgotten.

The Oracle dreamed less often than one might think, but her dreams always had a meaning, showing her things of the past, present, or future.

This particular night she found herself striding through a terrible tumultuous landscape that was ever-changing and ever-chaotic. Though it was deeply unpleasant to walk in, she was not unfamiliar with it. She had been the before.

All around her the silhouettes of hellish creatures only conceived in man’s worst nightmares rose up in restlessness, waiting as they always had for their release. Though their voices were all different from one another, they blended into one chant that shook the very dimension and vibrated through the Oracle’s body, even though she was not truly there.

Oh rage, burn and burn, break the sky

Cracking open and spilling forth until

It is as blood reflecting flame!

It was part of a prophecy. The Oracle knew it by heart, for it was all her enemy had to go on in the hope that one day he would be free. The chanting continued, a thunderous cacophony in her ears as she walked the path that lay before her.

Eventually, the chanting faded away into a dull roar in the background as her path took her into the far edges of the Nightmare Realm and further on into the Dreamscape. Her curiosity was piqued, as she did not enter the Dreamscape often, so there must have been something important her Lord wished to show her.

Each step sent thousands of images hurtling by her, from the dreams of every being in every dimension. Things of beauty, things of terror, they were all fleeting glimpses of a larger picture she could not see unless her path took her there.

When her path did come to an end, she stopped dead in her tracks. Clear as day, her enemy was before her, his back to her. The dream around her was a field of wheat, drab, with a broken boat and a swing set lying discarded to the side. It seemed familiar to her, but she could not place it…

The grating voice of her enemy rang out, “Whatever. It’s either come to me willingly or have my hunter catch up to you. Trust me, he’s far more rough than I am.”

Another voice came in reply from beyond her enemy where she could not see. “I killed all the last ones. I’ve evaded this one for over a year. If he does catch up, I’ll kill him too, make no mistake.”

The Oracle’s heart sped up with hope. She knew that voice well, and though it had been many years since she had heard it, she had not forgotten it.

“Have it your way!” said her enemy. “Just remember, I’m always here.”

She came awake with a start, sucking in a huge breath of air. She sat up, and remembered that she was in her bed, and all was quiet.

Slowly, a huge smile came over her face. He would return to her.

Chapter Text

“This is your great idea?”

Dipper winced as his Grunkle’s irate yell echoed and rebounded off the surrounding buildings. Several passers by glanced curiously at the pair standing in front of the town dump, but no one stopped to ask questions.

“McGucket worked with your brother,” Dipped explained, meeting Grunkle Stan’s glare. “He helped him build the portal all those years ago.”

Stan narrowed his eyes. “Do you know that for sure? The guy is practically criminally insane!”

“I do know that for sure,” Dipper affirmed. “It all involved a crazy creepy cult and some memory wiping stuff, but we helped McGucket out and got his memories back. I don’t know if he ever recovered all of his memories, but he’s our best shot at fixing that portal.”

“Crazy creepy cult? What—”

Dipper waved away his questions. “I’ll tell you about it later. Right now we have to find McGucket.” Without waiting for further questioning, he stepped into the junkyard, and Stan had no choice but to follow.

The scrapped and rusted cars were oddly silent. Old Man McGucket could usually be heard singing and rambling to himself from anywhere in the junkyard, but now there was no sound save for the occasional shift of metal.

“Old Man McGucket!” Dipper yelled, his voice ringing oddly through all the metal. “It’s me, Dipper! We really need your help with something!”

No response was forthcoming.

“Come on out, you crazy old coot!” Stan tried. “We need your help!”

Dipper elbowed his Grunkle roughly in the ribs. “He isn’t gonna come out if you call him a crazy old coot!”

Stan rubbed at his ribs irritably. “Being kind has never been my strong suit.”

They continued on through the rubble until Dipper sighted the ramshackle lean-to constructed out of cars and tarp. He started towards it, but Stan grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

“I’ll go first,” he grunted. “Ya never know what that guy is up to.”

Dipper was left to watch as Stan strode towards the lean to as confidently as one could in a tank top, shorts, and ratty flip flops.

“McGucket? It’s Stanford Pines!”

Dipper scowled. He didn’t know why Stan insisted on using the name that now apparently belonged to his long lost twin brother.

Stan received no response, so he pulled back the section of the tarp that served as a door. The lean-to was surprisingly empty, only a couple of old TV screens and tools lying about on the hard dirt ground.

“Is he anywhere in there?” Dipper asked.

“Nope.” Stan stuck his head in a little farther to ensure the hillbilly wasn’t hiding away in some corner. “That’s funny. I thought he rarely left this place.”

“Me too.”

Stan straightened, letting the tarp fall back into place. “Well, I don’t know what to tell ya, kid.”

Dipper scratched the back of his head, panic welling in his chest. Finding Old Man McGucket was the only idea he had. If they couldn’t find him, Mabel was as good as dead. “He’s gotta be somewhere in Gravity Falls. He hasn’t left for three decades!”

Stan spread his hands helplessly. “Well, where else would he be?”

Dipper thought hard about it. Then it came to him. “I know just the place!”

Ten minutes later, they were walking up the stairs of the Gravity Falls Police Station. They walked in the door to find Sheriff Blubbs reclined at his desk and Deputy Durland trying (and likely failing) to finish a crossword puzzle at his.

Blubbs leaned forward, taking his feet off the desk as the pair entered. “Well, Stanford Pines! It’s not often I see you around here. What do you need?”

“Is Old Man McGucket here?” Stan asked.

Blubbs nodded. “As a matter of fact he is, as usual.”

“What did he do this time?”

“He was being a public nuisance, which has happened plenty of times before. This time he was running around screaming at the top of his lungs about the end of the world and a portal or something like that.” Blubbs chuckled to himself. “I swear, he gets crazier every year.”

Dipper gave Stan a pointed I-told-you-so look, which the older man intentionally ignored. “We need to talk to him. I think he stole something of mine.”

Blubbs nodded. “Alright, but don’t rough him up too bad.”

Five minutes later, Dipper and Stan were escorted by Durland into the interrogation room. McGucket sat hunched over the metal table opposite them, looking rather pitiful, his hat gone and revealing the bald, mottled skin of his head.

Apparently, the officers had thought him not enough of a threat to handcuff him to the table. This proved to be a mistake, however, because when the door shut and Stan and Dipper were left alone, McGucket was up and across the room in an instant, his fingers wrapping around Stan’s neck with a strength and speed that belied his scrawny frame.

“I told you not to reactivate that portal, Stanford Pines!” McGucket yelled, pushing Stan back against the concrete wall with surprising power. “You’ve surely doomed us all!”

Stan clawed at the fingers around his neck, trying to get some air into his windpipe. “I…I didn’t…”

“You didn’t know?” McGucket finished for him, giving him a hard shake. “Don’t give me that! You knew what horrors lurked on the other side and you still activated it again!”

Dipper tried unsuccessfully to force his way in between the two men. “What are you talking about, McGucket?”

“You don’t know your Great-Uncle, boy,” the old man said, fixing Stan with a steely glare born of fear and anger. “He built a portal in the basement of the Mystery Shack, and when he reactivated it two days ago, I remembered the last bits of what the Society took from me. I remembered what I saw beyond the portal, and I remembered why I wanted to forget!”

Stan finally got a purchase on the other man’s wrists, pulling them away just enough for him to suck in a satisfying breath of air. “Look, McGucket, I don’t think I’m who you think I am.”

His grip faltered just a little. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not Stanford. I’m his twin brother, Stanley Pines.”

“I don’t believe you,” McGucket snarled, his grip tightening again. “You’re just trying to get away from me, aren’t you?”

Stan’s words became choked due to the fingers mashing his windpipe, but he managed to force them out anyway. “I’m not Stanford, I’m Stanley! Why don’t ya just believe me, you crazy old coot?”

At that point, Dipper was beginning to fear for his Grunkle’s life. The crazed look of pure anger in McGucket’s eyes showed no signs of abating. “He’s telling the truth!”

“I’m sorry you had to find out like this, boy,” McGucket said, “but you’re Great-Uncle has done somethin’ that will kill us all!”

“Show him your hands!” Dipper cried as Stan’s face began to turn a sickening shade of blue.

Fortunately Stan caught on quickly and shoved both of his hands into McGucket’s face. “Look! Five fingers, not six! I am not Stanford!”

Slowly, realization dawned upon McGucket. His grip on Stan’s throat lessened the longer he looked at his hands, until he grabbed one of them, turning them over and inspecting them as if there might be a sixth finger hidden somewhere on them. “I…I had forgotten he had six fingers.” He looked up at Stan. “So, you’re not really him?”

“No,” Stan rasped, rubbing at his throat that would undoubtedly be bruised later. With his free hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out the same weathered photograph he had shown to Dipper the day before. “I meant to show ya this before you attacked me.”

McGucket took the photograph and squinted at it before looking back at Stan. “Well I’ll be…You’re not really Stanford?”

Stan nodded. “Yeah.”

McGucket’s face took on a hostile scowl again. “Why did you active the portal? What do you know about it?”

“It’s a long story. You better sit down.”

Stan told McGucket everything, from Ford’s frantic attempts to hide the Journals, to the ensuing argument that sent Ford through the portal, to Stan’s attempts over the past three decades to bring him back. McGucket sat silently through it all, his usually expressive face stoic and betraying nothing of what he was feeling.

“So you ignored all the warnings your brother wrote in the Journals?” McGucket asked once he had finished.

Stan just shrugged. “Well, yeah. I had to get him back. Besides, what could be so bad about that thing? If it was really that dangerous, Ford wouldn’t have built it in the first place.”

McGucket’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t know the half of it. Why are you tellin’ me all of this?”

“When we activated the portal, it got destroyed,” Dipper interjected. “We need you to help us rebuild it.”

“Rebuild it?” McGucket’s outraged shout echoed through the room so loudly it was a wonder the officers didn’t hear. “Haven’t you been listen’ to a word I’ve been sayin’? That thing is way too dangerous for me to even consider rebuilding it.”

“And how do you know it’s so dangerous?” Dipper retorted.

The old man fixed him with a glassy stare. “I saw beyond it. That’s what made me want to erase my memories in the first place.”

“What did you see?” Stan asked.

“Death.” It was clear by the look on his face he did not want to speak of it anymore.

The word sent panic flooding through Dipper’s veins. If it was really as McGucket said it was, there was little to no chance that Mabel was alive out there. “You gotta help us! My sister got sucked through and we have to get her back.”

McGucket just shook his head sorrowfully. “I’m sorry that happened to her, but I don’t think there’s any chance that she’s alive.”

Stan stood up, leaning across the table to get in McGucket’s face. “Listen, I don’t care what you think, I’m going off of what I know, and I know my brother and Mabel are out there somewhere, alive. You can either help us rebuild the portal, or you can stay here and rot.” He stood back, crossing his arms across his chest. “What’ll it be?”

McGucket looked from Stan’s hard, determined face to Dipper’s hopeful, almost emotional one, and what defiance he had left drained out of him. “Alright, I’ll help you.”

Dipper exhaled the huge breath he didn’t know he had been holding. There was hope after all.

Stan nodded. “Good choice.” He walked over and banged on the door. A couple seconds later a key rattled in the lock and Blubbs stuck his head in.

“You all done here?”

“We wanna post his bail.”

Blubbs gave Stan an odd look, but did not question it. “Alright, just follow me.”

At the clerk’s desk, Durland gave Stan the appropriate paperwork to fill out. “That’ll be one-hundred dollars.”

“A hundred dollars?” Stan yelped incredulously. “What, do you think I’m made of money or something?”

Durland shrugged. “Sorry. Them’s the rules.”

Grumbling something under his breath, Stan fished his wallet out of his pocket and flicked out the correct number of dollar bills, slapping them down on the table with no attempt to disguise his annoyance.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen your Great-Uncle spend that much money on someone that wasn’t himself,” Blubbs murmured off to the side, only loud enough for Dipper’s ears.

“In this case, I think he’d spend any amount necessary,” Dipper replied.

“Can we go now?” Stan asked, scratching off the last of the paperwork with his scrawling signature.

Durland took the paper, stacking it together in a somewhat orderly. “Yup. You’re free to go, Mister McGucket.”

McGucket threw his scrawny arms in the air. “I’m a free man again! Yeehaw!”

Stan scowled at him, marching out of the police station. “Remember what we gotta do, and don’t even think about runnin’ off after I spent all that money on you.”

At McGucket’s behest, Stan drove them back by the dump so the hillbilly could retrieve some miscellaneous items. Stan grumbled something about not trusting him, but fifteen minutes of anxious waiting later, McGucket returned to the car, his arms full of things.

Ten minutes after that, they arrived at the Mystery Shack. The tourist trap was still in sad disarray from the gravity anomalies, as Soos could only fix so many things so fast. Pieces of shingles and wood littered the grass around the building, and the sign lay on the ground, surrounded by splinters.

McGucket whistled in wonder at the sight. “This place sure got torn up.”

“Yeah,” Stan grunted, getting out of the car. “I didn’t anticipate that. Come on.”

Stan led McGucket into the Shack, Dipper trailing behind, unsure of what his Grunkle intended to do with their new guest. They ended up going down a hallway and stopping at a door Dipper had only gone through once before. Stan pushed it open without hesitation.

“This is where you can stay while you work on the portal.”

McGucket looked at Stan with an odd mix of shock and gratitude. “You mean I can have a room of my very own? With a bed and a roof?”

“A couch,” Stan grunted.

McGucket entered the room. It looked the same as it had the last time Dipper had been in it, save for the fact that the body-switching rug was rolled up and discarded in the corner. McGucket wandered the room, setting his things on the floor as his gaze wandered over all the strange things that were scattered about the room.

“I remember…” he said, turning to Stan. “This was his room, wasn’t it?”

Stan just nodded.

“It was?” Dipper looked to Stan for validation and received it. Suddenly his perspective on why the room had been hidden away and why it was full of so many strange things changed.

McGucket continued to look around until suddenly he stopped. When he didn’t move, Stan stepped forward.

“What’s the matter?”

McGucket turned around, holding a triangular glass prism in his hand. The look on his face was unreadable, and Dipper guessed he was remembering something.

They both started as McGucket threw the prism with all his might, shattering it against the far wall with a tremendous crash. Glass shards scattered on the couch and across the floor.

Stan opened his mouth to swear at him, but gulped it back when he remembered he was in the presence of Dipper. “What the heck was that?” He marched up the smaller man, glass cracking beneath his shoes. “You don’t go throwing stuff around!”

McGucket didn’t seem to notice Stan’s ire, staring at the glittering shards on the floor. “That’s what he used to summon him…”

Stan’s scowl only deepened. “What are you talking about?”

“The one beyond the portal, the one who will surely kill us all if he gets through.”

Dipper’s heart dropped into his stomach. Suddenly he was aware of the effigy of Bill Cipher on the stained glass window in front of them, and he wondered if that was who McGucket spoke of.

“Kid, do you have any idea what he’s talkin’ about? You always had your head buried in that Journal.”

Thinking it best not to press McGucket any further, Dipper shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

Stan heaved a weary sigh and marched out of the room, leaving the other two staring at each other awkwardly for a few moments. Thankfully, he returned quickly with a broom and shoved into McGucket’s hands. “You’re gonna clean this up.”

McGucket gripped the broom, but did not protest.

“When you’re done, there’s some food in the fridge so help yourself. Don’t break anything. Tomorrow we’ll start working on that portal bright and early.”  Stan gestured to Dipper. “Come on, let’s go.”

Reluctantly, Dipper turned to follow his Grunkle, leaving McGucket behind.

Dipper stared at the red fluorescent numbers of his clock as they finally switched to 12:00. Somehow, the bedroom seemed even emptier than it had the night before. He couldn’t bear to even look at Mabel’s empty bed, knowing that she might not even return to it, so he focused on the clock, the wall, the window, and anything that would take his mind off of her.

By the time the clock hit 12:30, he knew he wasn’t going to get any sleep until he went and got some answers. With a sigh, he sat up and swung his feet over the side of the bed, padding out of the room. As quietly as he could, he descended the notoriously squeaky stairs, not wanting to wake Stan. He knew his Grunkle would likely not approve of him talking to their guest alone.

He made it down to the main floor without making a large amount of noise, and stole through the hallways until he ended up at the door to the bedroom that had once belonged to Stan’s brother. Not bothering to knock, he opened the door slowly and poked his head in.

As he thought, McGucket was not asleep. The old man sat on the couch, hunched forward slightly. There was no trace of glass on the floor, and the shades had been pulled across the window, leaving the room in complete darkness save for the faint light coming in through the crack in the open door. McGucket did not move, and Dipper wasn’t sure if he even knew he was there until he spoke.

“It’s late, boy. You should be asleep.”

Dipper pushed the door open all the way and stepped in. “I know, but I need answers.”

McGucket turned his head, looking at him with something like sorrow. “You shouldn’t be lookin’ for answers to somethin’ like this. It’s dangerous and terrible. Enough for me to want to erase my memories, you know.”

“My sister is out there somewhere,” Dipper persisted. “She has to be alive, and I need to know what you saw beyond the portal.”

He shook his head. “I can’t tell you what I saw beyond the portal, only that it wasn’t good. That was the one part of my memory I chose not to restore, and for good reason. However, I can tell you the research I did afterwards.”

Dipper moved further into the room and sat down on the floor in front of him. “Tell me.”

“The leader of that dimension, the one who orchestrates everything, has gone by many names over the course of history, but one always remains consistent no matter what culture or language.”

“What’s that?”

“Death-in-Dreams.”

Dipper’s mind immediately shot to Bill. “Why was he called this?”

“He would appear to those who desired something greatly, offering them a deal. In exchange for whatever they wanted, he would possess them as he tried to find a way to open a rift between his dimension and ours, but it always ended in death and tragedy.”

A shiver went down Dipper’s spine. To think he had so foolishly made a deal with Bill to get into McGucket’s computer, and that had almost cost him his life, if it hadn’t been for Mabel.

“Your Great-Uncle Stanford was in league with this demon, though I don’t think he knew its true intentions. We thought we were building a portal to knew worlds and unlimited knowledge for mankind as he promised us, but when I saw beyond, I saw what he truly had waiting for us.” McGucket sighed heavily and looked down at his scuffed and bandaged hands. “I don’t remember what I saw, but I know for sure that it was beyond your worst nightmares.”

Dipper swallowed, suddenly feeling sick. “So…what are the chances Mabel is okay?”

“I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. There could be a possibility they managed to escape into another dimension, but I have no way of knowing.”

Dipper frowned. “If there are so many dimensions, why does he want this one so badly?”

“I can’t tell you that. All I know is that he’s made multiple attempts to make his way into this world in the past, and his latest attempt was this portal.”

“Well, I’ve had some run-ins with this demon myself.”

McGucket sat up ramrod straight. “What? Are you sure?”

Dipper nodded apprehensively, afraid he had made a mistake by bringing it up. “Yeah, the one on the window, right?”

McGucket’s eyes darted to the window, as if he were afraid someone might be listening. “What happened?”

“I was stupid,” Dipper murmured. “I made a deal with him because I wanted to get into your computer, actually. He possessed my body and nearly got me killed, though my sister saved me.”

McGucket nodded, as if this were no surprise to him. “He deceived Stanford into building the portal, and he got me into it to. He would let the demon possess him and he tried to hide it, but I knew. Almost every day he would show up with a new bruise or cut or somethin’ like that, and he would say they were just accidents but I had my suspicions. It wasn’t until I saw beyond that my suspicions were confirmed. Stanford said he was a muse, but he is Death incarnate. There’s no mistakin’ that.”

Dipper’s throat felt tight. There was no telling what Bill could have done to him when he possessed his body. “I think Stanford figured it out eventually. I’ve been over the Journals a thousand times, and everything I’ve seen on Bill has called him dangerous.”

The old man frowned. “Then why did you make a deal with him in the first place?”

“Because I wanted answers so badly,” he replied sheepishly. “I thought he couldn’t possibly be any more dangerous than all the other crazy things I’ve seen in the two months I’ve been here.”

“You were wrong,” McGucket said curtly. “Bill Cipher is the most dangerous things Gravity Falls has to offer. If he ever comes to you again offering you some deal, run.”

Dipper chuckled humorlessly. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

“What I am worried about is reopening that portal,” he admitted. “Does Stanf—Stanley know anything at all about what lies beyond?”

Dipper frowned thoughtfully. “Not that I know of, but I don’t think he really cares anyway. He said he ignored all the warnings on purpose.”

“He’s a fool.”

“He cares about getting them back more than he cares about what happens to himself,” Dipper said, coming to the realization himself as he spoke. “He spent the past thirty years trying to get his brother back, to the point where he faked his own death to do it. He loves his brother and he loves Mabel, so he’s twice as more likely to ignore the warnings again this time around.”

“That’s admirable, but also stupid,” McGucket said.

Dipper cracked a wry smile. “Well unfortunately, I take after him as well.”

McGucket returned the smile, glad to finally have a conversation with someone who saw him as more than just a crazy old man with no chance at a life. Then he sobered again. “Both of you have got to be prepared for the worst when we reopen that portal.”

Dipper nodded, turning his gaze to his feet.

“We could get your sister and Stanford back, but we also have to be prepared for the reality that Bill might come through as well.”

“What will happen then?”

“I don’t know,” McGucket said. “I just don’t know.”

They lapsed into silence, each consumed with his own thoughts of the doom that could await them. It was so silent, the chirping of crickets could be heard outside.

“You should go back to bed,” McGucket said at last. “Stan will be getting us up quite early I’d imagine.”

“You’re right.” Dipper levered himself up off the floor. “Thanks for trying to answer my questions.”

McGucket nodded. “Sorry I couldn’t be of much help to ya.”

“It’s alright. Some things I probably don’t need to know the answer to.” Dipper smiled. “Sleep well.”

“You too.”

Dipper returned to his own room, an despite having many more questions, fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Chapter Text

“Where are we going again?”

Ford pushed the door open, moving aside to let Mabel go through first. “The Black Market.”

Mabel turned around to look at him. “That’s not what you said earlier! You said we were just going shopping.”

Ford stepped out behind her, letting the door fall shut. “I didn’t want to announce my intentions to the entire elevator, considering the Black Market is illegal.”

Mabel narrowed her eyes. “How much trouble are we going to get in if we get caught?”

“A lot, but I haven’t been caught yet in thirty years, so I don’t think we have to worry about that.”

They started down the hotel steps. Above them, the multicolored nebulas were bright again, heralding the dimension’s version of day. The night had lasted for about nine hours according to Ford, so they had another nine hours to get what they needed.

Even early in the morning, the hubbub never ceased. Patrons were still going in and out of the hotel and casino at a steady pace, and the streets were just as crowded as they had been the day before.

“Stay close to me,” Ford instructed her as they entered the flow of traffic. “No wandering off, especially when we get to our destination. There’s no telling who we could meet or what could happen.”

Mabel nodded, the bandana in her hair bobbing slightly with the action. “Why are we going to the b—” When Ford shot her a look, she changed her words. “…to the store?”

“There are devices that allow you to travel in between dimensions at your own leisure, but they are only made to access approved dimensions. The one we want to go to is not one of those approved ones. The market can offer an illegal addon to the original device, allowing it to open a rift to whatever dimension you want it to.”

“Why not allow people to go to whatever dimension they want in the first place?”

Ford shook his head. “Admittedly, that would be a terrible idea. There are thousands, if not an infinite number of dimensions out there, and many of them hold dangerous substances or creatures.”

“What about the one we’re going to?” Mabel asked. “Is it dangerous?”

“Not in the slightest,” Ford reassured her. “The reason we can’t get to it normally is because very few people know about it, but it is one of the safest places you could be.”

The words Bill had spoken to her the night before came trickling back into her mind. Avoid Dimension 52 like the plague. She almost said the name out loud, but stopped herself at the last second. Ford would want to know how she knew the number, and she didn’t want to reveal that she knew of Bill’s existence if he really had a past with the dream demon. She resolved in her heart that she would have to trust him, no matter what Bill told her. He was a liar, and Ford wasn’t.

“What’s the dimension like?” Mabel asked. “Is it busy like this?”

“No. In the grand scheme of things, it’s surprisingly normal. It has grass, trees, and a sun.”

“That sounds nice,” she said wistfully.

“Yes. It reminds me of Earth more than any other dimension I’ve been in.”

The streets were thickly populated to the point where the going was slow. Airships that seemed to function like taxis whizzed by overhead frequently, which Mabel had not noticed the day before.

“Do you know where we’re going?” she asked as they shuffled behind a lumbering purple beast.

“I’ll have to ask around, but we’ll get there eventually,” Ford said. “This is not my first time seeking out a black market.”

Eventually, they managed to get off onto a quieter side street where it was less congested. Stores and vendors were jammed closely together, only separated by tiny alleyways that led through to other streets beyond the buildings.

Ford stopped to talk to a vendor, a gray long-necked creature with black stripes on a three-eyed face and long, clawed fingers. The creature, seeming to be male, was polite enough, conversing easily with Ford about the location of “high-end products”.

Mabel stood by, listening to their conversation though it made no sense to her. The conversation went on for quite a while, and eventually Mabel’s eyes wandered to the oddities the market had to offer. Across the street and a little ways town, there was a vendor selling some sort of small, fuzzy creatures in cages. Never being able to resist small fuzzies, she started down the street towards them.

She only made it about halfway there when arms wrapped around her, lifting her off the ground. She yelped in surprise, looking down to see four orange, burly arms holding her. She twisted her neck around to see who it was that held her, and to her shock she saw the same alien she had made eye contact with the night before in the casino.

Ford whirled around at the sound of Mabel’s cry, and saw her being grabbed by a six-armed, orange, scaly alien with red eyes.

“Let me go!” Mabel yelled, beating at the strange arms even though she knew they would not be able to understand her. Then, something pressed against her temple, and she went stock still. She did not have to guess what the sensation was.

“Let the girl go,” Ford said in the common alien language, his hand instinctively moving towards the ray gun concealed in his coat as a gun was pressed to Mabel’s head. “She’s mine.”

The alien holding Mabel turned towards Ford, smiling and showing rows of sharp teeth. Several aliens of the same species stood behind him. “She’s mine now. She is a rare species, and if you don’t want to join her, you’ll let us go.”

Ford studied the creatures. The were clad in armored vests and were armed to the teeth with all sorts of weapons, some of which he didn’t even recognize. Bounty hunters.

“Great-Uncle Ford?” Mabel whimpered. All around them, the vendors and some passers by were watching the exchange curiously, but it was clear that no one wanted to intervene for her.

“Silence!” the alien hissed, shaking her roughly before turning his attention back to Ford. “I am Manthaj, the greatest bounty hunter in this dimension! If you know what’s best for you, you’ll let us take the girl.”

Ford scowled. His boast was supposed to scare him, but all it did was annoy him. “If you know what’s best for you, you’ll let her go.”

Mabel remained still, trying not to show the panic she felt. “Great-Uncle Ford?” she squeaked.

“It’s alright,” he said calmly in English.

“What are you saying to her?” Manthaj snarled, pressing the barrel of the gun harder against her head.

“I’m reassuring her,” Ford said, keeping his voice level so as not to antagonize the bounty hunter further. “I would hate to let you take her while she was in a panic.”

Manthaj sneered at him. “So you will let us take her then?”

“Yes,” he lied, flexing his hands. Keeping his eyes on Manthaj, he said to Mabel, “When I say run, you run as fast as you can and do not stop, no matter what. It doesn’t matter where you go, I’ll come and find you. Do you understand?”

Mabel nodded dumbly, her heart pounding in her ears so loudly the noise of the market was almost drowned out.

“You have made a good choice,” said Manthaj. “You will get to live.” Then, he made the mistake of turning away slightly. Ford threw up his hands, and a blast of electricity from his gloves knocked the gun right out of Manthaj’s hand. With a cry of pain and shock, his grip loosened briefly, giving Mabel a small window.

“Run!” Ford bellowed, sprinting towards Manthaj.

Mabel took off running, squeezing into the nearest small alleyway, scraping herself against the rough walls as she stumbled away.

“Get her!” Manthaj screeched at his cohorts, his command turning into a roar of agony as Ford’s boot came smashing down onto the middle of his spine.

Mabel ran out into the next street, nearly running into a cluster of aliens. The street was more crowded than the last one, so she pushed her way through the press, yelling apologies as she went.

Angry shouts rang out behind her, but she was not about to look back to see if it was actually the bounty hunters or some offended alien. She wove her way down the street, pushing past tall aliens and jumping over small ones. An intersection came up in front of her, so she veered off to the right. This street was not so populated, so she made her way down it quickly. When she came upon another intersection, she took a right again…only to find it that it was a dead end. She ran up to the wall at the end, searching for some means of escape, but there was none. The angry shouts were still behind her, and they were getting closer.

Follow me!

Mabel’s head jerked up at the sound of a new voice, silvery and near to her. Clinging to the wall several feet above her head was the tiny pink lizard she had seen when she had first passed through the portal.

Follow me!

The lizard scampered up and off to her left, near to a ladder going up to the roof of the building that Mabel had not noticed before. She stood frozen in place, unsure of whether to follow the strange voice or not.

Follow me, follow me! the silvery voice insisted urgently.

The voices of her pursuers getting nearer jerked her from her trance. Adrenaline fueling her strength, she jumped up and grabbed the first rung of the ladder, hauling herself up and grabbing onto the second and then the third, allowing her feet purchase. She climbed as fast as she dared, her breath rasping in her throat and her hands trembling, not daring to look down the higher she got. She made it to the top and tumbled onto the roof, hoping and praying she had not been seen.

The voices of her pursuers came into the alleyway, and Mabel forced herself to breathe quietly in case they could hear her. Their voices were harsh and angry, and they sounded like they were arguing. She waited for the sounds of them coming up the ladder and looked around for a place to hide, but the rooftop was flat and featureless, offering no chance of escape should they ascend.

The voices argued with each other for a few moments longer, and then, wonder of wonders, they started back up the alleyway. Mabel’s breath hitched in her throat as she rolled over, daring to peek over the edge of the building. She was not as high up as she had first imagined, so she could clearly see the orange, scaly figures retreating up the alleyway just before they rounded the corner and disappeared.

Mabel let out a shaky sigh of relief, rolling onto her back again. She lay there for a few minutes, allowing her heart to calm itself and her breathing to slow. She listened for them if they came back, but everything was calm.

There was no way Ford would be able to find her up on a roof, so she would have to go back down. She sat up, and only then did she realize there was no sign of the little lizard. She looked all around, but the rooftop was empty save for her.

She descended the ladder slowly, her body shaky with nerves. Going back up the alleyway, every step was slow and laced with caution, just in case the bounty hunters came back. She made it onto the street she was on before turning into the dead end and stood there, scanning the crowd, but she could not see Ford anywhere. A new bubble of panic began to swell in her chest as the seconds ticked by. Had the alien defeated him and hurt him? Was he gone? Was she stuck here alone in this crazy dimension?

She made for the street she had been on before, her legs quivering and weak. As she approached the intersection of the busy street, she paused to peer around the corner of a building, and hands grabbed her from behind. She let out a shriek, and struck out at her assailant, but her hands were caught in a gentle but unyielding grip.

“Mabel, it’s me!”

She faltered at the voice, looking up to see Ford leaning over her, his face etched with concern as he breathed heavily.

“Are you alright?” he asked, kneeling down to her level. “Did he hurt you?”

Mabel swallowed hard, shaking her head as a sob welled in her throat.

Ford sighed in relief. He too had panicked when he couldn’t find her right away, the fear of the bounty hunters having caught her invading his mind. Without a second thought, he pulled her into a tight hug, needing to know that she was safe.

“I was so scared, Grunkle Ford!” she wailed into his shoulder. “I thought they were going to catch me, and then I couldn’t find you, and—and—”

“It’s alright now, it’s alright,” he murmured, stroking her hair. “You’re safe now. Nothing will hurt you.”

“Are they going to come after us?” she asked through her sobs.

“No,” he assured her. “They won’t bother us anymore.” Without waiting for her to compose herself, he lifted her in his arms, taking off at a fast walk down the street. He had no true assurance that Manthaj wouldn’t send someone after them, so it was best for them to get away while they still could.

“Where are we going?” Mabel asked, clinging to him for dear life.

“Another dimension,” he said. “Somewhere far away from here.”

Mabel fell silent then, trying to stop her tears and end her trembling. She let her head rest on his shoulder, her head brushing softly against the gun on his back with every step. She watched the street and those on the street go by, hyper-vigilant, but also letting the motion of his steps calm her down a little.

The next thing she knew they had stopped, and she was being lowered to the ground. They were in another alleyway, which Mabel found herself rapidly growing tired of.

Ford grabbed up a pebble on the ground and tossed it at the wall. It vanished with a ripple, and after waiting a moment, he was satisfied that it was safe to go through. Mabel was growing used to the falling sensation by now, and barely flinched as they passed through the portal.

Then they were in a strange place, standing on a fluorescent pink platform. They could see the edges of the platform several yards away from them on either side. Ahead of them was a clump of indistinguishable blue, and behind them, a huge pillar of the same pink rose into the sky.

“Where are we?” Mabel asked, her voice sounding loud in the quiet of the dimension.

“I’m not sure,” Ford mused, looking every which way. He moved to the edge of the platform, peering over the edge, and then let out a short laugh.

“What?” she asked, stepping towards him.

He turned back to her, smiling crookedly. “We’re on a tree.”

Mabel paused to look around again, and suddenly it all made sense. The platform they were standing on was a branch, and the pillar was a trunk. The clumps of blue were leaves, and above them she could see more branches through the leaves.

“Cool!” she said, her nervousness fading at the new revelation.

Ford moved to start setting up the plasmafire, when pain rippled through his torso. He stopped, grabbing his middle, his breath catching in his throat as he prayed Mabel didn’t notice. He had no such luck, however, as Mabel’s eyes and ears were sharp.

“Grunkle Ford?” she asked. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, just a little bruised up from the fight earlier.” He moved his hand, and it came away stained red.

Mabel gasped. “You’re bleeding!”

“It’s not that b—”

“Sit down before you make it worse!” she cried, hurrying over to him.

Ford sighed wearily. “Really, Mabel, it’s not bad, it’s just—”

“Sit. Down.” Mabel snarled, raising herself up on her tiptoes in an effort to get in his face.

Ford blinked, surprised by the sudden ferocity, and he decided it would be best if he did as he was told. He lowered himself to the ground, trying not to jostle his wound.

Mabel set up the plasmafire by herself, going off of memory of the times she had seen him do it. She managed to light it without burning herself, and turned to Ford. “Alright, what do I need to do?”

“Get the healing salve out of my bag,” he said, resigned to the fact that she was helping him.

She rummaged through his bag, coming up with the salve and turning back to him. “I think you’re gonna have to take off your shirt for me to do this.”

He grabbed for the salve, but Mabel kept it out of his reach. “Really, I can take it from here—”

“Nope! You’ve been taking care of me this entire time, so now it’s my turn to take care of you.” Then she took on a more sober attitude. “I can’t have you dying or getting sick. I don’t want to be alone here.”

He sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Fine, but I promise it won’t be a pretty sight.”

“Nothing could be worse than Grunkle Stan shirtless,” Mabel said, making a face at the memory.

Ford snorted and started to remove his armored top. The process was prolonged by his wound, and also his apprehension at what Mabel was about to see. He removed the armor, and when he made to remove the normal shirt underneath, he paused and looked up at her.

“Are you sure you want to see this?” he asked.

Mabel nodded, starting to wonder what she had gotten herself into.

With a final jerk, Ford pulled the shirt up and over his head, baring his torso. Mabel couldn’t help but inhale sharply at the sight that greeted her, though she tried to keep her expression neutral. His entire upper body was riddled in scars; his arms, his chest, everything from the neck down. It seemed there was no patch of skin left unharmed.

“Mabel,” Ford said. “Can you apply the salve?”

She realized she had been staring and blushed with shame, hurrying to his side. The cut was in the lower left of his stomach. It wasn’t very deep thanks to his armor, but it was enough to bleed considerably.

“Apply the salve directly to the wound,” Ford instructed her. “Don’t worry about hurting me.”

Mabel bit her lip and nodded, squeezing a bit of salve onto her fingers. Trying to keep her hand steady, she pressed the salve into the cut. Ford let out a small grunt, but she forced herself to keep working, swallowing back a wave of nausea as her fingers came away bloody.

As she worked, she let her eyes wander to the scars in an effort to ignore the blood. Underneath all the scars, Ford was in the best shape she had ever seen a 60-something year old man in. He was practically the exact opposite of Grunkle Stan. Where Stan had a bulging gut, Ford was completely flat, and though Stan had some muscle on his arms, he was nowhere near Ford’s caliber.

“That’s enough,” Ford said, breaking her out of her thoughts.

Mabel sat back, placing the cap on the salve as Ford inspected her work.

“You did an excellent job,” he told her as he reached for his shirt. “Certainly a better one than I would have done.”

“How did you get all those scars?” Mabel asked before she could stop herself.

Ford sighed and looked down at his body with something like ruefulness. “When you spend half your life jumping through dimensions, many of which are potentially lethal, there’s no way to get by without scars.”

“At least your head was spared,” she said, trying to be optimistic, though she wondered if by the time they got home she would have scars of her own.

“Not completely,” he said, pointing at the silver streak that ran across his head. “This is a scar too.”

“How did you get it?”

“That is a long story that will have to wait for another time, I’m afraid.” Ford went to put on his shirt, and in doing so, turned his back slightly towards Mabel. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the scar that dominated most of his back. It had been covered by other scars, but it was still recognizable as an image of Bill Cipher.

Ford finished putting on his shirt and turned back to her, and frowned at how pale her face had gone. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” she said weakly. “It’s just been a stressful day.”

Sympathy flickered over his face. “I know how it feels.”

Mabel took the Dehydrated Nutrients he gave her and ate it automatically, her mind racing. He had an image of Bill Cipher on his back, though whether it was actually a scar or a tattoo she did not know. Her thoughts went back to the dream she had of Bill, and what he had said about Ford being his ally. The notion had seemed preposterous at the time, but now she was wondering if the dream demon had been telling the truth for once.

Time wore on, the dimension seeming that be relatively quiet. There was no sound from any wildlife that they could pinpoint, and everything was peaceful for the time being. The temperature, which had been mild at the time of their arrival, started to drop, and with it, the fluorescence of the trees dimmed, causing the plasmafire to become a small blue star in the oncoming darkness.

“…Mabel?”

“Huh?” She looked up, realizing that Ford had said her name.

“You should go to sleep. We’ll be on the move again tomorrow, and I don’t want you to be tired.”

Her muscles trembled with weariness at the mere thought of more walking. “What about your stomach?”

“That will heal quickly,” Ford said, pulling a blanket out of his pack and handing it to her. “I’ve traveled on far worse that, anyway.”

After having the state of his body, she did not doubt him. She took the blanket and wrapped it tightly around herself, lying down on what she supposed was the bark of the enormous tree they were camped out on. It was not terribly uncomfortable, but it was certainly a downgrade from the cushy hotel bed.

“Good night, Mabel,” Ford said with a weary smile.

“Good night, Grunkle Ford,” she replied quietly.

He let out a soft chuckle. “Isn’t that what you call Stanley?”

Mabel crinkled her brow, and it took her a moment to realize what he meant. “You mean Grunkle?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, her face heating up. “I guess it kinda came out unconsciously. I’ll stop—“

“No, it’s alright,” Ford said. “I prefer it actually.”

Mabel managed a smile. “Noted. Good night, Grunkle Ford.”

“Good night.”

 She turned her back on the plasmafire and Ford so as to make it look like she was going to sleep, but her mind was going crazy. For a fleeting moment, the insane notion of running away while he slept crossed her mind, just in case he was in league with Bill, but she swiftly decided against it. Ford was the only thing keeping her alive; without him, she would’ve been dead or a slave. She tried to think of other options, but none came to mind that weren’t suicide.

Hot tears welled in her eyes. She’d never missed Dipper and Grunkle Stan so much in her life. She wanted nothing more than to be home. She prayed silently that when she woke up, she would be back in the Mystery Shack with her family, and this was all some giant nightmare.

When her eyes opened next, she found herself standing on the ruined plain of her dreamscape. She turned around, and found the one person—or triangle—she didn’t want to see looking back at her.

“So, you’ve discovered Ford might not be as trustworthy as you thought he was,” Bill gloated.

“The tattoo doesn’t mean anything!” Mabel yelled back defensively, though she didn’t believe her own words and Bill seemed to know this.

“There is nothing with my face on it that has no point,” Bill said. “My effigy is too priceless for that.”

“And how do I know its not there because you did something horrible to him?”

“You don’t, but is that a risk you’re willing to take?”

Mabel scowled. She knew Bill was good at tricking people, but Ford had to have that tattoo for a reason, and did she dare bring him up? Ford had already been paranoid enough when they first met, and she didn’t want to send him back to that state and lose her only chance of getting home.

“My offer still stands, Shooting Star,” Bill continued. “Come to my dimension and make a deal with me.”

“Even if I wanted to do that, how would I?”

“I have friends around. If you hang in one place long enough you’ll be found.”

Mabel went cold. “You mean we’re being followed?”

“Maybe so, but that’s just another thing Ford didn’t tell you.”

A sick feeling settled in her stomach. Of course Bill would have someone coming after Ford, and he probably knew it too. It made sense, but he hadn’t told her about it. She knew the signs of paranoia—she had seen it enough times when Grunkle Stan thought the IRS was coming for him—and she now realized she had seen the same in Ford. He was constantly looking over his shoulder, always coiled tight like a spring ready to snap. They had never stayed more than a single night in a dimension, and now she knew why.

At least that ruled out the possibility of him working for Bill…unless he was trying to get her to Bill quicker before something happened.

“Stupid brain, stop thinking!” she fumed aloud.

Bill laughed as though he knew what her thought process had been, and she had an uneasy feeling that he did. “Now you’re seeing ol’ Six-fingers had a point when he said to trust no one, huh?”

“He…he probably didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to scare me,” she said weakly, though now she was unsure what to believe.

“Uh-huh. I’ll just let you keep believing that,” Bill said.

Mabel groaned with frustration. “Dreams are supposed to be an escape from reality, not make reality worse! Get out of here you dumb triangle! Don’t talk to me again!”

“Have it your way, kid. But if you change your mind, do it before it’s too late!”

Bill vanished, and she fell into darkness.