Part One
One week. Dipper couldn't believe they only had one week left in Gravity Falls, one week left of summer. With all the weirdness that went on in the allegedly sleepy town, the break felt like it should've been infinite… He wanted it to be infinite. He wanted more mysteries to solve and creatures to face, but he knew all that would eventually have to come to an end. The big mystery of Gravity Falls had been solved, and summer break was almost over. In seven short days he and his twin sister Mabel would be on a bus back to the normalcy of Piedmont, California. He once liked the calming ordinary nature of his hometown, but after this summer… it wouldn't be the same.
Their time left in Oregon was finite. One week.
The daunting thought kept him awake.
Regardless, the soon to be thirteen year old tossed and turned in his bed, trying his best to sleep. He just couldn't seem to shut off his brain. If his mind wasn't on leaving Gravity Falls, it was on Bill Cipher, fearing the demon may return and haunt his dreams indefinitely. He couldn't live with the insomnia and paranoia that beast caused for the rest of his life, especially not during school. And what about Mabel? What about Stan and Ford? The rest of the people in the zodiac? The townspeople of Gravity Falls? What would Bill do to them-
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
Dipper's heart skipped a beat as he suddenly sat up in his bed, all of his attention suddenly being turned to what he'd just heard. What was that?
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
Knocking? In the middle of the night? Who would be at the Mystery Shack of all places in the middle of the night? ...Or what. It's probably a what. But what kind of what would be here so late? He traced through his memories for all the bizarre creatures he'd met over the summer. Since Journal 3 wasn't in his immediate possession, he didn't exactly have a better reference.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
He couldn't think. The knocking was so incessant and loud; he was almost surprised it hadn't woken up Stan, Ford, or Mabel yet. He grumbled slightly, lying back down and putting his pillow over his ears. Maybe if he just ignored the person, they would go away.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
"Dipper, stooop that," mumbled Mabel from under her pillow.
"It's not me," Dipper responded, tiredly muddling together his words. He turned his head so his twin could hear him more clearly. "Someone's knocking on the door to the Shack."
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
Mabel groaned, rolling off her bed. Dipper sat up, watching his sister groggily walk over to the door of the attic. "Mabel, what are you doing? If we ignore them maybe they'll realize we're closed and asleep," he whispered, rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah, or they'll keep banging on the door until all of us are awake!" She yawned at the end of her exasperated sentence.
Dipper crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "You're seriously going to go down there and get yelled at by the crazy person who's about to knock down the front door of this place?" he asked, sleepily raising an eyebrow.
"It's Gravity Falls, Dipper. Everyone here loves us! Besides, I think the town is still recovering from…" She paused, her breath shaking slightly. "'You-Know-What.'"
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
He knew exactly what 'You-Know-What' was… Weirdmageddon. No one liked to bring it up, and it was basically illegal to, so it wasn't necessarily discussed much. It was very emotionally traumatic nonetheless, especially for the Pines family. There were many points when he thought he or those he cared about would die.
"I think I'm gonna kill one of 'em now just for the heck of it!"*******
His breath hitched a bit as well, causing him to pause. He didn't want to think about it.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
"Besides, maybe they're just confused and need directions," Mabel finally continued, regaining a more happy (yet still tired) demeanor. "If they walked off and died in the woods then it would be your fault!"
"If it means I can get some sleep," Dipper sleepily muttered to himself, not really meaning the words that came out. However, in the quiet of the night, his sister could hear him clearly. She shot him a disapproving glance. "Why would someone stop at the Mystery Shack of all places for directions?" he asked a little louder.
Mabel seemed to ignore this question as she turned to exit their attic room. Dipper sighed. There was really no way of changing her mind, was there? Reluctantly, he got out of bed. His vision blackened for a moment, but after blinking a few times, it returned. He then followed his sister out of their attic room, through the living area of the shack, and into the gift shop, all while the knocking continued to grow louder.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
Dipper stood beside his sister as she opened the beaten door to the Mystery Shack. A chilling breeze immediately entered the warm gift shop. "Hello there!" Mabel greeted somewhat louder than she should have, yawning afterwards. On the porch stood a tired old woman, her arm high from repeatedly banging on the door. She raised the brow on her wrinkled face in shock upon seeing the twins. Slowly, she lowered her arm as she stared at the two, her breathing growing more shaky.
Dipper noticed her bewildered staring, and coupling that with all the knocking, he grew suspicious. Mabel, on the other hand, noticed her lack of coat and how her breath condensated in the cold air. She gasped. "You have to be freezing!" she exclaimed, only to immediately be shushed by her brother. "Here, here, here," she said, grabbing the woman by her thin, jewelry covered wrists, dragging her inside.
The woman stumbled in, nearly tripping over a loose board in the floor. Even still, her eyes never left the twins. Mabel smiled at the woman. "You're welcome for the gift of heat!" she said triumphantly as Dipper closed the door. The latter then slowly walked over to his sister, trying to rub the tiredness out of his eyes.
The woman gave Mabel a strange look before saying, "Thank you." It was quite obvious she had a New Jerseyan accent, even if it was slight. There was a small glint of recognition in her eyes, as if Mabel's antics reminded her of someone. The woman's gaze shifted over to Dipper, as she noticed his tousled hair was now somewhat pushed out of his face, revealing a portion of his birthmark. It was then she stepped back, her shoes making a very audible clicking noise. "I thought it was... Oh, it has to be," she muttered cryptically. She paused, staring at them for a second longer. "...Mason 'n' Mabel."
The twins looked at each other, and then back at the woman. Dipper knew something was up with her! "Come again?" Mabel asked, confounded.
"...Mason 'n' Mabel. Shermie's grandkids…," she continued to mutter to herself, much like Ford or Dipper would do if they had a just unraveled a big revelation. Perhaps she had the same habit? Dipper didn't think it was a coincidence.
"How do you know our names?" Mabel questioned, growing both weirded out and curious. How did she know? She even knew Dipper's real name, something not a lot of people knew (outside of family) in Gravity Falls.
There was a pause. The woman straightened herself, wiping the surprise off her face in an instant. Such emotion had been replaced with a stern look. It was very intimidating. The action reminded the twins about how both their grunkles could do the exact same thing, and they could do it well. It can't be a coincidence… It just can't be, Dipper thought, trying desperately to focus on reality and his racing thoughts at the same time.
"I'm a psychic, kid. 'Course I know your names,"she brushed off nonchalantly.
Dipper narrowed his eyes. He didn't rule out the possibility of her legitimately being a psychic (Gravity Falls was just the place for that kind of weirdness to appear), but she just didn't seem like one. She had a weird aura about her, but it didn't seem like a supernatural one. No, it seemed like something else, something more...
The boy shared a glance with Mabel, guessing that she was likely having a similar thought process to him. After all, with all that had happened with Gideon Gleeful, a sour taste had been left in her mouth for psychics, especially phony ones.
Dipper returned his gaze to the old woman in front of them. "Then what else do you know about us?" he questioned. He crossed his arms, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"Listen, kid. If you wanna prediction or somethin' here, you're gonna haveta fess up some cash," she responded without missing a beat. Yet another similarity he noticed the woman shared with his grunkles; or, at least one of them, anyway. Putting unnecessary and (likely) costs on things… Not to mention he could draw some physical similarities between this woman and her grunkles. It couldn't be a coincidence.
"Say, let me guess, you two got two great uncles on your father's side, huh? Younger brothers of your grandpa, twins?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips and holding a semi-fake smile, almost a salesman smile.
"Why do you want to know?" Dipper countered, crossing his arms. His trust in this woman had been on a steady decline ever since she knew their names (his real name, no less!), but now that she expressed knowledge of their grunkles, somehow… He knew she wasn't what she seemed.
But who was she?
"Got business with one of them," she said without hesitation, the statement seeming purposefully devoid of emotion.
Nope! Nope, nope, nope! Red flags were going off in his head. "Business" meant a lot of things. It was when Stan tricked money out of tourists, when Ford was dealing with supernatural beings, when Bill Cipher took up his unfair end of a deal. Dipper didn't trust that whatever "business" was for this woman would be good.
While Dipper continued with his paranoiac over thinking, Mabel piped up, "And that business isssss…?"
"About sciences you couldn't wrap your minds around for years," she said, almost condescendingly. Her hand gestures completely dismissed the notion that it could be otherwise.
Such confidence in that statement was a fatal mistake on the woman's part, for it was the straw that broke the camel's back for Dipper's suspicions. She wasn't a psychic. He looked over at Mabel, who looked back with a shared smirk, showing she was having a similar train of thought.
Both twins looked back at the woman, who still gave them a look that gave her a sense of authority. Mabel was the first to speak, stepping forward in a confrontational manner. "If you were really a psychic, you would know that Dipper's a huge nerd…!" she exclaimed with a victorious tone. The woman's face fell almost instantly at the accusation.
Dipper's face faltered slightly, looking over at Mabel with a slightly betrayed expression. "Mabel…" he muttered to his sister, but she simply continued without acknowledging his negligible embarrassment.
"…And thus knows a lot of complex science stuff!" Mabel concluded, her voice bouncing off the walls. The thought of their grunkles sleeping had completely disappeared.
Dipper shook his head, standing up straighter to show his self-assurance. "Yeah! Anything you could ask either of them, I can answer," he said, crossing his arms. He added a quieter "probably" under his breath, knowing that statement was, for the most part, untrue. "So, how do you really know our names?"
The woman looked taken back. "Either… of them? You mean, they're both alive?" she asked gingerly, as if she didn't believe the words coming out of her mouth.
"Don't ignore the question! You were knocking on our door nonstop and then lied to us about how you know about our names and family!" Dipper practically shouted, forgetting to keep himself quiet as a courtesy to his sleeping grunkles.
"Yeah! You owe us some answers!" Mabel agreed, pointing at the lady in accusation and yawning afterwards.
Shock returned to the woman's face, albeit in a slightly more hysterical matter this time. "No, you don't understand," she said quickly. "Either of them… that's what you said. Then that means…" she trailed off. Her facial expression grew to a mixture of surprise and happiness. She looked down at the floor, babbling to herself once more. "Oh, I knew Stanley wasn't dumb enough to get himself in a stupid fatal car crash…! He's alive… Oh, both my boys are alive!"
The twins started at her for a moment as tears of joy began to roll down the old woman's cheeks. Dipper's eyes widened, the cogs in his mind turning. The woman's words echoed in his mind. With all that had happened, they could only mean one thing. He glanced between the woman and door that lead to the living area of the house, where Ford and Stan were sleeping. He almost didn't want to believe it upon remembering his grunkles telling them the story of their childhood. But it made sense; oh, it made perfect sense… Finally…
"Ma was a pathological liar, which served her well as a phone psychic."
…it clicked.
Dipper stared at the woman as Mabel went up to hug her. He guessed that his own sister's suspicions had disappeared in a similar way to his own, figuring out the mystery. The woman hugged her back tight, the action acting like an unspoken apology of sorts. After a short, warm silence, the two let go.
"Good hugs," Mabel said satisfactorily. The woman wiped away her tears. "So you're Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford's mom?" the young girl asked blatantly, yet gently.
"Yes," the woman (or Mrs. Pines, rather) answered in a voice that was almost a whisper. She opened her mouth, only to close it again and repeat what she had previously said. Dipper noticed this and raised an eyebrow, but quickly snapped out of his own thoughts. She's family! She just wants to find her sons! What harm could that possibly bring? He couldn't think of anything, but something was nagging at him, a small mystery he needed to figure out.
"So that makes you our great grandmother!" Mabel said excitedly with a smile on her face. She threw her hands up in the air, the sleeves of her oversized night shirt dangling. "Man, what are the odds?" she stated to no one in particular.
Dipper smiled in spite of his paranoid thoughts. "Yeah, finding two family members we didn't know about in one summer. Crazy, right?" he said to his sister. Though, he had to admit, coming out of a secret portal that had the potential to destroy the universe was a bit cooler than through the creaky almost broken door of the Mystery Shack.
Mrs. Pines looked at the twins with a very confused stare. "Finding… two family members? What're you talkin' about? ...Did something happen with Stanley, or Stanford?" she asked, growing worrisome.
"No!" Mabel immediately said, her eyes wide. Dipper snapped her head towards her just as she began to sputter to contradict herself. "Yes! Well, technically… technically it's a yes. But- but don't worry! Everyone's fine now!"
Dipper sighed as Mabel looked down and started to play with her hair. He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He gave his grandmother an exasperated look. "It's a long story," Dipper said in a tired voice. "And you have some explaining to do, too."