With a slow, grinding, squeak the wheels of the old, beat up car came to a halt. It was lucky that it had, too, because had it gone even a few inches farther, it would have dipped into the lake that lay nestled among steep cliffs that surrounded it on three sides. The car sat on the lone open beach, shaded in grays rather than tans because of the dark night. With a creak the driver door opened, and a young man stepped confidently out of car. He had the beginnings of a thin scraggly beard, but it was obviously not growing in anytime soon. He was thin, and rather short, with short but shaggy brown hair, and determined brown eyes. He wore an old, ragged orange shirt with an even more ragged blue vest over it, and some loose fitting cargo shorts. On his head sat a well-worn trapper hat. All in all, he looked like a weird blend of at least three or four different time periods put together by someone very bad at fashion. But at the same time, it all seemed to fit him in some weird way.

"It's been a long, long time, Gravity Falls." Dipper PInes said as he gazed out at the lake. "Sometimes I thought you might have all been a dream."

It had indeed been a very long time for Dipper. He had last seen this crazy old town about seven years ago, when he was twelve. He and his twin sister, Mabel, had spent the summer with their grumpy uncle (who they called "Grunkle") named Stan. They had been completely unprepared when Gravity Falls held many mysterious, and sometimes unexplainable, secrets. This was a town of wonder and weird, of crazy and mystery. Vampires, gnomes, manotaurs, and many other creatures called this place home, and even though he had not seen it in so long, so did Dipper. He had fallen in love with this place instantly, as he was as curious and clever as they came. The monsters, secrets, and weirdness of this small town were perfect for him.

He had missed it ever since they had left.

Their parents had been horrified when Mabel, being the carefree spirit she was, excitedly told them all of the crazy adventures that she and Dipper had been apart of. They had been forbidden from ever seeing Gravity Falls, or Grunkle Stan, ever again. They had been heartbroken, as had Grunkle Stan, judging from the amount of letters he had sent over the following weeks. But their parents remained steadfast in their decision, and Dipper and Mabel had been kept in their hometown of Piedmont, California ever since. They had grown up, survived High School, and eventually split apart when their lives called in different directions. It had been a couple years since Dipper had last seen his sister, something he was often sad about. She had left after graduation to go on a trip to Europe with some friends, supposedly to "discover themselves." For a while Mabel had called and sent letters to Dipper and their parents, but they grew more and more infrequent, until they finally stopped altogether about a year ago.

Dipper was glad that she seemed to be having the time of her life, but he honestly missed her a lot. They had been super close their entire lives, practically attached at the hip despite their very different personalities. Dipper couldnt even imagine life without her until, suddenly, that was reality. Luckily for him, he had been quite busy at college, but even so, the hole in his life hurt like nothing he could have ever imagined. Every time he thought of a funny joke, or saw something interesting, and was prepared to show it to Mabel only to remember that she was gone, hurt. It was like he was on autopilot a lot of the time, just busying himself until the reality of his loneliness came crashing down again.

On the bright side, his caffeine fueled busyness led to him getting perfect grades in his classes, and quickly allowed him to finish his classes in record time, so that he was done with college within two years.

Now he had returned, hoping he could find some sign of where Grunkle Ford had gone. Stan too, if he could. He had spent many years now dreaming of the day he could return to Gravity Falls and begin uncovering the town's secrets like he had long ago. He just wished he wasn't coming back alone...

Dipper got back into his car, putting it in reverse. He knew where he had to go next, and within a few minutes he was there.

The Mystery Shack.

Dipper got out of the car once more, his breath uneven. It had been so long. He had dreamed of this moment for so long.

For its part, the Mystery Shack didn't look that worse for wear since when he had seen it last. Everything seemed to mostly be the same, if a little more faded, broken at places. The only thing out of place was a suspicious lack of a goat. Dipper wondered what had ever happened to old Gompers.

He reached the doorknob and slowly turned it. Amazingly, it was still unlocked. Dipper suddenly remembered that Soos had become owner last that Dipper had known. Did he still live here? What about Melody? Was Dipper breaking and entering?

The door creaked open, the dark night barely shedding any light on the pitch black room. Dipper reached for the light switch, finding the spot he vaguely remembered from his childhood. He flicked it on, but nothing happened. Dipper had come prepared, however, and pulled out a flashlight. He cast a light over the dark shapes, discovering tee shirt stands and various assortments of odd items everywhere. Dipper walked over to the counter and found that it was very dusty. It seemed that no one had been here in a long time.

"What happened to you, Soos?" Dipper asked out loud as he continued to explore the abandoned Shack. This had been his best lead to finding his Grunkles, and more importantly a good friend. He needed to find out where Soos had gone.

Dipper found his way out of the shop and into Stan's old living room. It, like the shop, was quite dusty and seemed abandoned. Seeing no immediate clues, Dipper decided to head upstairs to the attic that he and Mabel had shared so long ago. He knew that it was very unlikely it would help him find anything but... he just had to see it again.

The door to the attic creaked open, and it seemed just as abandoned as the rest of the house. Dipper sighed, looking out the triangle shaped window he had gazed out of many times when he was younger. It was so weird to be back.

Dipper froze when he noticed the sound. It was...

Breathing.

He wasn't alone.

Terrified, Dipper whirled around, pointing the flashlight at the bed that he realized too late was occupied. The light shined down to reveal a mop of brown hair. A very familiar mop of brown hair...

It couldn't be.

Could it?

"Mabel?" he whispered hoarsely.