"Welcome back!" the group cheered.
A girl with long auburn hair ran up, taking off a blue trucker hat, with a pine tree on the front. "Hey, Dipper, Mabel! Miss me?" she asked, swiping Dipper's hat off his head and replacing it with the one in her hand. "You kept my hat in good condition." she assessed, placing it firmly back on her head.
Dipper smiled softly. "Yep! It's great to see everyone."
"Where are the grunkles?" Mabel interrupted, scanning the group for their family.
"Uh, they had a rough patch with some docking thing, but they said they'd get here tomorrow, at the latest." another woman informed them.
Mabel gronned excitedly, going over to hug the woman. "Hey, Melody! Glad to see you and Soos are still together-"
"Oh, Hambone, we're more than together. Dude, man, oh, yeah." Soos interjected, holding up his and Melody's joined hands to reveal a silver band around Melody's ring finger.
"You got engaged?! Oh, Soos, you ol' charmer! Congratulations!" Mabel cheered, hugging Soos as well.
Mabel came back over by Wendy, giving her a hug, too; and then going around to give hugs to everyone else as well, leaving Dipper to hold onto Waffles's leash.
"Wow, man, you're, like, way taller. You sure you're Dipper Pines?" Wendy joked, her arm around Dipper's shoulder.
"Hey, half a year does stuff to people." Dipper said. "Mabel's really huffy that I'm taller than her now, but she can still deadlift two hundred pounds, so I don't get why she's so jealous."
"Well, you can get stuff off higher shelves than her. Besides, girls are weird. I should know, I am one."
"True."
"DIPPER!" Mabel yelled, effectively cutting off their conversation.
"Well, better see what she wants. Coming, Mabel!" Dipper called, picking up Waddles and their luggage, two backpacks and a truly massive duffel bag, as well as a suitcase. He made his way through the crowd quickly, and stopped just behind his sister. "Yes, Mabel?" he asked, setting down her pig.
"Dipper!" she yelled again, spinning around, showing she was holding a Lepricorn in her hands. "What did the journal say about Lepricorns again?"
"If you catch one, you get one wish, but wish for something small, because the big ones have massive consequences." Dipper recalled, arching a brow. "So wish for perfect hair for today, or a bracelet, not a ton of yarn or to meet a cute guy or girl."
"Got it. Hey, Lepricorn, what's your name?" she asked the small, grumpy creature in her arms.
The little thing blinked, obviously unused to anyone caring about anything about him, even something like a name. "My name is Skarti, bigling."
"Oh, nice to meet you, I'm Mabel Pines." she introduced. "So, my wish... is for you, Skarti, to get to make a wish of your own, without consequence."
"That's mighty kind of ya, Mabine of the Biglings" the lepricorn said. "I wish to have a small flower, bright blue, grow in a pot hooked onto my side."
A saddlebag popped into existence next to Mabel and Skarti, a pot appearing inside it and filing with dirt, as well as a sprout.
"Mabine, could you help me put it on?" Skarti asked, turning themselves so their horse half would be more accessible.
"Oh, of course, Skarti!" Mabel promed, carefully grabbing the miniature saddlebag and fastening it so it stayed on the creature. They tipped their little green hat to show thanks, and went on their way.
"Mabel, as much as I love you befriending the wildlife, Soos and Melody are waiting to take us home." Dipper said.
"Oh, right. Duh." Mabel stood up, dusting the dirt off of her hot pink, lavender, and royal blue sweater and black shorts. "Let's go!" She grabbed her backpack, suitcase, and pig leash off of Dipper and went over to Soos and Melody's car. "Up, Waddles." she said, opening the car door and patting the floor. Waddles hopped up, settling between the seats in the middle. Mabel and Dipper loaded their stuff into the open back. Dipper slammed the trunk shut, and the twins got into their respective sides of the minivan, and they drove off.
The blue minivan pulled up to the Mystery Shack, right next to a beat-up red Cadillac with a white top.
"The Grunkles are here!" Mabel exclaimed, slamming open her sliding door to run inside.
"Well, would ya look at that! Stan and Ford came back early." Melody mused, pulling Mabel's bags from the back.
Dipper came out as well, grabbing his backpack and duffel bag out of the back and putting them on his shoulder. "Melody, really, I can take those. I've got it." he said, grabbing Mabel's backpack and slinging it over his shoulder, then opening the handle on the suitcase. "Waddles, come here!" he called back to the van, walking to the Shack's front porch.
"Woah, hambone, you've got stronger since last summer! That's so cool!" Soos complimented, walking ahead and opening the door for Dipper.
"Thanks, Soos. Mabel's even stronger than me, though. We both worked out a lot so we were ready for whatever." Dipper squeezed through the door, setting the luggage down near the base of the steps. "Hey, Mabes! Can you come get your stuff when you're done assaulting the Grunkles?"
"Sure thing Dippin Dots!" she yelled from the kitchen.
Dipper sighed, dropped his stuff next to hers, joined her in the kitchen.
"Hey, Grunkle Ford, Grunkle Stan. We missed you." he greeted, waving awkwardly from the doorway. Mabel was between the two older men, showing them a scrapbook at the table. "Are we gonna be in the same room again?"
"No, not this time, Dipper." Ford replied. "You're going to be sleeping in the attic, but Mabel's going to get the room that used to have the mind-switching rug."
"Oh, cool. I'm gonna go drop my stuff off, k?" Without waiting for an answer, Dipper left, grabbing his backpack and duffel bag and racing up the steps to the second floor, then making his way to the end of the hall where the attic steps were. Running up those as well, he opened up the door to find their room from the year before, completely untouched. Dipper sighed in relief, running his fingers lovingly over the door frame before going inside.
He snapped out of his nostalgia at the sight of the window. He winced, his hand going to scratch at his arm before he remembered himself.
"It's okay, Dipper. He's dead, he's never coming back. He can't hurt you anymore." he reasoned with himself, tapping each of his fingers to his thumb on his right hand, trying to keep it busy so he wouldn't scratch at the scars on his left arm. He began breathing faster and faster, the room around him spinning as he stared at the window, the window, the window!
He hasn't realized he was crying until he felt soft arms wrap around him, and his blurry vision registered brown and tan instead of black and gold.
The colors swam again, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.