I had never thought in a million years I would ever write a story where something like I wrote here would happen, its just not my way with story telling. But then I saw this Fan art made by heeyjayp17 (the cover for this story) about a story called the Match Girl with Mabel taking the place of the girl and well, I could not get this idea out of my mind and now I needed to make it reality.
The Match
It was all over. Everything. All of them were gone. Mabel walked the endless corridors of what was left of the mystery shack. It had all gone so terribly wrong. The bubble which had protected them had failed. Just before Bill exacted his anger, Dipper had jumped in Mabel's way. "Run, just run Mabel" he yelled. "He'll kill you Dipper, I'm not leaving you behind again" she had screamed. "Don't worry Mabel" said Dipper. "I'll always be there, no matter what". Before Mabel could respond, Dipper pushed her to run away. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her. All she could hear behind her were screams, then silence.
That was almost a week ago. It was now the night before she was to turn 13. But in the mist of tragedy, that was the last thing she thought about. Without Dipper what was she to do. It was not like she could go up against Bill alone. Mabel sat down next to what was left of her bed. A faded Polaroid was hanging on the wall. She took it off and looked at it. It was a picture of her and Dipper when they first arrived at the start of the summer. The last thing she thought back then was that Dipper would be dead and she would be left alone in an apocalyptic wasteland.
She opened her bag. Her food supply was dwindling, she had only a box of cookies left. Next to it was a box of matches. It was getting pretty cold so she decided to light one up to start a fire. It was odd how even as the world was ending around her, snow was falling in the middle of summer. Bill truly was weird. She struck a match. It started to burn. Mabel looked around for some wood to use to make the fire. At that moment she saw it. Right in the centre of the flame, was a scene.
It took her no time to recognize it. It was of her and Dipper getting off the bus on their first day in Gravity Falls. She stared at it as the scene played out through the flame. Soon the match burned out. She immediately reached into the box for another one and lit it. This time it was of her and Dipper having a maple syrup eating race. Each time she lit another match, another happy memory from the summer appeared. The party at the Mystery Shack when she met Candy and Grenda, her winning Waddles, meeting Mermando, the party at Northwest Manor and so much more. It gave her happiness in what little form it could.
Mabel was still wearing her shooting star sweater. It was her favourite sweater. And the one she wore when she was last happy, when Dipper was by her side. Now even though it was not real, the images from the flame helped her form a smile. Something she had not done in a long time.
Then she struck another match. But this one was different. Rather than another memory appearing, she saw something else. Not something, someone. It was Dipper. He stood there staring back at her, a smile on his face. Mabel could not believe it. It was Dipper. It really was him. The flame was starting to burn out. She quickly grabbed another match and lit it. Dipper remained in the flame.
Each time it almost burned out, Mabel would light another match to keep Dipper with her. She started telling him things. How she missed him, how without him, she could not survive it out there. Dipper could hear her, but not reply back to her. Mabel could see Dipper get distort as she told him how destroyed she had become after losing him and everyone else to Bill.
Mabel was on her last match now. She had no idea. But Dipper did. With a heavy heart, he started to walk away from the flame as the final match began to burn out. Mabel yelled for him, "Dipper, come back. I need you, don't leave me." The final match burned out. Mabel reached into the box and searched for another one. There was no other match. She had used them all up. Dipper was gone, gone forever as far as she knew. She was alone once more in this unforgiving world. She curled up into a ball, and began to cry.
The world around her was cold, dark and cruel. Monsters of unspeakable horror were everywhere. In the centre of what had once been Gravity Falls, stood the Fearamid. In it was him. Bill. He had taken Dipper, Stan, Ford and everyone else Mabel had loved and cared for away from her. And in exchange, left her empty, done for, nothing left to fight for but herself. But what good was victory now without Dipper, or anyone else for that matter. Mabel lay there on what remained of her bed and cried more then she had ever cried. The cold weather Bill had created did not help either. She was shivering, most likely hypothermia was kicking in. Was this it?
At that moment, a light emitted from the pile of burned matches. A figure formed from the particles of light. Mabel with what little energy she had left looked up. There in front of her, stood someone she missed dearly. Dipper. He said nothing but walked up to her. He then put his hand out to her with a smile on his face. Mabel moved foreword to hold it.
It was then she realized what had happened. And she was fine with it. Even if it meant leaving it all behind. Mabel followed Dipper into the darkness. She did not mind where they were going or what lay ahead, as long as she was reunited with her family, that was all that mattered.
Back in the remains of the Mystery Shack, next to a pile of burned out matches and a box of cookies, Mabel lay in her bed. She did not move, she did not shiver in the cold. But what was different about her now was there was a smile on her face. A smile that showed she was happy again. Reunited with the ones she cared so much about. And in what was left in a world falling to pieces, that was all she had ever wanted.