"Dipper! Diiipper, look, look!"
Annoyed, Dipper turned around to face his twin-sister. "Oh, what now, Mabel?"
The little girl with long, wavy brown hair held up a pig that was covered by a pink and turquoise sweater. Mabel grinned at him, before answering: "I made Waddles beautiful!"
Dipper wished he could roll his eyes at her, but he just didn't have the strength to do that. She was way too enthusiastic and happy about it. He sighed before he showed a little smile. "Yeah. Waddles is indeed a beautiful pig."
Nodding, she put Waddles down and sat down on the desk, right next to Dipper. "Maybe he will finally find his summer romance."
Adjusting his cap, Dipper said: "I think you need another goal. I mean – come on, you can't just sit around and wait for a good-looking guy to come around."
Mabel rolled her eyes and picked Dipper's cap off his head. "I am looking! I think I've just… seen every guy here in Gravity Falls, and… There are not many hot guys around." She looked at her brother and messed up his hair. It was just like hers – brown and wavy.
Dipper pushed her off, trying to be as careful as possible, not wanting to hurt her, and took his cap back from her. He put it on and jumped off the desk. "Listen up, Mabel. You either find someone to love soon, or you get another goal. Because this –" He gestured towards her and shook his head. "This is just not working out any longer."
The only answer he got was Mabel sticking her tongue out before running up the stairs.
Girls, he thought.
It was the middle of the night, but Dipper was wide awake. He heard a car outside. That was not the thing that scared him though – it was the talking. And not the voices, but the words.
"We have to take her with us now, sir." That was a dark male voice.
"Why can't you wait 'till the morning? Let her say goodbye!" His gruncle Stan.
"We have orders to follow, Mr. Pines." The voice of a female.
"Please, just… Just one more day." Stan.
"We are really sorry. Men. Get her." The female.
"No!" Stan.
Then Dipper heard footsteps. Coming up the stairs. He couldn't think properly. He only acted out of instincts – the instincts to save his sister.
Mabel has been asleep a few seconds ago, but now she was awake as well – her eyes wide and staring at Dipper. "What is going on, Dip?"
He shuffled over to her bed and sat on it, taking both of Mabel's hands and looking her right in the eyes. "Don't worry, Mabel. I won't let them take you, okay?"
Suddenly the door was opened, and in came around ten men in uniform. It was too dark to see what color they were or even where they were from, but they looked as terrifying as Dipper had imagined.
Behind them, a man in a suit came in. He wore sunglasses and smiled coldly at them. "Hello children." His voice was dark and Dipper realized, that it was the voice he had heard before – talking to his gruncle. "I am sorry, young man, but you have to let go of your sister now."
Mabel crawled back, trying to hide behind her brother. Dipper had imagined her to scream something at them, but she seemed way too terrified. No one scared his sister like that. No one.
"No, screw you. Leave us alone!" Dipper shouted, both hands still holding onto his sister's. "Over my dead body you will get her."
That was the moment when Stan came in and his face was white. He looked like a ghost. "Dipper… Can I talk to your sister for a second?"
All Dipper could do was shake his head. "No. I won't leave her side."
"Dipper," said a little voice behind him and he turned around to face Mabel. "Let me talk to gruncle Stan."
He shook his head again, but when Mabel pulled her hands out of his grip, he found himself standing up and backing away from her. Gruncle Stan took his place and he talked to Mabel in whispers.
Mabel's eyes went wide and she started to shake her head frantically. Her eyes locked with Dipper's and tears started to well up in them. She looked away suddenly and stared at the ground before nodding slowly.
"Okay, you can take her," said Stan and Dipper felt himself getting angrier than he's ever been before.
"Excuse me?!" He shouted and ran towards his sister. He was pushed away by one of the men in uniform.
"Don't hurt him!" Mabel shouted over their heads. "I'll come with you – but do not hurt him!"
Dipper ran through the crowd to his sister. He grabbed her wrist and their eyes locked. "What are you doing?!" He asked her.
But Mabel didn't answer – she couldn't answer, because tears started making their way down her cheeks and she turned away from her brother, apparently not able to look at him.
And then he was pulled away from her – from his sister, his best friend, his teammate, his goddamn family – and he couldn't do anything. He couldn't scream, couldn't free himself from the grip on the back of his shirt, he couldn't… He couldn't breathe. He saw how Mabel was led out of the room, down the stairs. Then he heard the door downstairs shut. And then he was alone with his gruncle Stan.
They stood in silence. Dipper didn't know how long and he didn't care either. He still stared at the door, wanting his sister to come in, laughing and teasing him for actually believing that anyone would ever dare to separate them.
But she never came back. The sun started to set outside and around 6 am Stan left the room, leaving Dipper on his own. He looked back at his sister's bed that was now empty – the sheets all over the place. He looked down at Waddles, who was still wearing the sweater from the day before. The pig looked like it was scared out of its mind.
Mabel Pines was gone.
Dipper's sister was gone.
His best friend.
His teammate.
The only family he had.
He was all alone.