Dipper charged through the forest, brushing past trees as he desperately searched for a sign of any sort.
"Mabel! Where are you?!"
He tripped over an overturned branch as he continued running.
"Oh, God! Mabel!"
He ran through, eventually stumbling into a clearing. Oh no… Please no!
Two days earlier
Dipper and Mabel were back in Gravity Falls, Oregon for the fourth time. The sixteen year olds stepped off the bus and ran up to greet their great uncle.
"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel shouted as she jumped at the old man. He grunted in pain at the weight of his great niece.
"Ow, calm down! I'm not as young as I used to be." he said as he wrapped his arms around Mabel.
"Hey, kids. How's life down south been treating you?"
"It's been fine." Dipper said as he walked up carrying his bags.
"How's the shop going?"
Stan shrugged indifferently.
"Come on; let's get your old place set up." Stan said as he walked off. As the twins walked into the shack, a strange old man walked off the bus, dressed far too expensively for someone traveling to the little town. His pale white skin cracked slightly in the morning sun as he walked off into the town.
Dipper and Mabel followed Stan into the Mystery Shack, where Soos was fiddling behind the counter.
"Hi Dipper, hi Mabel." he said as he took out a fake stuffed animal, a strange cross between a raccoon and a monkey. Stan picked up the creepy thing and showed it to Dipper and Mabel.
"Introducing… the monkey-coon!"
Dipper laughed awkwardly.
"You may need to work on the name."
"Why? What's wrong with it?"
"Coon is a racist slang, and so is monkey."
Stan grumbled.
"Damn racists have to ruin everything."
Dipper laughed as Mabel ran up the stairs with her bags.
The next day
Dipper and Mabel were manning the counter when an old, pale man walked in.
"Hello, welcome to the Mystery Shack!" Mabel shouted cheerfully as the gangly man hobbled towards the counter. He gazed at Mabel hungrily, before turning to Dipper with the same glare.
"Uh, sir? Are you all right?" Mabel asked worriedly. The man turned and left the pair awkwardly watching the counter.
"I think we may need to consult the journals again." Dipper said.
Two hours later
Dipper flipped through the three journals, attempting to find some clue as to the strange man, but he found no mention of him.
"There's nothing here. Maybe he's just a freak." Dipper said.
"You worry too much, Dip's." Mabel said as she tossed a large rubber ball in the air like a cat playing with a ball of yarn.
"Well, better safe than sorry. After saving the world from Bill Cipher, I'm not taking any chances when weirdos show up."
As Dipper put the journals down, Mabel accidently kicked the ball over her head and knocked over a lamp.
"Oops."
Midnight
Dipper and Mabel were sound asleep, not noticing the window creaking open from the outside. The shady man hovered into the room and looked around. The man crept around until he spotted what he was looking for. He maneuvered into one of the bags and took out the journals. He set them down on the floor and moved in to claim his prize.
Dipper awoke in the night and turned over and noticed Mabel missing.
Maybe she's using the bathroom.
Dipper yawned as he looked down. The journals were out on the floor, not where he left them. He began worrying. He knew all too well what this bizarre town could do, and he always prepared for the worst, even after Bill was defeated and the mysterious occurrences slowly stopped. Dipper got up and began searching the Mystery Shack. Not finding any sign of Mabel, he began panicking. He turned on the lamp and began frantically putting together supplies before heading out. He noticed a strange glow vanishing into the forest and dashed off in that direction.
"Mabel! Where are you?!" he shouted.
"Oh, God! Mabel!"
Dipper ran into a forest clearing. Oh no… please no.
Dipper noticed a dark figure with an unnatural, sickly grey glow carrying his sister.
"Let her go, you bastard!" Dipper shouted at the figure, which revealed itself as the old man from earlier. He laid Mabel on the ground before turning towards Dipper.
"I seek the one who defeated Bill Cipher." he muttered. Dipper approached the strange figure. He had no plans, no way to defeat this unknown threat.
"Who are you?" Dipper asked.
"…You question me while your life is in danger?"
"I do. Who are you and what do you want!"
"I require the one who defeated Bill Cipher." The man said as he approached Dipper.
"I had assumed it was her… but you are different. Your mind is as hers. You are superior than others."
"I'm the one you want. I defeated Bill Cipher." Dipper shouted.
"You are the one I want. So be it."
A strange white glow began enveloping Dipper. He felt his muscles bound together and unable to move. As the man's power left Mabel, she stirred and lifted her head.
"Wha… what's going on?" she said confusedly. She dotted her head around and spotted Dipper. She turned to a worried expression as she saw him tearing up.
"Mabel… I love you." he said.
Mabel attempted to run towards him before being forced back by the supernatural force.
"Dipper!"
There was a blinding flash. Mabel covered her eyes as she fell backwards. When she opened them again, Dipper and the man had vanished.
Mabel cried as she attempted to piece together what had happened. She stood up and looked around, unable to place her location. Then she saw a lantern in the distance. She ran towards the source of the light to find Stan coming into the clearing.
"Mabel? What the hell is going on?!" he shouted.
Mabel ran up and hugged him.
"Dipp… Dipper's gone." she muttered.
"Where is he? What's happened to him?"
"There was a man earlier. He took Dipper. They disappeared."
Stan moved her off and started walking back towards the shack.
"Mabel, we aren't going to let some two-bit nutball take Dipper. We'll find out what's going on."
Mabel and Stan walked back into the Mystery Shack. Stan entered the secret key-code on the vending machine and took Mabel down into the basement, next to the broken-down portal. He walked over to a red phone and picked it up.
"It's Stan… I need your help. It's… Dipper's been taken by something… No, that's not a world threatening crisis, but you owe him for saving your sorry asses! Send your men down here, NOW!"
Stan slammed the phone down before taking Mabel back up the stairs.
"Where are those journals?" he asked.
"They're upstairs. I'll go get them."
Mabel hurried up into the attic and brought the journals back down.
"We already looked through them and didn't find anything."
"Then we look again. Tell me exactly what happened so I can help."
"The man took Dipper away in a flash of light. The man looked creepy and old, like his skin was crusting and falling off."
"That's not a lot to go on, but we need to start somewhere. You take one and two, I'll check three."
Daylight
Mabel and Stan were reading the journals throughout the night, but they found no mention of the strange man that had appeared. Eventually, they heard several cars pulling up outside the shop. Stan walked outside and found several unmarked, black vans and at least twenty different agents.
"Stan Pines, I'm Agent Phillips. I'm here about the disappearance of your nephew."
"About time you showed up. Come in, we've got to talk."
Stan took the officer into the kitchen and explained the situation while the rest of the officers waited outside.
"So, you have no idea who or what did this and you have no leads."
Stan remained silent.
"So, we'll get started on setting up a parameter, see if we can find anything. You and your niece should head up to Washington. We have a facility that keeps track of these sorts of things. Maybe you and her can find a lead. I'll have one of my men take you up there."
The two men stood up from the table and moved out.
Nighttime in Washington
"You know, I thought you meant D.C. when you said we were going to Washington." Mabel said to the man in black.
"Ever since the Oregon incident, we've had a base close by in case anymore world ending catastrophes develop."
Mabel and Stan were escorted into the archives, a nearly endless maze of old books, papers, and assorted documents of the strange occurrences throughout the globe.
"Where do we start?" Mabel asked gloomily.
"We have a head called the keeper. He has a photographic memory and knows everything catalogued here."
Mabel and Stan followed the agent to a small office door. Inside, a short, shriveled man with glasses was reading through several documents.
"Ah, welcome! Welcome! You two are the Pines Family!"
"How'd you know?" Mabel asked.
"I read the files. So why are you two here?"
Mabel walked up and explained to the man, who looked disheartened at the news.
"I see… I always wanted to meet the Pines duo. I'm sorry; there haven't been any other recorded appearances of what you've described."
Mabel's expression went blank at his words. Tears started forming in her eyes as she fell down and curled up. Stan took a seat next to her and wrapped her in a hug.
"Don't worry, we aren't giving up. We'll find a way to get him back."
Mabel fell into her great uncle's embrace.
Dipper, where are you?
Elsewhere
Where am I? Oh, God!
Dipper screamed as searing pain shot through his body.
"You belong to me, now. When your mind is broken, you shall serve me forever."