Pause The Moment: A Shooting Star Falls Story
A black Fjord Stallion muscle car rumbled up to the shore of Lake Gravity Falls as its headlights cut through the ever fading light of the early evening. Emerging from the vehicle was none other than twenty-one year old Dipper Pines, who was looking to find a tranquil spot to reflect on what had become a trying day. August 31st didn't always hold a somber place in the heart of the brown haired man and as he took out his phone, he tried to remind himself of that fact. An absolutely electric smile beamed from the familiar face of a then seventeen year old Mabel Pines as the distraught man visited her long dormant FacePage profile. Scrolling past the seemingly endless messages people had written since her passing, Dipper finally found what he was looking for. It was the last post that the energetic young woman would ever publish and in some ways it was a perfect summary of her personality. 'Excited to finally be back in Gravity Falls! This summer is going to be the best one yet!' the short comment read. "Of course that would be her last post..." Dipper commented as he looked longingly at the screen.
Clicking on her photo albums, Dipper was taken back to days gone by and reminded of futures that would never come to pass. He started at the beginning as he removed a glass bottle from the box beside him and twisted off the metal cap. Taking a swig of the bitter brew that it contained, he scrolled through seemingly countless pictures of the bright pink sweater clad girl. Not having owned a smartphone their first summer in Oregon, Mabel had taken these photos with a digital camera; uploading them when the duo returned home to California. While she had left out the photos of the supernatural and downright bizarre offerings the small Pacific Northwest town had to offer, the brunette teen girl had taken plenty of other pictures. Memories flooded the mind of twenty-one year old Dipper Pines as he continued to view image after image that his late sister had posted to the social media site. The dark of the night crept in as the young man became enthralled with each picture; trying to remember what had happened not only in those moments forever captured, but the ones before and after them.
Before he knew it, a few hours had passed and the six pack of beer was gone. Getting up from the now cool metal hood of his car, the chestnut haired man decided to take a walk along the shoreline in hopes of clearing his mind. A bit inebriated, he failed to notice an object that jutted up from the otherwise flat ground; his sneaker catching it, which caused him to stumble and fall down. "Ugh! What the fuck did I trip on?!" he said with a bit of anger as he collected himself and stood up. Glancing over, he spied a square yellow object sticking out of the soft soil. "What the?!" the twenty-one year old man asked as he removed the obstruction from its earthen home. He immediately recognized what it was; none other than the time traveling tape measurer that he and Mabel had used during their first summer in Gravity Falls. The young man's hands trembled as a sudden realization came over him. "What if I could go back and change everything?" he said to himself as he contemplated doing such a thing. Taking his phone out of his pocket, he unlocked it and was greeted by the image of him, his sister and Pacifica on one of their final outings to the local mini golf course. "What if you didn't die that day?" he thought to himself as he pulled the silver tape out about a foot and saw that he would be transported back four years and three months. "Not this time…" the brown haired man said with a determined look as he let go of the tape and it flew back into its yellow container.
Almost instantaneously he arrived in what he presumed was the past. Instead of the night he had dparted, it was now a sunny early summer day on the shore of Lake Gravity Falls. He quickly noticed that the shoulder of his long sleeved red flannel shirt was aflame and proceeded to extinguish it. "D-Did it work?" he thought to himself as he began to walk back towards the entrance to Lake Gravity Falls State Park. After a twenty-five minute stroll, the chestnut haired man found himself entering downtown Gravity Falls. "Hmm… I don't know… Everything sort of looks the same…" he once again said to himself as he walked along the well-worn concrete sidewalk of the small town. Spying a copy of the Gravity Falls Gossiper lying abandoned on a table of the local coffee shop, the curious young man walked over and picked it up. 'New Study Says Most Earthquake Damage Is Caused By Shaking' the headline read as his eyes looked to the date printed on the paper. 'June 3rd, 2016 First Edition' the date read as Dipper realized the device had worked. "Now to find Mabel and keep her from going into that bank…" he thought to himself as he continued to walk towards the Mystery Shack.
The roughly two mile hike felt longer than the brown haired man recalled, but it could have been because he was beginning to show the signs of a hangover. "Note to self: Don't drink before engaging in time travel…" he thought to himself as the familiar wooden structure came into a view. The pink hoodie clad girl locked the door behind her and began to walk down the dusty dirt trail that led to Oregon route 668. About halfway down, Dipper decided to make his presence known and hopefully dissuade her from the ill-fated trip to Northwest National Bank. "Hey… Y-You're Mabel Pines, right?" he asked as he emerged from behind a tree. The chestnut haired girl froze in place for a moment as she was startled by the man's sudden appearance. Much to his surprise, he was met with a swift kick to his groin; a sharp pain soon felt by him as he fell to the ground below. The seventeen year old pulled out a whistle from beneath the hoodie and blew into it with all her might. "HELP!" she shouted as Dipper continued to groan in a heap at her sneaker adorned feet. "Mabel! Mabel! I-" he began before being cut off by his sister. "How do you know my name?! Have you been stalking me or something? Yeah! That's probably it! You're some sort of sicko, you know that! Thought you'd rape me or something, right? Well guess what? Not gonna happen!" she shouted before blowing the whistle once again. "IT'S ME, DIPPER!" he shouted over the annoying sound. "I think I know what my own twin brother looks like!" she proclaimed as she took a better look at the man who she had neutralized. He did sort of look like an older version of her twin brother, but there was only one way to be sure. "I-It's me… I-I swear!" the twenty-one year old said as he sat up and looked the fearful woman in her eyes. "Well… If you really are him, then you'd know something that only I and two other people in this whole town do… What's yo-" she began before he figured out what she was going to ask. "Mason…" he calmly replied as he took his wallet out from his pocket and handed it to Mabel.
'Mason Alexander Pines. 704 Gopher Road, Gravity Falls Oregon. Issued July 27, 2016. Expires July 27, 2024.' his Oregon Driver's License read; confirming his identity for the skeptical teenager. "H-Holy shit! It is you! I have, like, so many questions! Do I have a boyfriend? Do I open my sweater sto-" she began before being cut off by her older twin brother. "Mabel… I-I'm so damn happy to see you!" the taller man said as he stood up and swiftly wrapped the teen girl up in a tight hug; tears freely streaming down his face. "Bro… Everything alright?" the younger woman said as she caught the smell of alcohol on his breath. "Look… All you need to know is that you can't go to the bank today. Just go to the mall with the girls… And make sure Pacifica goes with you… Please…" the brown haired man said with a somewhat desperate tone of voice as he locked eyes with his sister. "Why? Does something bad happen? Oh God, it does, doesn't it?" she asked the older man. He was adorned in a pair of black and white skate shoes, slim straight blue jeans, a black t-shirt and a red and black long sleeved flannel shirt. Mabel thought that aside from smelling like a brewery that her brother was probably doing alright in the future. "Look… I don't wanna say too much, but yes… Something horrible does happen…" he replied, hoping the questions would end there. "Well… You can't just say that and not tell me the details… C'mon… Tell me… I won't tell anyone else, I promise…" she asked her twin from the future. "Well… Alright, but you're not gonna like it…" he said with a sigh as the duo began to walk towards town.
"So… You were going to the bank to deposit your paycheck, just like in my timeline… Only this time, you're not going to go there… You're going to go to the mall, like you guys planned to do afterwards…" he began as seventeen year old Mabel Pines listened with great focus. "So anyways, you and Pacifica went to the bank and it was held up…" the twenty-one year old time traveler continued. "Oh, so I'm like, messed up in the future because of it… Got ya…" the brunette girl said as she thought she had figured it all out. "No… You and Pacifica… Y-You…" he struggled to say as his sister put her hand on his shoulder. "You guys get shot…" he quickly said; opting to pull off the proverbial Band-Aid in as swift a fashion as possible. "Yeah… I could see how that should be avoided… Thanks bro!" she cheerily said, thinking he was done. "Mabel! Let me finish!" he shouted; the seventeen year old girl taken aback by the out of character outburst. "S-Sorry…" she apologized while staring down at her sneaker covered feet. "You guys are shot and killed… I-I lost both of you that day… A-And I'll be damned if it's gonna happen again! I'm so glad that I found Blendin's time travelling tape measurer. Now I can keep this all from happening in the first place!" he said with excitement as Mabel had stopped walking alongside him. "I-I'm dead?" she asked in a trembling voice. Dipper looked over to see the younger teen girl had paused to reflect on the stunning revelation. "Yeah… I-I mean… You used to be… B-But as long as you don't go to the bank today, you won't be! Maybe you can open up that sweater store? Who knows? The future can be whatever you want it to be…" Dipper said enthusiastically.
"I-I have, like, a million questions…" the young woman said in a trembling voice; still unable to process that she was destined to die in short order had it not been for her brother's intervention. "Okay… Well, since nothing is going to be the way it was when I get ba… Oh… Wait… What about? I-I hadn't thought about that…" the brown haired man said to himself as a sudden realization came to him. If he can prevent the deaths of Mabel and his then girlfriend Pacifica, then surely it would alter his future with Wendy, right? While he missed Pacifica and Mabel dearly, he loved the life that he and his wife had built in the ensuing years since the tragedy. Now, all that may never even happen. To say he was torn would be putting it mildly. "Hey! Future bro-bro! You okay?" she asked as she waved her slender hand in front of his face. "Huh! Oh! Yeah… I-I just had thought of something… Let's take a seat over there…" he offered as the taller man pointed to a black metal bench that looked towards Founder's Square. The duo sat down and Dipper was first to speak. "I-I've built this whole life since you guys passed… I have a wife and kids in the future…" he began as Mabel's face lit up. She thought it was cute that her brother had a family of his own. "Who's the lucky girl?" she pondered to herself before speaking up. "So… Who'd my dear brother fall in love with? I mean, is it someone I know?" she inquired. "Yes, quite well in fact…" he replied coyly. "Okay… So I can rule out Pacifica, because she's kinda dead… Oh! I know! I-It's Candy, isn't it?" she excitedly guessed. "Nope… In fact… And this is gonna blow your mind… She's just started dating Grenda in my future…" Dipper replied. A look of pure happiness came across the face of the seventeen year old girl. After a moment of reflection, she was finally able to form a response. "That's awesome! I've always felt there was something between them…" she quipped. "Yeah… And lil' Grendy seems to be alright with it, so the-" he began before being cut off. "Lil' Grendy? T-They have a kid?!" she asked excitedly. "Well… Grenda had a kid before they got together… Something about her hooking up with a few guys and not exactly knowing who the father was… I got the story second hand from my wife, so…" Dipper explained. "Okay… I suck at this game… Who did you end up marrying? Just tell me!" she pleaded with the time traveler. "Wendy. I married Wendy… A-And we have kids… Twin girls in fact…" he chuckled.
"So… You and Wendy have twin girls?! That's awesome! I can't wait to meet them! I'm gonna be the greatest Aunt ever! I'll knit them all sorts of awesome swea-" she began to ramble before her brother interjected. "That's the thing… I-I don't know how things are gonna go since I kinda just saved you and Pacifica… I mean, what if I stay with Pacifica? I-I like my life… I love Wendy… I-I miss you guys… I-I just don't know Mabel… I thought this would be easy…" the brown haired man said as he put his face into his hands and broke down. "Well… All I can say is that you could always do it over again if you don't like your future… Like that time you tried to win Wendy that stuffed animal, but kept hitting her with the ball instead…" she said as the young woman placed a hand on the upper back of her brother and rubbed it in a soothing manner. "I-I guess you're right… There's gotta be a way I can save you guys and still have the future I came from… I know it…" Dipper said as he sniffled. "You guys go to the mall… I'll figure it out…" he said as the pair stood up from the bench. "Thanks Mason… Thank you for saving my life…" Mabel said as she wrapped her brother up in a hug; her hazel eyes filled with tears. Unknown to the siblings was that their meeting had some spectators. Grenda, Candy and Pacifica had met in the park and eagerly awaited the brunette teen's arrival. "Who's that she's with?" asked Pacifica. "I-I don't know, but he looks like an older man…" Grenda said in her deep voice. "Well, whoever he is, he's a total hottie…" Candy chimed in. All three girls nodded in agreement as they spied the pink hoodie clad girl approaching.
"So… Who's ready to go to the mall?!" the brunette inquired as the trio rushed over to her. "I'm, like, totally ready to go… But I have to ask… Who's the guy? Are you seeing him?" Pacifica asked with great interest, as she was a bit of a gossiper. Mabel was immediately grossed out by the question as it was her brother, but she didn't want to reveal that to her friends. She wanted to keep the fact that Dipper had travelled back in time to save her and Pacifica from passing away in a bank heist gone awry to herself. "Nope… Just a friend…" she chuckled. "Well… In that case, I'm gonna need his number…" Candy commented. "He's not gonna be in town the rest of the summer, so don't worry about him… Besides, there are lots of guys and girls in this town to fall in love with…" Mabel said as the quartet of girls started off towards the mall. "Well… Let's see if it worked…" Dipper said as he removed the time travelling tape measurer from his pocket and traveled back to the present day, unsure of what awaited him when he arrived.
Author's Note: So, this was supposed to be a one shot, but I really fell in love with the idea of a drunk and distraught Dipper coming across the time travelling tape measurer and going back to save his sister and Pacifica. What will his new present hold for him? Will he and Wendy still be married? What does the future hold for Mabel and Pacifica? Answers to all this and more in the next installment of Pause The Moment… -iKLOT
The Official Shooting Star Falls AU Reading Order:
Underage Discoveries On A Reckless Night: A Shooting Star Falls Prequel
A Shooting Star Falls
Echoes Of A Nearby Future: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Scarred Summer: A Shooting Star Falls Story
The Dark Days of Candy Chiu: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Forever Memories: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Stable Times Or A Wild Ride?: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Grenda's Confession: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Birthday Weirdness In The Rose City: A Shooting Star Falls Story
The Gift Of Forever: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Wendy & Dipper Vs The Future: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Life In Transit: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Pause The Moment: A Shooting Star Falls Story