Mabel gasped in horror as Blind Ivan cocked the memory gun and pointed it in their direction. "End of the line," He growled. "By tomorrow this will all seem like a bad dream."
She took a step back, eyes widening as the gun began to glow. "Say goodbye to your precious memories."
The gun fired, and she saw Dipper hold up his arms and shout "No!" before he was struck by the ray. He stumbled backwards and she raced to catch him.
"Dipper?" Mabel panicked at the sight of her brother's unusually blank expression. "Dipper! Do you remember me?"
Dipper blinked, and murmured, "Hi, Mabel. Are we there yet?"
"What?"
"Gravity Falls. Did the bus stop?"
Mabel shook her head. "You're already in Gravity Falls, Dipper! We've been here for months!"
Dipper's blue hat slipped off his head.
"Don't you remember?"
"Of course he doesn't remember! I just erased it." They looked up at the sound of a hiss of steam. Ivan took out the cylinder containing Dipper's memories, dropped it on the floor and smashed it with his foot. "His entire summer has been forever unseen, and in a few moments so will-"
A piece of pipe dropped on Ivan from above with a clang. Everyone looked up to see McGucket waving at them.
"Ho-ha, that should put that bald fella out for a while! Now we can go and get me memories back!" He stared for another moment at the group. "Eh, did I miss somethin'?"
"Wait…" Dipper frowned, the gears in his head slowly turning. "This… isn't a bus. And who are those people?"
He pointed at Wendy and Soos.
"You don't remember me at all?" Wendy stabbed a finger at herself. "Wendy? I work at your uncle's gift shop? Doesn't that ring a bell?"
"And your buddy Soos! Can I take your blank stare as a yeah? A, a maybe?" Soos's brow furrowed. "Come on, dude…"
"And I'm Old Man McGucket!"
"What are you talking about?" Mabel could see her brother was spiraling into hopeless confusion. "Where's the bus? Mabel, what's going on?"
Before she could respond, there was a groan from one of the Society members lying off to the side. The group suddenly became acutely aware of all the men they had knocked out slowly coming to their senses.
"Dipper, we'll explain everything, I promise." Mabel smiled encouragingly at her brother. "Just… go to sleep, okay?"
Her brother's eyes immediately drooped. "Go to sleep?"
"Yeah! Don't worry, everything's going to be okay." And then, to herself: "Everything's gonna be okay."
Once Dipper had gone to sleep, he slept heavily. He didn't stir once while they dealt with the Society members, nor while Mabel gently scooped him up and carried him to the car. As she was carrying him she couldn't help but take notice of the blissfully peaceful expression on his face; she hadn't seen him look this relaxed in forever.
This was bad.
Wendy opened the truck door, and Mabel carefully placed her brother across two seats. She buckled both seatbelts across him and sat in the third chair, holding his hat in her hands.
"Hey," Mabel looked up to see Wendy flash her a small smile. "It's gonna be okay. We'll figure something out."
Mabel looked at the hat, and then at her brother. "Yeah... we'll get his memory back. Yeah! How much could one silly little memory gun do to all the awesome summer memories we made together?"
"That's the spirit, hambone!"
"Exactly! We got McGucket's memories back; getting Dipper's will be a cinch."
Soos started the engine. "Dudes, has everyone got their seatbelts on?"
"Somehow, yes!" McGucket shouted from the truck bed.
Mabel quickly bucked her own. "Ready, Soos!"
"Then let's go, back to the Mystery Shack!"
As they took off, Dipper gave a little groan and rolled over, his head brushing against Mabel's leg. Mabel fixed his hat back on his head with a smile. "There. All better!"
It looked a little crooked.
Inspired by 'Maybe It's Better To Forget', by FangirlTrash.