Felt like taking a break from Gravity Falls stuffs to write out something Frankenweenie. This idea came to me about fifteen seconds after watching the movie the first time a few months ago but I put it off until now because I didn't think it would work out all that well.

Bringing things back from the dead was risky business. In fact, after the whole deal with Dutch Day eight years previously, Victor Frankenstein had outright refused to bring anything back to life with his method. Occasionally he would charge his dog, Sparky, but for the most part he just left electricity alone. This vow had been strengthened by his last promise to his sick mother before she died, and when his father was killed in a car crash just a year earlier.

When he was thirteen, Victor began to date his neighbor, classmate, and kindred spirit Elsa van Helsing. They had been brought together after he and Sparky saved her from the burning windmill, and later even more so when her poodle Persephone and Sparky began to show interest in one another. It seemed almost obvious that they would wind up together. And they did.

Six years later, at the age of 19, they were still together, and Victor was considering how to propose so that they could go to college together 'the proper way.'

Halloween night, it was storming violently outside. Wind slapped the house from all sides, rain pelting the windows so hard that the young couple was afraid they would fall through. The pair was relaxing on the couch, Elsa leaning into Victor, watching a black-and-white horror movie.

"I'm worried about Persephone." Elsa suddenly stated. The announcement was so unexpected that Victor took a moment to think up of how to reply.

"Is she sick?" He asked, pressing pause on the movie to look at his girlfriend worriedly.

"Yeah. And she's getting up there in years . . ."

Victor knew exactly where she was getting with this and had to swallow down the lump that was forming in his throat. "Els, you know I promised Mom and Dad that I wouldn't -"

"I know, I know." Elsa sighed, returning to her previous position. Victor rubbed her arm, thinking, not even considering pressing play.

Of course, he'd known that his lover's beloved poodle was fully mortal, and that when Death decided to rear his ugly head none were safe (besides maybe Sparky). But he'd promised. He couldn't just go back on a promise that important.

Then his mind wandered to how Sparky would handle the death of his mate, and Victor's resolve weakened. He knew his dog would not want to live without Persephone.

Maybe it was time to finally let the mutt go.

"You can press play now, Victor. I feel better."

Except he didn't.

The young science major sighed, turning the horror movie back on, but unable to concentrate on the monster that was shuffling its way across the screen.

An Hour Later...

Ring, ring, ring.

Victor was startled out of his sleep by the ringing phone. He propped himself up on his elbows as he brought the small cellular to his ear. "Hello?"

"Victor?"

Oh, no, that tone of her voice...

"Elsa, what's wrong?!"

"It's Persephone. I found her. She's..."

Elsa's voice faded, and Victor completely understood. "Oh... want me to come over?"

"Please. I know you made your promise, but please. Bring her back. It's not fair that you can have Sparky the rest of your life and I can't have my dog. Sparky would be happier with her too..."

Victor bit his lip through the entirety of her speech, feeling like he might cry himself. "Sparky would be happier with Persephone, wouldn't he? And I know it's not fair. And I know you want her back. I can't fix one, but the other two..."

A pause on the other end. "Oh, no, Victor, I didn't mean it like that..."

"No. It would be better." He was already heaving himself out of bed and making his way up to the attic where Sparky slept.

"Victor. You can't put Sparky down."

"I'm not practicing euthanasia. I'm just cutting off his electricity. He's charging right now, so it shouldn't take too long."

"Don't! You shouldn't have to lose your dog just because I lost mine! You need him!"

"He's not my only friend anymore." Victor bit back tears, finally realizing what he had been denying. "I have you and Edgar."

"But you still need him! All the trouble you went through to have him back... does that mean nothing to you?"

"Elsa. Calm down. I had to lose him eventually, didn't I? I have to learn how to let go."

"How are you so calm about this?"

I'm not. "I don't know. I guess I have to be." He reluctantly powered down the device the loyal dog was hooked up to, making a run for his bedroom before he went back and turned it back on.

Several beats of silence on the other end. "Maybe we can bury them together."

Victor returned to beneath his blankets, shaking. "I bet they'd like that."

"Can we keep talking? I don't think I can sleep tonight."

"I don't think I can either."

"I love you, Vic."

"I love you too, Els."

A Few Days Later...

It was Wednesday when Sparky breathed his last, a fairly relieving yet devastating moment as Persephone was starting to be beyond the help of Elsa's perfume collection. A soft drizzle accompanied the gray morning as the young couple made their way up a hill in the pet cemetery, carrying their beloved dogs in the same shoebox between them.

"Here's to the cutest dog couple to ever walk this earth." Elsa mumbled as she helped her boyfriend set the shoebox in the hole Edgar had dug earlier that day.

"May they forever rest in peace." Victor added quietly.

"And forever rest together."

The pale young man was a little startled when her soft hand joined his, as he wasn't expecting any affections today. She rested her head on his shoulder, obviously trying hard not to cry.

The two held hands in silence, looking down in the hole at the blank box top before Victor picked up the nearby shovel and began to put the dirt back where it had come from.

He was finally letting go. But at least he didn't have to do it alone.