Dipper swerved the golf
cart to the left to avoid the tree that slammed into the ground beside him. Mabel
covered her mouth, barely managing not to vomit. The monster roared and
thundered behind them, the tall shadow of the unimaginable horror chased them
and eclipsed the cart. There was a perfectly reasonable explanation for this.
EARLIER
Dipper hopped off the bus,
dragging his suitcase behind him. He adjusted his brown hat, it was worn in the
best places, although Mabel had had to resew the star symbol on it once.
Speaking of Mabel, she followed him. Her long brown hair bounced behind her, and some of it frizzed and stuck to her pink sweater with a shooting star on it.
The star motif was no accident, apparently ‘twinning’ was important on their
first day in Gravity Falls. Dipper had refused to wear the glittering pink fur
vest that Mabel had offered, instead opting for his typical black one, he
didn’t see the point of embarrassing himself, they were already twins anyway, it’s
not like wearing different clothes was going to change that.
Standing by the bus stop,
there was an overweight Hispanic man? Teenager? with a baseball cap and a green
shirt with a question mark on it that looked like it might have been drawn on
with Sharpie, he was smiling and held up a cardboard sign saying
MABEL
AND DIPPER!
Dipper
hesitated, there was no way that was their Great Uncle Stanford, Mabel grabbed
his arm and pulled him toward the stranger.
“Hi!
We’re Mabel and Dipper.” She said, braces flashing
The man put the sign under his arm and gave a thumbs-up.
“Oh, sick dudes, nice to meet you. I’m Soos.”
He
and Mabel high-fived.
“Uh, where can we find our Great Uncle?” Dipper asked, clutching his
luggage a little tighter than he needed to.
“Oh
yeah, he’s at the cabin, he sent me to pick up you little dudes,” Soos said, taking
Mabel’s suitcase, he reached out a hand for Dipper’s but he shook his head.
“No
way! I knew Grunkle Stanford was rich but I didn’t know he had a butler!” Mabel
said,
Soos chuckled, “Heh, no, I’m more of a fix-it kinda
dude.” He scratched the back of his head, “Although I do kinda do butler stuff
too.”
“Okay.”
Dipper said, “So uh, where is the car?”
He looked around, the metal bus stop was empty, other
than the three of them and a squirrel, the trees around the road went up so
tall that you had to crane your neck back to see the tops, the road was dirt,
and there was a rickety looking golf cart pushed to one side that had probably
been there for years, but no car.
“Oh,
the car had a flat dude, I didn’t want you to be waiting so I took the cart,”
Soos said, jerking a thumb in the golf cart's direction
Dipper looked at the golf cart again. “Oh.”
“Cool!”
Mabel said, hopping in.
Dipper reluctantly
followed, well, if he turned out to be a kidnapper at least they could jump
off. Soos started the engine, they drove in silence for a while, Dipper had to
admit that the cart ran well despite its appearance. He cleared his
throat. “So… what is Stanford like?”
“Well.” Soos said, “He’s
really nice once you get to know him, the townsfolk like, gossip a lot ‘bout
him though, call him “Mr. Mystery” or sometimes “Scientist who lives in the
murder hut in the woods.” It's all fake though, he just likes his privacy. I
don’t even think he’s actually a scientist, like, he mostly fixes stuff, like
an inventor maybe? taught me everything I know dudes.” Soos ended with some
pride in his voice.
Mabel nodded, “I can’t
wait, this summer is going to be awesome, soooo, on a different note, hey,
Soos, do you know any eligible bachelors around my age?”
“Huh? I mean yeah there’s
Gideon, but he’s like, famous dudes, um, oh, and like, there’s this one dude
whose been trapped in the pool solitary cell for a couple years, I share snacks
with him sometimes.” Soos said,
Dipper cleared his throat
again, “So, uh, Soos, I heard that Stanford was like, pfft I don’t know, a
genius or something? And-that-he-has-six-fingers.” Dipper said the last
part quickly
Soos shrugged. “Dude,
anyone who can make a pizza cutter that always cuts pizza in perfect triangles
all the way through, every time, is basically a genius in my book, the six
fingers thing is true though, I think it’s called like, polydactyly or
something? He always complains about scissors being too small for him.”
Dipper and Mabel were both
quiet for a while, Soos hummed as he drove the golf cart. Mabel eventually
spoke up. “So, about this pool dude…”
Dipper tuned out the
conversation. Instead of staring out at the trees, they went by slower than they
did in the bus. He still wondered if Soos was kidnapping them, but honestly, he
looked at the self-proclaimed handyman again and found it hard to believe, the
guy just radiated trustful energy, although, that would make him a good
serial killer.
Not much longer passed
before a clearing came into view, inside the clearing was a rather charming three-story
cabin, nothing like the murder hut that Dipper had been envisioning, a rocking
chair sat on the porch, and two cars sat on the driveway, one was an old faded
red convertible that looked like it came right out of the 1970s, it sat low to
the ground and judging from the weeds growing out of the muffler, definitely
didn’t drive, the other was a much more modern looking tan minivan that
appeared to have a flat tire.
Soos parked the golf cart and gestured to the cabin. “Welcome to your home away from home dudes.”
He climbed out and handed
Mabel her suitcase back. Soos strode up to the door and knocked three times, he
didn’t wait for anyone to come to the door before unlocking it. He turned to
the twins. “I was coming right back so the deadbolts aren’t on right now, but
normally they are, so like you're gonna want to go through the other door most of
the time, that one is only armed at night.”
“Armed?” Dipper asked, but Soos
didn’t respond
Instead, he pushed open the
door and ushered them in, he locked it behind him, then he reached up and slid
three deadbolts into place. Huh, the ax murderer was suddenly looking a bit more
likely. The room was cluttered, pieces of metal and various circuitry littered
the many shelves, it wasn’t well-lit, and the few lights that did exist were
blocked by the piled-high boxes and jars, most of the jars were empty,
although, some of them contained other jars.
In one corner there was a
staircase, and then two corridors, one leading into a living area, the other
down to a hallway, out of the living room, a man suddenly appeared. Dipper was
instantly sure that this was his great-uncle. Firstly, he looked like his
grandpa, although, older, and secondly, his hands, he was wearing an old tan
trench coat, and under it, he wore a red collared shirt. He had put his hands in his
pockets once he walked into the doorway, but Dipper had gotten a good enough
look at them to be sure.
Great Uncle Stanford wore
glasses, the kind that only had frames attached to the top and left the lenses
open on the other three sides, he had a small amount of stubble, as if he had
shaved a few days ago, his grey hair was long, but not unkept, almost fluffy,
and he was possibly the oldest person Dipper had ever seen with sideburns, but
he pulled it off remarkably well. His chin was pronounced and cleft and he was
tall, but the way he carried himself was slightly reserved, not hunched, but
somehow pulled back as if he was afraid that they were going to bite him.
“Er. Greetings.” Stanford
said, “Thank you for bringing them, Soos.”
“No problem Mr. Pines,”
Soos said, giving a thumbs up. “I’ll leave you to it then. Bye, dudes.”
Soos disappeared into the
house. Stanford stared at the twins for a moment before clearing his throat.
“Well, follow me, your room is in the attic unless you’d like separate rooms,
I suppose that could be arranged.”
Stanford began to walk up
the stairs, there were no introductions, but then again, Dipper supposed that
they all knew each other’s names. Dipper lifted his suitcase into his arms, but
Mabel let hers bump up the stairs, “Shared room is fine.” He said
“Yep!” Mabel echoed. “So,
Grunkle Stanford-“
“Uh,” Stanford said, “Just
call me Ford… please.”
“So, Grunkle Ford,” Mabel said,
“What is your opinion on sparkly sweaters?”
“I suppose it would be useful if one was to encounter
a…” He paused on the stairs, and looked confused, then kept walking, “Sorry,
lost my train of thought, I like sweaters, particularly turtle necks, why?”
“Oh, I love sweaters,”
Mabel said, “In fact, I made this one!” She tugged on her shooting star sweater.
They passed the second floor.
Ford looked her up and
down. “You have skill, I never would’ve guessed.”
Mabel beamed “What’s your
favorite color?”
“Red, you?” Grunkle Ford said,
“All of them.” Mabel
responded, “It feels unfair to pick just one.” Then she leaned in as if hiding
a secret from the colors and whispered, “Pink.”
“Hm,” Ford said, nodding
seriously.
They reached the top of the
stairwell and Grunkle Ford pointed to a door. “That’s your room. I’ll leave you
to get settled.”
Mabel ran up to the door,
Dipper looked at Ford again. Ford looked back, then he broke the eye contact
and walked awkwardly down the stairs a little too fast. How strange.
“Dipper! I call right-bed!”
Mabel called, from the attic.
Dipper walked into the
room, it was mostly empty, and kind of stuffy, the floor and walls were plain
wood paneling, two neatly made beds sat on either side of the room, two
nightstands that only held lamps, a door that probably led to a closet and the
recently swept out floor where the only features of the room, if you didn’t
count the triangular window. Dipper threw his suitcase on the floor and sat on
his bed by default. Mabel was poking at the wall.
“Hey check out my
splinters!” She said, waving her hands, with several pieces of wood stuck in
them,
“Cool.”
Dipper said, “So- What do you think of… Ford?”
“He
seems nice.” Mabel said, “A little weird, but in a good way.”
“Yeah.”
Dipper said, “Mabel so I was thinking, this place wasn’t on any maps… and I
could barely find any information on it anywhere, don’t you think it’s a little
strange that someone who wrote a nationally ranked essay and was able to get a
PhD in literally world record time would be living in the middle of nowhere
Oregon?”
“I
don’t know Dipper,” Mabel said, “Maybe Grandpa Shermie was wrong about all
that, or maybe Grunkle Ford just likes it here? Not everything is a
conspiracy.”
The
two of them shrugged and began to unpack, the closet was much bigger than it
looked and it easily fit both of their clothes, Mabel set her knitting needles
and a ball of red yarn on her bed. Then
she began to knit what Dipper assumed was going to be a turtle neck.
“I’m gonna head downstairs,” Dipper said,
“M’Kay.”
Mabel said,
Dipper closed the door
behind him and walked down the stairs, his hand trailing lightly along the
banister. He walked into the room he’d seen Ford come out of. It was equally as
messy as the entrance. There was a probably fake T-Rex skull sitting in an
empty fish tank. A yellow couch had been placed haphazardly in front of a TV in
the center of the room. The walls were lined with shelves as before. These ones, however, held books, there must’ve been hundreds, the wallpaper was a faded
triangular pattern. He kept walking, he peaked into what looked like a kitchen,
but he heard noise coming from the other room across from it.
He stepped into a library.
An honest to goodness library. Dipper stood frozen in the doorway. He vaguely
took notice of the wire mesh door leading outside that didn’t quite match up
with the ceiling high bookshelves and the plush chairs. Great Uncle Ford,
sitting in one of these reading a book seemed to be shocked to see him.
“Oh! Dipper, uh, is
something wrong with the room?” He asked,
“No, I finished unpacking,”
Dipper said, adjusting his hat
“Oh.” Ford said, then he
coughed. “Why don’t you go play outside? I’ll send your sister along when she
comes down.” There was something akin to desperation in his voice. “The forest
is beautiful; you never know what you could find out there.” He stared through
Dipper before snapping back to reality. “Mostly ticks. And woodpeckers. But
it’s the thought that counts.”
“O…kay.” Dipper said
slowly, he walked over to the door, and turned the handle, the door creaked
open. Ford looked at him one more time, then nodded and returned to his book.
There was something off
about that man. The clearing was open, and a goat idyllically pulled up grass,
it looked up at Dipper and bleated. Right. Well, he picked a random direction
and started walking. He shoved his hands in his pockets, if this was how all
summer was going to be, he wished he was still in California. The trees grew up
high around him and birdsong floated through the air, the air itself was
entirely different in a way he hadn’t really bothered to notice before.
The forest was beautiful,
but he wasn’t really thinking about it with an open mind. Dipper had been told
that Great Uncle Ford was some kind of an excentric genius who had all kinds of
secrets and would take them on adventures. Ford just seemed afraid. Dipper had
wanted to explore the house a bit, it looked just like the kind of place that
would have a secret passage way. He’d probably have time, later, if he was allowed
to. He walked for what felt like hours, but was probably only one.
A pain spiked in his side,
and Dipper breathed through his teeth. He hated cramps. He leaned against a
tree, resting his head on it. He paused. The tree was… cold? The bark texture also
felt strange. He turned around and looked at the tree again, it looked, like a
tree. He ran his hands over the tree, until he found a place that felt smoother
than the rest. Dipper tapped on it with a knuckle, it let out a hollow clang.
He grinned, excitement
pulsed through his veins, no way. The hollow space was a small square, he ran
his fingers along the edge found a grip in the grooves of the fake bark. Dipper
tugged open the secret compartment. Inside, there was what looked to be an old
metal box, covered in cobwebs and dust, it had an antenna, several gauges and
levers. Dipper flicked a lever, for a moment nothing happened, then there was
the sound of gears grinding.
He turned to the source of
the sound, a patch of ground a few yards away, and watched as it opened to
reveal a second compartment. Dipper cautiously approached. The hole was larger
than it needed to be, a stark and dust filled metal box that only held an old
and dust covered book. Dipper leaned over the hole and pulled out the book. He
took a deep breath and blew the dust off the top.
His hands where
practically trembling when he looked at it. The red leather-bound tome was titleless,
and the only thing on the cover was a golden hand print with the number 3 in
the middle. A six fingered hand. Dipper sat on the grass opened the book, dust
and dead moths fell out, on the insider cover, it had at one point said the
owner of the book, but it was torn, and now only said “Property Of…”
Dipper flipped through the yellowed
pages and was greeted by endless detailed pen drawings of monsters and
impossible creatures, text that faded in and out in a stylized cursive ink
explaining their weaknesses and strengths, this wasn’t a book, it was a journal
of some kind. He hesitated on a page, in the corner in dark, blocky letters and
underlined several times it said
TRUST
NO ONE!
Dipper gulped. He pulled
the book closer to his chest. His eyes scanning the page for a moment before
going to the top and beginning to read.
“Whatcha reading, some nerd
thing?” Mabel asked, jumping out from behind him.
Dipper slammed the journal
shut. “Mabel!” He shouted.
Mabel laughed, “It took me
forever to find you- These woods are huge! Actually, that’s part of what I have
to tell you.”
“What could you possibly have
to tell me?” Dipper asked, hiding the journal under his arm.
“So~” Mabel said, “You have
to come back to the cabin, because I want you to meet my new boyfriend! He’s
coming to pick me up in half an hour.”
“How
did you get a boyfriend in the like hour since I left the cabin?” Dipper asked,
“We met in the forest, and he was e-nam-ured by my
adorableness.” Mabel said,
“Who
is this guy?” Dipper asked, “Where in the forest?”
“It’s a secret, you’ll meet him soon anyway.” Mabel
giggled and ran off. Shouting behind her. “I need to go get ready for my date.”
Dipper
rolled his eyes and began the walk back to the cabin. It didn’t take him nearly
as long to get back as he thought it would, he had taken a rather indirect path,
and soon he was pushing the door to the library open. Ford was still sitting in
his chair reading, Dipper suddenly felt Journal 3’s weight under his arm.
“Hey
Grunkle Ford?” Dipper said, walking toward him.
“Er, yes?” He said, looking up and adjusting his
glasses.
Dipper
held out the book, “I found this in the woods, do you... know anything about
it?”
Ford squinted at the Journal for longer than was
necessary. “No… No, I can’t say I’ve seen that before, how strange, although I
can see why you asked me,” He waggled his six fingers, “what is it?”
Dipper
hesitated for a second, “Uh- I haven’t read it yet, it’s some kind of journal
or diary I think, it was buried, who knows for how long.”
Ford
shrugged, “Interesting, it seems you now own a piece of history Dipper, be
careful, it’s probably fragile from the looks of things,” He looked around, “I
think I have a book that’s on book restoration here somewhere, I’ll leave it in
the attic for you if I find it.”
“Thanks,
Grunkle Ford.” Dipper said, putting the journal back under his arm, maybe he
wasn’t so bad, “Oh! And did you see Mabel come through here?”
“Yes…
Something about a boy, I don’t know about that,” Ford shook his head. “Far to
sudden.”
Dipper
stood in the middle of the room for a moment before he sat in one of the chairs
and began to carefully thumb through the journal.
------------------------------------------
Stan Pines screamed as the
superheated conductor burned through his clothes and into his skin. Ford
instantly pulled back, a frantic apology fell from his lips, but Stan didn’t
seem to notice, or believe him. Stan tackled Ford and they tumbled back into the
portal room proper. The giant triangular monolith stared at them like a tyrant
watching gladiation as they clashed beneath its shadow, Stan was slammed into
the activation lever by his brother, and blue lights began to swirl from the
portal. Ford noticed but he didn’t register that the portal had turned on until
the red button that opened it had been pressed by his elbow.
The first journal was
tugged between them, there was shouting of words that neither of them would be
able to clearly remember, then Ford stepped on the striped caution tape, he
stumbled back as the portal tugged at his hair and clothes, Stanley, holding
onto the journal, was pulled into the danger zone with him. The twins felt the
weightlessness at the same time. Stanford’s glasses flew off as he tried to
push his way out of the gravitational pull of the portal. The world instantly
became a messy blur, his hair danced in front of his eyes, he was flailing
wildly, shouting, screaming, blurry memories. The journal had clattered to the
floor at some point.
As they grew closer to the blue field of
energy Stan grabbed his brother’s wrist. Ford looked at Stan’s face, but he
couldn’t see him clearly enough, ten years of separation and festering guilt
and anger were transformed into desperation. Ford grabbed Stan’s arm with his
free hand. Stanley saw his twin’s face for the last time.
“I’ll fix this.” Ford
shouted as his head was pulled into the portal
It took 7 seconds for them
to go through the portal
The other side of the
portal was dark, the walls wear illuminated by pin pricks of light. No, not
light. Eyes. Hundreds of thousands of eyes littered every surface. Ford’s torso
was almost entirely through the portal, Stan had begun to appear. The blurry
form of whatever was in that cave, whatever that cave was, slowly took a vague
shape in Stanford’s mind. He felt himself shaking and his breathing became
irregular, this was wrong. Everything about its shape was wrong. It was moving
wrong. It had too much, far too much.
It shouldn’t-
Why did it-
EYES
EYES
EYES
Everything was watching
him. Ford felt Stan’s grip on his wrist tighten. No. No. No. NO.
Fiddleford had almost lost his mind when saw-
What would happen to-
It would all be his fault-
He never should’ve-
It would have been better if he didn’t-
Stan
had perfect eyesight
Stan
could see it.
Ford
was almost entirely through the portal now. He tumbled onto the soft and porous
ground; it didn’t feel like rock. Stan fell after him. Ford clamped his hands
over Stan’s eyes. Stan reacted instinctually, and tried to push Ford away.
“Stanley,
you can’t see this- I can’t let you see this.” Ford said, his voice was
warbling
“What the heck is going on Ford?” Stan shouted,
Ford
took a shaky breath and closed his eyes, he found that he could think much clearer.
“There is a… a thing on this side of the portal. It nearly drove my lab
assistant mad when he looked at it. I don’t have my glasses, but you. can’t.
look.”
“Why
the heck would I believe you?” Stan said, but he stopped struggling
“I-
you don’t have any reason to, but I can’t have you see this, please Stan.” Ford
said, he took off his tie with one hand and pressed it into Stan’s. “Blindfold
yourself… please.”
Stan sighed and pushed Ford off him, tying the blindfold
around his eyes.
“Happy?”
Stan said, “Now you have thirty seconds to explain where we are, why you have a
death portal in your basement and how to get back.”
“We
are in another universe, I was dismantling the portal, it’s a wonder it even
turned on, and… I don’t know,” Ford said, he opened his eyes.
“Seriously,
you’re joking? How did this even-?” Stan sighed and stood up, wobbling. “Fine, let’s
say I believe you. Are there any people here? Like, a mad scientist or
something? Other than you.”
“I…
I assume so, we are in a cave, I guess first order of business would be getting
out of it. Then we can find someone who has the technical knowledge to get us
back to our universe.” Ford said, also standing up.
“How
do we know there is a way out?” Stan asked,
“Well-“
Ford said, he looked at the thousands of eyes lining every surface, that
disappeared around their feet. “I suppose that there would have to be a way in,
otherwise how would it eat?”
“What
is it?” Stan asked,
“I
don’t know and I don’t want to find out.” Ford said,
“Fine,
lead the way.” Stan said, holding out his arm.
“Huh?”
Ford asked
“Well
gee, I’m sure I’m going to walk through a mysterious cave full of monsters too
horrible to be mentioned with a blindfold on by myself” Stan said,
“Oh,
erm” Ford cleared his throat and took Stan’s hand.
He kept on hand trailing
along the wall, the other on Stanley who walked behind him, the cave was warm,
and although at first, they had made slow progress, Ford quickly got used to
seeing without his glasses, and Stanley had started leaning on Ford more as
they walked, they didn’t speak, but Ford found it strange how easily they
seemed to fall into routine, as he walked the eyes never got close enough that
he could touch them, they always stayed just far enough away, moving or
vanishing from their places on the soft walls. There was a rhythmic breeze in
the cavern, it hissed through the walls and every few seconds hot moist air
would blow through the empty paths.
Ford’s
hand continued to lightly trail along the wall, he ran across something sharp
and pain suddenly rippled through his hand. Without thinking he dropped Stan’s
wrist and clutched his hand, crying out in shock more than pain.
“Ford!
Ford what’s wrong- what happened?” Stan said, his hand was instantly on his
brother’s shoulder, pulling Ford into his arms and in a protective huddle.
“Its
nothing- I just nicked my hand on the wall and it surprised me.” Ford said as
he watched the blood begin to well up in the wound, it was deep, and jagged.
Ford
looked at Stan, he was unsure whether to pull away or accept the sudden
embrace, but Stan didn’t wait for him to decide, adjusting his position to lean
Ford against his side, giving him a free hand, he began to reach up toward the
blindfold.
“Let
me see.”
“Don’t
you dare take off that blindfold!” Ford shouted; Stan flinched, “Sorry I-“ He
took a breath, Ford squeezed Stan’s hand with his uninjured one. “I’m fine, I’m
not even bleeding.”
Ford
pressed his other palm against his trench coat, leaving a visible red stain.
Stan hmphed. “Fine. Whatever.” He pulled away; and
suddenly they were strangers again.
Ford
swallowed. “Okay.” He squeezed the hem of his coat to apply pressure on the
wound, and kept leading Stan down the corridors.
-----------------------------------------------
Drifting Stars
The last thing she
remembered was falling upward. As if gravity itself had decided to turn on its
head, it twisted her insides and spat her out, then came the cold, the
unbearable cold that sank into every bone in her body. She wasn’t sure when she
had laid down, or whether she had been thrown into the cold already on her
back, but at some point she found herself laying down in an apocalypse of
white, her sweater quickly became soaked from the slush, she struggled, but
breathing burned her lungs, every step made her sink deeper into the snow, it
burned her bare legs and hands, she clawed her way upward, eventually pushing
her way to the top layer of snow, her heart seemed to be frozen, and she closed
her eyes.
…
…
…
…
Eventually things stopped
being so cold. She wasn’t sure when she became aware again, words dug their way
into her brain as she dreamed, trying to make sense of it all.
An upside-down triangle
glowing blue-
Stan Pines, Dead-
Three matching journals-
Government agents-
Vending machine-
Do you really think I’m a
bad guy Mabel?
She became aware of the
smell of smoke, a blanket draped over her, and the flickering light of a fire.
Her eyelids twitched and her breathing changed. There was the sound of someone
moving, then a gentle hand was placed on her forehead. She pried her eyes open,
and was greeted with an almost familiar face.
“Stan?”
She asked softly,
The man’s eyes widened, he pulled his hand away as if
she had burned him and stood up from the crouch beside her, she rubbed her
eyes. The man looked like Stan, but a crack ran down his glasses, his hair was
slightly longer than her Grunkle’s, and he had the slight beginnings of a
beard. His clothing was all black and blended in the uncertain light.
“Sorry, what did you say?”
He asked,
Her brow furrowed, he didn’t sound like Stan, his voice
was… smoother? She looked the almost-Stan in the eyes, her own voice
surprisingly hoarse, “Grunkle Stan? Is that you?”
The
almost-Stan suddenly looked very contemplative, he turned away from the girl
“No. I am most certainly not. I found you in the snow not far from here, you
had hypothermia and some minor frostbite, you where unconscious for some time.”
“Oh.”
She said, “I’m Mabel, where is…” She looked around the space, it appeared to be
a small cave, barely a room, with a large fire built near the entrance way,
warm air blew into the space, a bag was thrown into the corner, and a bedroll
was laid out across from her, she noticed that her sweater had been set out to
dry near the fire, her white shirt was still slightly damp. “Here.” Mabel
finished.
“Well, this planet is
called H1O-3832, an ice planet uninhabited by intelligent life but filled with
natural resources, this universe is 61*], most well-known for its… well,
incredibly rich natural resources and ice.” Almost-Stan said,
“Wait,” Mabel said, pushing
herself up. “Planets? Universes? Astrix-bracket?”
“Ah, hm, I assumed that you
were familiar with interdimensional travel, because, well…” He gestured at her,
“You got here.”
Mabel shook her head. “I
have no idea how any of this works.”
“Well, uh, do you know what
dimension you’re from?” Almost-Stan asked.
“Nope.” Mabel said, “But
I’m sure its going to be fine! all my family has to do is turn the portal in
the basement back on and come get me, how far is this from where you found me?”
“Not… far…” Almost-Stan
said, “A few minutes maybe.” He began to pace the little cave, “you said your
name was Mabel…?”
“Pines.”
Mabel said, putting her hand, “Mabel Pines.”
Almost-Stan
hesitated for a moment before shaking it, “My name is Ford. Mabel, I’m not sure
how to tell you this but…”
“Cool! You have six fingers!” Mabel said, “Its just like
my brother’s nerd book.”
Ford
chuckled, “Yes, I think so too, it’s called polydact-“ He cleared his throat,
“Mabel… There is a good chance that your family won’t be able to come get you.
At least, not for some time.”
“…Why?”
Mabel asked,
“Well,
you came through a portal, in the basement, correct?” He took a half charred
stick from the fire and drew an upside-down triangle with a circle in the
center, “Did it happen to look like this?”
“Yeah!
How’d you know?” Mabel asked, she squinting at the drawing.
“Because I’ve built one.” Ford said, “There are hundreds
scattered across the multiverse, apostrophe-backslashes almost always have
one.”
Mabel
opened her mouth to ask a question, but Ford spoke before she did. “It means
Parallel earths. The portals are highly unstable, I only used mine once before
I fell through and it needed severe repairs, and, that is only if they don’t
destroy the universe before they break anyway.”
Mabel
was quiet for a moment. “So… what are the chances my universe didn’t implode?”
“Well,
it wouldn’t implode, but it may have caused a rift in space time that, if not
properly contained could cause the nightmare realm to leak into your universe,
and eventually be destroyed by the… things that live there.” Ford said, he
scratched the back of his neck.
“Hm.”
Mabel said, “I’ll take it.”
Ford raised an eyebrow,
surprised at Mabel’s reaction, but he supposed he couldn’t expect a child to
understand universal destruction when it was a concept of such enormity that
made it impossible to comprehend.
“Me and my brother Dipper
have been fighting monsters all summer, if something happened, I’m sure that
everyone would be able to figure it out.” Mabel said,
Ford looked at the floor,
I’d be wrong to dash her hopes, then he looked back at Mabel, “That’s the
second time you’ve mentioned your brother, are you two close?”
“Oh yeah, we’re twins so,
we’ve literally been through everything together.” She grinned,
“Oh.” Ford said, he was
silent for a moment. “Well, anyway, what confuses me is why the portal sent you
here, they lead directly to the Nightmare realm... unless, hm.”
“What is it?” Mabel asked,
“Well, the blueprints are…
extradimensional, so every portal is identical, no matter what universe it’s
in, however, before I got lost in the multiverse I drafted sketches for a
‘recall’ system, which the portal would pinpoint any dimensional signatures
matching its home universe, and open a portal near it, allowing any displaced
objects or people to be retrieved, I never got past concepting, but I have been
to universes where it is fully in affect, its possible that there was a faulty
line of code, or a blown wire, and your portal opened in the nearest habitable
space.” Ford said, “Of course, that is a long shot, because it should
absolutely on no occasions do that.”
“Well.” Mabel said, “I’m
stumped.”
Ford rubbed his chin, he
seemed to be considering something before he eventually spoke. “Mabel, do you
mind if I ask you some questions about your universe? I’d like to check
something.”
“Fire away.” Mabel said,
giving him finger guns.
“What color is the sky? Grass? Water?” he asked,
“Uh,
Blue, green, blue, but also sometimes green when its dirty, and also clear when
its in a cup.” Mabel said.
Ford nodded, “where are you from?”
“California, but I’ve been staying the summer with my
Grunkle in Oregan.” Mabel said
“Gravity
Falls?”
“Yeah!”
“What
is a ‘Grunkle?” Ford asked
“Great-Uncle.” Mabel said
“What
do you call the white cheese that you put on top of spaghetti?”
“Uh, parmesan?”
“Do you know who the Beetles are?”
“A band that old people listen to.”
“Hm.
Did your… Grunkle(?) Build the portal?” Ford
asked,
“…I’m not sure, it was in his basement.”
“Tell
me about him.” Ford asked
“Uh… he’s old, and grumpy, and he tries to act like he
doesn’t care about anyone, but he really does.” Mabel said, “He runs the
Mystery Shack, where he lies to people and they give him money.”
“Who
won World War two?”
“The good guys.”
Ford
gave her a dead pan look,
“I think it was like, America, Britan, Russia and some
other guys?” Mabel said with a shrug
“On
average, before you went to Gravity Falls, how many non-human sapient beings
did you interact with?” Ford asked,
“…none?
What does sapient mean?” Mabel asked,
“They can talk, and think.” Ford said,
“Oh
yeah. None.” Mabel said,
“What is the name of the country you live in?” Ford
asked,
“The
United States of America.” Mabel said,
“So, you mistook me for your great uncle, does he also
have six fingers?” Ford asked, glancing away from Mabel as he said so,
“No,
but your face is like, eerily similar.” Mabel said,
“Interesting, what did you say his name was again?” Ford
said, absentmindedly.
“Stan.”
Mabel said,
Ford
hesitated before asking, “Stan… ley?”
“No,
Stanford.”
Ford
rubbed his chin, “…Are you certain?”
Mabel
opened her mouth, then closed it, she looked at her hands, “No.” she whispered
A/N: I know the Grammar isn't perfect, I just didn't put it through the checker because I'm lazy rn.
Also, tell me what your favorite story was I may continue one of these into a full series.
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