Stan left Dipper and Mabel's room, trying very hard to be calm, to not upset the horribly traumatized twelve year old even worse than he already was.
He sat by Mabel's beside, tears streaming down his face as he spilled his guts about everything. The rift that was currently blazing in the sky, Bill Cipher, Ford's offer of apprenticeship and the fight Dipper and Mabel had as a result of said offer. All of it was laid bare.
"It's all my fault Grunkle Stan!" he choked out, "If I had just- I dunno listened or better explained myself or-!"
Stan placed his trademark fez on the last rung of the bannister as he stormed through the house in purposeful strides, the sound of his footsteps masking the roar of the wind and the distant sounds of screams from the town.
Mabel's alive. A tiny fragment of hope rang out. We can fix this, we can get her back safe and sound.
Stan took that hope, and threw it in a closet in the back of his mind. Hope threatened to distract him from his anger, and he wanted it to burn nice and hot by the time he got a hold of his dear brother.
He had reached the gift shop just in time to see the trench-coated menace step out from behind the vending machine. Had Stan been thinking clearly he would have been noticed the deep look of anxious stress on his twin brother's face.
Ford noticed his presence, "Stanley," he smiled weakly, "how's Dipper doing?"
Stan grabbed Ford by the collar of his stupid red turtleneck sweater and gave his answer in the form of the best left hook he ever gave in his life.
Cloth tore, Glasses flew, and Stanford Pines was left sprawled over the cashier's counter- Possibly even having cracked the wood but Stan really didn't care at the moment. He was too busy shaking the pain out of his left hand.
So worth it. He grimaced flexing his fingers.
"Ow!" Ford pulled himself off the counter, massaging what looked to be the beginning of a heck of a bruise. "What the heck was that for?!" he said.
"Where should I start?!" Stan roared in reply, "For God's sake Ford, what are you doing to those kids?! I could understand the weird nerd game, I wasn't happy about you sending Mabel out for stuff but I let it slide, 'cause she was so excited about it." Stan shook his head "But hiding things from me and making Dipper hide it too? Telling him to forget high school and be your happy helper monkey-"
"apprentice, Stan-" Ford replied sourly,
"Same damn thing FORD!" Stan bit back, cutting him off, "You're out of touch by thirty freaking years! Hell, I've been on Earth all that time and I barely understand what's going on these days!"
Stan paced back and forth, unable to decided whether to punch Ford again, to walk away or to continue ranting.
"I needed Dipper to help me fix the rift..." Ford muttered, averting his eyes.
Stan paused mid-step. "Bull. You've got degrees up the wazoo, obvious combat experience from-," He paused, dammit he was still mad but that incident between he and Ford still stung bad enough to make it difficult to talk about.
"-From when you were away." He finished glaring icily at Ford. "Not to mention you had actual experience with everything you dealt with today, from the spaceship to that weird triangle thing Dipper told me about. For pity's sake Stanford they have to train men and women in the army to control their fear under pressure; Dipper still gets fits trying to talk to girls!"
Stan could see it in Ford's eyes that he felt bad, at least on some level, but that the idea hadn't quite sunk through all the useless pieces of information that Stanford Pines had crammed into his brain for all those years.
It looked like it was up to Dumb old Stanley Pines to spell it out for him then. "You don't need a freaking apprentice, you just wanted someone to sit around and make you feel like a big shot! Me, McGucket, even that Triangle monster who's wrecking the town right now!"
"That's not true!" Ford snapped, guilt now being replaced with anger.
"Is it?!" Stan ignored the strain is voice or the burning sensation in his eyes.
Not now. Not now dammit this isn't about you. He took the self-pitying sadness threatening to overwhelm him and threw it in the same place he had thrown his Hope. Stan had to stay mad, or he was either going to scream like a girl, cry like a baby, or puke like a wuss.
Could you really blame him? The world was ending after all.
"Look at the facts Ford. McGucket was your friend and instead of listening to his completely justified concerns or just apologizing for it you just watched him go insane and form a cult!"
Ford flinched, Stan ignored it.
"Dipper would bend over backwards for you, but instead of letting the kid grow up at his own pace in his own time you've poisoned his relationship with his sister so you can have him fawn all over you!"
Stan snorted. "Really Ford, 'suffocating'? Is that what you think living with family is like?!"
"It's not how you think Stanley," Ford replied, "I just didn't want Dipper to be-"
"You finish that sentence Stanford Fillbrick Pines and I will slug you again." the amount of venom was enough to silence.
"I wasn't expecting much when you came back Ford." Stan forced back the tears in his eyes, only to have one drip down his cheek, "I thought sacrificing thirty years of my life, making sure the portal was safe, making sure you had a home to come back to at all was at least worth a chance to start over with my brother."
the dam broke, more tears sprung up unbidden. "But instead of a fresh start- a 'thank you' – I get to watch what little life I had come apart at the seams!"
for a brief moment Stan said nothing as he tried to recover his composure. he couldn't even look at his twin brother, who hadn't moved an inch from the counter he had broken.
"But," Stan said, steel in his voice. "I can manage my life being ruined...did it to myself forty or so years back didn't I?" he said turning to face the stricken Stanford Pines.
"But neither of us are going to bring our bad blood back on those two. Not anymore." Stan growled. "You are going to fix this. I know you have some big genius plan for whatever's going on out there so I'm going to have to trust you, even when everything in me is saying I shouldn't."
Stanley crossed the room in three strides, hoisting Stanford up by his overcoat until he was standing, then brushing the dirt off. "This is your last chance Stanford. After you fix whatever the hell is happening to the sky right now we're going to talk about everything."
"But Stanley you won't understand..." Ford said weakly.
"Probably." Stan replied with a shrug, "But it's better than letting it sit and stew and destroy our great niece and nephew's lives. So expect it coming Sixer."
Stan let go of his anger, and as he walked away from his estranged brother he let his Hope for the future out from where he had locked it in his mind.
"I'm going to check on our supplies. Lemmie know when Soos comes back from his grandma's will ya?"
"...Okay Stan."