'Dipper, you don't think we'll turn out like Stan and Ford do you?'
'Well. What do you mean?'
'I mean… They used to be best friends, but then they got all stupid. Can you promise me you won't get stupid?'
Mabel smiled as she stared at the polaroid picture in her hand. It was a photo taken at Gravity Falls when she had been only twelve, her favorite summer. Dipper, Wendy, Soos, and she were all posed in front of the Mystery Shack with silly faces, while Grunkle Stan tried to get his face in the shot while also taking the picture. It seemed like ages ago, and really it sort of was, sixteen years. It made her feel sort of old. It was amazing how things changed in life, she wondered how Wendy and Soos were…. And Dipper. She put the picture back in the box and shut it, suddenly overcome with sadness. Dipper.
Nothing had been the same after that summer. Looking through the old photos was never a good idea, but Mabel couldn't help it today. Today was a special day. Today was her birthday.
It was always this day that brought back the sense of absence. How do you have a birthday without sharing it with your twin? Mabel didn't know the answer, but she'd managed to do it for the past decade and it didn't get any easier each year. Sure, the party at work, the phone call from her parents, and the evening out with friends helped her forget for a time, but at the end of the day the one person who should've been there, wasn't.
As she looked back down at the table Mabel realized she'd open the box again, almost unconsciously, and was holding an old scrap of paper in her hands. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Every damn time she looked through the box it happened. A single tear rolled down her nose and fell onto the paper, it wasn't the first. She gently wiped it off to prevent the ink from smearing, and read the words to herself for probably the thousandth time.
Good bye. I love you.
A sudden feeling of anger bubbled from inside of her, and Mabel threw the note back into the box, pushing it off the table with a huff. The pictures spilled out across the hardwood flooring like a pool of liquid; she didn't move to clean them up. Instead she got up and walked toward the kitchen to get herself something to cheer up.
Her New York studio apartment wasn't exactly luxury, but she kept it cozy for herself. A constant supply of ice cream was just one such comfort. She's moved there four years before to start her own clothing company, and though they weren't exactly 'shirtless male store model' big, her clothes made enough money for a pretty decent living. She passed a few clothing stands with some designs she'd been working on and came into the kitchen. Sitting down at the table with her bowl of ice cream, she slowly began to spoon it into her mouth, enjoying the sweetness and trying to focus her mind on things like work instead of the past. It wasn't working very well, until a loud thump from the hall outside her apartment door made her jump, instantly driving all the sad thoughts out of her mind.
Mabel got up and crept to the door soundlessly, placing her face to the peephole to look out into the hall. It was empty, or as far as she was able to see it was. Cautiously she opened the door, keeping the chain lock on the door. She peered through the small gap that the door was allowed to make before the chain went taut. A homeless man was sitting slumped over against the wall. How did he even get in her? The main door needs a code to open. Mabel was about to reach for her phone to call the police, when the man groaned and turned over slightly, revealing that he was very obviously hurt, and badly by the look of it. Mabel's naturally helpful nature immediately won her over, and she unlocked the door and went out into the hall. As she approached, the man slowly and unsteadily rose to his feet, bracing himself on the wall.
"Help" the man muttered, as he struggled to stay standing.
"I'll call an ambulance," Mabel said as she turned to go and get her phone.
"No!" He said quickly, the reaction seemed to cause him pain, and he doubled over clutching his side.
"Please," Mabel said in a sudden panic, "you're really hurt, you need help."
"I know," he said weakly, his voice dropping with each word, "help Mabel-"
Mabel recoiled at the use of her name as the man slowly sank back down the wall, unconscious. After a few moments of shock her mind began to race. I can't just bring some homeless dude into my apartment. He knew my name, my name, how? Who? She didn't recognize him, but some vague sense of familiarity and her own curiosity pushed her onward. She gingerly took the man by the shoulders and dragged him into the apartment, making sure not to get his blood on anything. The last thing she needed was a terrified neighbor calling the police.
After some effort she got the man to the couch and locked her door. She came over to him, making sure he was still alive, and sheepishly nudged him to see if he would react. There was no response, but he was still breathing, ragged though it was. What do I do now? Her mind was in a fluster as she realized that she now had a strange, injured homeless man lying unconscious on her couch. Curiosity overcame her anxiety however, she bent down to remove the scarf and hat from the man's face. The scarf was old and dingy, with lots of wear and tear, yet it seemed strangely familiar. The hat was the same way, a simple baseball cap that might have been white and blue at some point, with torn stitching on the front where a logo was sewn on once. Beneath these was a grizzled and careworn face, covered mostly by a rough beard, and a mop of unkempt hair, all jet black. Mabel gently moved the hair from over the man's eyes, and her heart skipped a beat. On his forehead was a birthmark, in the shape of the Big Dipper.
Mabel placed a hand over her mouth, and stumbled backwards, unable to believe this was actually real. This couldn't be happening, this wasn't him. It couldn't be…
"Dipper?" Mabel whispered, as she felt tears begin to form.
She was torn between, joy, sorrow, confusion, and anger all at once, still struggling to comprehend the reality of the situation. She moved back closer to him, and took his hand in hers. Tears streamed down her face. It was him, it was his hand, she knew it was, bruised, scarred, and changed though it was. Joy won over her other emotions and she realized that she finally had her brother back. As she looked him over her joy was turned to panic as she noticed that a large patch of crimson stained the side of his shirt. She slowly lifted it to reveal a large, oozing, gash just below Dipper's ribs. At first she recoiled at the sight of the injury, before realizing she needed to help him.
Mabel was no nurse, but she'd learned enough for some first aid in a mandatory seminar they had at work. She got to work warming some water, then, taking it in a bowl along with some dish towels she slowly began to clean the wound with the moistened cloth. After a few minutes she had managed to clean all the dried blood and reveal that the wound wasn't life threatening, though it was still bleeding, and was going to need stitches, thankfully she knew her way around a needle. Within half an hour she had the wound stitched and disinfected. Now it was time to make sure there were no other wounds like that.
With some struggle she managed to remove Dipper's coat, a long, dark green thing in the same manner as the rest of his clothing, very worn, with mud stains near the bottom. It proved very heavy, not only because it was big, but inside she found a number of pockets and pouches all filled with weird stuff that jingled and rattled as the coat moved. She hung the coat on the back of a chair, unwilling to explore its contents just yet. Underneath Dipper had a leather belt that hung over his shoulder and across his torso, with even more pouches on it! She slipped that off as well and hung it with the coat. She sheepishly removed his long sleeve gray shirt, and dropped it when she got a look at his shirtless torso. Mabel cupped her hands over her mouth to suppress a scream. Dipper had certainly grown out of the willowy frame she remembered, but that wasn't what she was looking at. From his neck to his waist, and all the way down his arms, Dipper was covered in violent scars, burns, cuts, and strange symbols, some of which seemed to have been branded onto his flesh.
"Oh my gosh Dipper…" Was all she managed to say as she took in the awful sight of her brother's tortured skin, "what the heck have you been doing?"
The unconscious Dipper offered no response, so Mabel simply continued with her wound search. She removed his tall leather boots, as expected they were caked thickly with mud and worn from travel. His socks were thick and woolen, with one toe on the right foot sticking out of a hole. She felt so horrible at the sight of all this. While Mabel had been so well off all these years, her brother was some sort of vagabond hobo with only one set of clothes, and no shower or washing machine by the looks of it. The guilt of being so mad at his leaving tied a knot in her gut.
Her attention was caught by something while she considered whether she should remove his pants to check for wounds, she decided against it, and to take her chances on missing a wound. Stripping down the brother you hadn't seen in ten years to his underwear didn't seem like a good way to reconnect. As she looked over the pants however, she noticed a strap around Dipper's thigh, which turned out to be part of a holster. In it she found a large, six chambered revolver. Her breath escaped out in a gasp, as she inspected the weapon. One chamber had an empty casing in it, so it had been fired… Maybe recently. Not knowing very well what to do with the gun she gingerly placed it on the table.
Being satisfied that there were no other serious injuries to attend to, Mabel set about putting band aids on the dozens of smaller cuts all over Dipper's body, making sure to clean them all first. With her band aid supply nearly depleted, she sat back in the armchair and sighed in relief as all the work was done. For a while, Mabel simply stared at Dipper, watching his chest rise and fall with each breath he took. In idleness she reached back and took the leather belt Dipper wore over his shoulder, and began to rifle through the pouches. She was certain it would be fine, considering she just patched him up, so she began inspecting the contents in the light of the living room. It seemed like mostly just junk. Chalk, weird smelling herbs, small vials of unknown liquids and powders, little trinkets on chains, and all number of other odds and ends, it didn't make much sense to her.
"These are some weird looking drugs Dipper," she said, crinkling her nose
Deciding to refrain from searching through more of Dipper's things, Mabel instead elected to just go to sleep instead, the whole situation had really drained her. She changed into pajamas and slid into bed, feeling a strange comfort in knowing Dipper was in the next room, a comfort she hadn't felt in years. With a smile on her face she quickly fell asleep.
In the middle of the night Mabel was awakened by the sound of scraping. She opened her eyes and sat up in bed, squinting to see in the darkness. In the gloom of the apartment she saw a black shape move across her wall, far darker than the darkness around it. It moved fluidly, like some sort of millipede or gecko skittering along a surface. Suddenly she saw two points of red as whatever it was stared directly at her, frozen in fear on her bed. It jumped down to the floor and came to the foot of her bed, rising up and seeming to writhe and change shape as it became larger and larger. Mabel heard sickening cracks and pops as the thing molded its body into some new hideous shape, now much larger than before, glaring down at her. It gave a gurgling hiss, and wound up to lunge at her. Mabel screamed as the creature flew at her. Before it reached her something moved out of the corner of her eye and collided with the creature.
Dipper and the thing fell to the floor in a heap as they struggled to each gain the advantage. The creature hissed and snapped its jaws wildly, and Dipper fought to avoid the lethal blows it was aiming at him. He managed to roll it onto its back and wrapped his arms around what seemed to be its throat like a vice. The thing thrashed violently in an attempt to escape the grip, using inhuman strength that Mabel couldn't believe Dipper was managing to overcome.
With an unnatural fluidity the creature reshaped its arms backwards and revealed large, hooked claws. In a blur the claws were buried in Dipper's back as the creature became desperate. A ragged growl escaping through gritted teeth was the only indication that Dipper had even felt the wounds. Mabel was too transfixed by what she was seeing to even make a sound. The muscles in Dipper's arms bulged as he fought with the creature's strength, and after what seemed like a hours of struggle he twisted the thing's head around in one swift jerk. The sickening crack of the spine breaking finally snapped Mabel out of her trance and she screamed. She began to hyperventilate as Dipper slowly removed the claws from his back and slumped over, letting the corpse lay loosely on the floor.
"Are you hurt?" He asked gruffly after a few moments. He stood up, grabbing the creature's lifeless body. Mabel nodded her head stiffly.
"Good," he said, and limped back out of her room without another word, holding the creature in one hand by its neck.
After a few moments coping with the shock, Mabel slowly crept into the living room. Dipper had the thing on the coffee table, and now in the light she could really see what it looked like. It was long and thin, almost like a snake, except it had five pairs of thick, curved, blade like legs, and it's face was dominated by massive pincers, with those two little red eyes, its back was lined with thick curved quills. Now it looked small and flabby, like a deflated balloon. Taking no notice of Mabel's entrance, Dipper continued what he was doing. Taking a small triangle from a pocket of his coat, he unfolded it to reveal it was a large cloth, embroidered with lots of weird symbols and markings. He placed it over the creature's corpse like a sheet in a hospital.
He then reached for the leather belt with all the pouches and opened a pocket to reveal a small knife sheathed within. He removed it and without hesitation passed the blade across his palm. Mabel gave a slight gasp at the sight, but was too shocked to move. He then placed his hand on the cloth and slid it across so that his blood soaked into it liberally.
Mabel came over and sat down on the arm chair in having nothing else to do. After a few moments of waiting she noticed the blood on the cloth slowly receding toward the center of the stain, until any evidence of the blood was gone. The form beneath the shape began to move and rearrange slowly. Mabel jumped back in fear, but Dipper put his hand up reassuringly. Once the movement ceased the cloth simply rose and fell rhythmically, as if something were breathing underneath. Dipper lifted the cloth like a magician revealing a spectacular trick. On the table sat a coal black cat.
It turned to assess Mabel with green, inquisitive eyes. She extended her hand cautiously and it gratefully nuzzled into her fingertips, eventually climbing into her lap and purring contentedly. She looked up with a smile to see Dipper watching the cat and her carefully, his face completely serious. She met his eyes, and they simply stared at one another for a while.
"Hi," he finally said to break the silence.
"Hi," she replied, unusually at a loss for words. Once again all her emotions fought with one another for dominance. This time curiosity won. "What- what was that?" She asked shakily, gesturing toward her bedroom.
"It was a Hyrng, I'd been chasing it all over Brooklyn for days, it cornered me in an alley, and gave me this," he ran his fingers over the stitches, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have put you in danger, I just didn't know where else to go and I-"
"It's alright Dipper," she said, getting used to saying his name out loud again, "I just- I have-"
"A lot of questions," Mabel nodded to his statement, "I know Mabel, and you can ask them, I'll try to answer."
"Where have you been for ten years?" She asked the most obvious question.
"I…. I can't really tell you," he said, sounding exasperated.
"Why not?"
"It's…. Complicated."
"Not too complicated to tell your twin sister."
"Mabel, actually, let's just forget about questions," he said, suddenly regretting his statement, he rose from the couch slowly.
"Where are you going? Leaving again? Just like you did then?!" Mabel rose as well, shouting as her anger began to beat out her curiosity.
"Mabel, that was for your own good-"
She slapped him across the face with all her strength, ten years of built up hurt and anger channeled in her strike.
"You don't tell me what's best for me," she said, her voice growing ragged as tears began to fall down her cheeks. Her lip quivered as anger gave way to sadness. "You left me, and all I had from you was that damn note," she croaked.
Dipper looked down at his feet, and Mabel could see the guilt and the hurt in his eyes. He had suffered for ten years too, but he wouldn't even tell her where he had gone. As she continued to cry, Dipper took a step closer to her, and slowly put his arms around her. She threw her arms around him, burying her face in his still bare chest, she didn't care, she just sobbed deeply. He rested his cheek on her head, diligently returning the hug until her crying ceased. She looked up into his eyes, he wasn't crying, but she could see the sadness in them, in the way he furrowed his brow, and she could tell it wasn't just about her, she could see that so many things seemed to worry him, hurt him, it showed in every crease on his once soft face, there was so much burden behind those eyes. Mabel pulled away from the hug and noticed the blood across her hands.
"Okay," she said slowly, "no more questions, let's just get some sleep, but first we need to clean those cuts on your back."
"No, I have to go," Dipper said suddenly, apparently intent on simply ignoring the wounds, the cause for all his scarring seemed to be surfacing.
"What?" Her heart shattered, "but- but you just woke up, you just- you-" Mabel fumbled for some words to make her brother stay.
"I know," he said sadly, "but I've been here too long, I need to go," he began putting on his shoes.
"No!" Mabel suddenly shouted, Dipper sat back into the couch in total surprise. "Don't you dare! I finally have my brother back after ten years, you are not going anywhere, at least not until this heals!" She showed him her bloodstained palms.
"Okay," Dipper whispered in fear and defeat, taking off the boot he had been tying, "okay
Mabel, I'll stay, can you help me then?"
"W- with what?" She said, her nerves rattled after her outburst.
"I need you to apply this to the cuts," he removed a small metal tin from his coat and handed it to her. Mabel opened it to reveal a cream with a pale pastel green color and a vaguely minty scent.
"What is it?" She asked.
"It's to help with the healing, just make sure you spread it on them evenly, and not too thickly,"
He was about to spread onto his stomach so Mabel could assess the damage before she stopped him and sat him back up.
"What?"
"You tore the stitching on your stomach," she said with mild annoyance.
"Put some cream on that too, it should be fine."
Mabel applied the cream like he instructed, and he placed it back in his coat. "Thank you," he said, "um… Good night."
"Good night…" Mabel just said as disheartedly, returning to her bedroom feeling none of the satisfaction in Dipper's presence as she had earlier. All there was in her mind was questions, and they burned for a long while before she was finally able to shut her eyes and fall asleep.
When she woke it was full morning, and she got up feeling unsure as to whether the events of last night had even happened. For a moment the sight of the living room almost convinced her it hadn't. Dipper and his clothes were gone, and it was only until she saw the cat come up to her with an expectant look that she realized that Dipper's absence was a real problem.
"Son of a breadstick!" She yelled as her anger built inside. He had left, he said he would stay and he left. She quickly changed and stomped to the door to leave, determined to follow him somehow, though she had no idea where to start looking. Mabel yanked open the front door only to almost crash into Dipper and two handfuls of bags.
"Oh, you're awake," he said mildly as he carefully stepped into the apartment.
"I thought you left…" She said downcastly.
"I did, sort of, I thought maybe I could make some breakfast, as a y'know, a kind of thank you for last night."
"Oh," Mabel felt her face flush as she realized the needlessness of her anger, "well that's sweet."
"Not as sweet as the pancakes will be," he smirked, "I also got some stuff for Proteus."
"Proteus?" Mabel asked in amusement.
"Yeah, the cat, I named him Proteus."
"Why would you name a cat that?" Mabel laughed.
"It seemed to fit, sort of, Proteus was a Greek god who could change shape, he-,"
"I'm well aware of the myth, I did go to college you know," Mabel said in mock superiority.
"I suppose that makes one of us then, are you trying to say something?" he fought to keep a straight face as he looked at her.
They both cracked a grin, Mabel was glad to have some semblance of normality after last night and banter with her sibling was welcome, even if it was ten years delayed. He placed a catbox on the floor along with a bag of food.
"All I'm saying is his name shouldn't be Proteus, it should be Spot, but those pancakes ought to be better than your cat naming skills," Mabel teased.
"Mabel, he's completely black, why would you name him spot?" He said with a smile as he began progress on the pancakes.
"Because that's what you name cats, it's Spot and that's final!" She hooted triumphantly. Her face suddenly scrunched with concern as she saw that Dipper was still walking with the limp from last night. "Does your side still hurt Dip?"
"Oh," he seemed to flinch at the sound of his nickname, "no, it's fine, see?" He lifted his shirt slightly to reveal that the gash was now a fully healed scar. "I already took the stitches out."
"Wow," Mabel whistled, "that cream of yours sure is something, so much for my stitching work."
After laying out the ingredients on the counter, he limped back over to the couch to remove his boots. Mabel knelt down next to him.
"Then why are you still limping? Is there cut on your leg I missed?" She asked with concern, it seemed like taking her chances on not removing his pants was the wrong decision.
"Oh no, it's nothing Mabel, I'm fine," he assured her.
"But if it's anything like the other cuts you have to clean it Dipper," she persisted as she reached for the cuff of his pant leg.
"Mabel it's really nothing to worry about-" he began, but was cut short as she touched his leg, and immediately shot him a confused look, his leg felt really strange. Dipper sighed deeply, reluctantly pulling up the leg of his jeans. Mabel's expression was overcome with a look of complete horror. Dipper's left leg was missing from the knee down, replaced with a prosthetic.
"Dipper…" Mabel began, utterly dumbfounded, "your leg, what-"
"It's alright," he chuckled half-heartedly, "I was lucky that I didn't lose more than that."
"What happened?" Mabel asked in neverending curiosity, Dipper didn't seem to stop with his surprises.
"It's a long story, doesn't really help with my whole depraved hobo look does it?"
"No," she smiled slightly, "you better tell me that story over pancakes."
"I'll get on them then," Dipper said with a grunt as he rose to his feet.
As they sat down to their breakfast Mabel greedily began to eat the pancakes, while Dipper only seemed to pick at his through the meal. She could see something was on his mind, lots of things, just like the night before.
"Happy birthday," Mabel suddenly blurted as she remembered what yesterday had been.
"Huh?" Dipper suddenly snapped back to reality, "is that today?"
"Yesterday, did you forget?" She asked with a smile.
"It must have slipped my mind."
"Then you didn't get me a gift."
"Oh I'm sorry, were pancakes and a cat not enough?" He asked, playing along.
"Well, I guess it'll do."
"Maybe this will make it even then," he laughed and reached into his coat hanging on his chair and fished out a stuffed bear holding a chocolate bar.
"Pff, like you could forget my birthday, I knew it," Mabel said as she happily accepted the gift.
"And my gift?" Dipper asked smugly.
"Oh! I'll go get one after breakfast, and you can stay here and wash those clothes," she pointed at his filthy shirt and scrunched her face.
"Alright, alright," he conceded and they resumed eating. After a few minutes the pensive expression dominated Dipper's features once again.
"Soooo, what's going on in that head?" She asked with a mouthful of pancake.
"Hm?" He asked, broken from his trance, "oh, I'm just thinking about when I should get going."
"Where are you gonna go?" She asked as casually as possible.
"I'm not sure, I heard something about a case in Maine, I might go check it out," he said, seeming to let his guard down.
Case? What is he a detective or something?
"Well, you should stay here a bit at least, recover your strength, and clean yourself up" she said, trying to hide the excitement in her voice.
"Hm," Dipper smiled, a genuine smile that warmed Mabel's heart, a smile she hadn't seen in nine long years, "yeah that sounds good."
They finished their breakfast in silence. Mabel didn't ask anymore questions, she believed the answers would come on their own in time, she just had to be patient. Dipper wasn't one for keeping things from her, he never had been, so sooner or later he would reveal it all. Mabel was determined, no matter what happened, that whether he liked it or not, she was going to get her brother back.
A/N: Hello friends, I'm rebooting this series, taking out the Pinecest, and focusing more on the sibling relationship, I'm also tweaking the writing because I found I didn't like some choices I made before, I hope you like it.
-Encalamah