What Has Been & Shall Never Be Again: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Part One
Nearly three months had passed since the sudden and unexpected losses of Mabel Pines and Pacifica Northwest in a random and senseless act of violence. The lives of many were changed that fateful early summer evening, but none more so than those of Wendy Corduroy and Dipper Pines. Wendy had become wracked with crushing guilt, causing her to attempt to end her life on two separate occasions. Dipper, who had lost not only a girlfriend, but his twin sister, became cold and withdrawn as he struggled to make sense of the situation. Through the shared heartache, the twenty year old police officer and the distraught seventeen year old boy had found one another. A sudden and intense romance bloomed between the pair of friends and soon they began to sift through the ashes of a future that was burned before their very eyes. At Dipper's encouragement, his girlfriend had begun to seek help for her depression. While it was difficult to open up at first, it soon became therapeutic to release the pressure that she had placed on herself over the years. Dipper noticed the change in his auburn haired girlfriend, as she slowly returned to her easy going ways. He was just glad that the beautiful smile he had become infatuated with five years ago had reclaimed its rightful place on her freckled face.
Dipper had managed to learn that it was perfectly fine to share his feelings with others, instead of withdrawing from life. The brown haired teen was eased a bit by the fact that he had been visited by the ghost of his late girlfriend Pacifica two weeks after the tragedy. She instructed him to take care of Wendy, as the very fate of the future depended on it. Dipper was a bit confused by the somewhat cryptic message, but decided to heed her warning. The blonde teen also reassured her boyfriend that it was alright to move on from the past, and that while it upset them both that they could no longer be together, that the time they spent was meaningful and forever lasting. Dipper and Wendy had begun to go out and reconnect to the friends they both had pushed away in the aftermath of the tragic events of June 3rd. After a successful test run at a Fourth of July party hosted by Tambry, Wendy decided to throw her boyfriend an eighteenth birthday celebration. The redhead was unsure of how to go about planning the party, acknowledging that it wouldn't be a completely cheerful occasion with the absence of Mabel. After weeks of wracking her brain and preparing, the big day had arrived.
Wendy rolled over in her bed to find it missing her boyfriend Dipper. "Maybe he's in the shower…" the auburn haired woman thought to herself as she got out of the queen sized bed. Adorned in a pair of pink and black panties and a black tank top, the young woman walked down the hallway towards the bathroom. As she drew closer, she failed to hear the reassuring sound of the shower running, which caused her to panic a bit. Dipper had been his normal nerdy self the past few days, but just like her, she knew his anxiety and depression could return with a vengeance at any time. Making her way into the living room, the alabaster skinned twenty year old failed to catch sight of her lover. Out of the corner of her eye, a message hastily written on the dry erase board that decorated the refrigerator caught her attention. "Wendy, went out for a bit. I'll be back soon with breakfast. Love, Mason" the note simply read. A sigh of relief escaped her previously pursed lips as she leaned up against the kitchen counter; the cool linoleum causing a chill to run up her back. "He would wake up early and get breakfast for us on his birthday…" Wendy said to herself as she stepped away from the counter and walked back towards the bathroom, planning to get ready for her breakfast date.
The young officer slipped out of her clothes and turned on the water. While waiting for it to heat up, she stole a glance of herself in the mirror. Her slender and toned frame reflected back at her, as she took note of her still healing scar on her left forearm. The mark was still noticeable on her pale skin, and likely would be for the rest of her life; a reminder of her darkest and most desperate hour. A few minutes later, the redhead emerged from the shower, feeling cleansed and refreshed. After drying off, the young woman walked nude back to her bedroom, taking advantage of the fact that she was all alone. Wendy traveled to her dresser and opened the top drawer, revealing her intimates. Selecting a pair of navy blue panties and a matching bra, the freckled woman next made her way to the closet. She removed an outfit from the dark room and laid it on her bed. Pulling a maroon skirt with lace trim up her slender legs, she next reached for a white tank top, yanking it down over her toned body. A button up faded denim shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows completed the look. After doing her makeup and adding a little bit of jewelry, the redhead was ready to celebrate her boyfriend's birthday.
Right on cue, the apartment door opened and in burst the seventeen year old boy, with an armful of bags. The redhead rushed to help her boyfriend out. "You coulda called! I'd have come down and helped you out…" the scarlet haired woman said. "It's cool… I had it…" the brown haired teen reassured her. "That's why you were about to dump the food all over the floor…" Wendy sarcastically shot back. "Okay… Maybe I could have used a bit of help, but I wasn't sure if you were up yet and I didn't wanna wake you if you weren't" Dipper admitted. "While I appreciate the chivalry, if I wasn't up by now, you had every right to wake my ass up…" the redhead said. "Dually noted…" the teen boy deadpanned. "So… To what do I owe the honor of this breakfast?" Wendy inquired. "Well… I really couldn't sleep last night… So I went to wish Mabel an early happy birthday, and I figured while I was out and about…" the brown haired seventeen year old replied in a sullen tone.
The couple sat down at the kitchen table and began to eat their fast food breakfast. "Look… If you just wanna stay in today, that's cool… I totally get it…" Wendy said after swallowing a mouthful of her bacon, egg and cheese bagel. "Nah… I mean, you did go through a lot of work to plan this party for me and all…" Dipper said, declining her offer as he reached for his cup of coffee. "Wha!? How the hell did you know about that?! It was supposed to be a surprise…" the redhead said with a disappointed voice. "Remember… I have a keen sense of observation. I noticed that you were on your phone a lot the last few days and with my birthday coming up, it wasn't that difficult to put two and two together…" Dipper somewhat smugly explained to his deflated girlfriend. "Well… You suck dude! I get that you feel like you have to solve every mystery in this damn town, but sometimes you just gotta let things be…" the ginger woman said in an defeated voice. "Sorry… Not gonna happen…" Dipper said through a mouthful of food.
Just as Dipper was finishing his meal, his cell phone began to emit a guitar solo from a rock song, signaling to the teen that someone was calling him. The display read 'Mom & Dad' as the now eighteen year old unlocked the phone to answer. The brown haired teenager stood up from the kitchen table and walked away to converse with his parents. "Thanks Mom! Thanks Dad!" the redhead overheard her boyfriend replying. After a few minutes, the call ended and he walked back over to the kitchen table, where Wendy was finishing her second cup of coffee. "So, how'd that go?" the ginger woman asked. "Eh… You know… The usual off-key singing of happy birthday… The whole speech of how I was an adult now and that even though I was off and on my own in a whole other state, that I'm still their son… You know, that sort of stuff…" the blue and white ballcap adorned teen answered. "Gotta love parents…" Wendy said with a chuckle. "No doubt… I just hope they're okay today… You know, with Mabel and all…" the now legal adult said in a serious tone. Wendy wanted to say something, but had no idea of what to say.
After cleaning up breakfast, Wendy sat down on the dark leather couch in the living room, where she was soon joined by Dipper. The couple turned on the Portland Lumbers soccer match against their heated rivals Bay Area FC. While the auburn haired woman pulled for Portland, her boyfriend was a fan of the Bay Area squad, seeing as Piedmont was nearby and his family were avid followers of the team. The morning quickly flew by as the couple cheered their respective favorites on. After a thrilling match, in which Bay Area FC won in extra time, the pair got ready to head out to the Mystery Shack for the not so surprise party. After exiting the second floor apartment, Wendy and Dipper made their way down the long and narrow staircase into the vestibule. Dipper sat down on the bottom step to add his black and white skater shoes to his outfit, which consisted of a pair of jeans, a grey t-shirt, and a red flannel patterned long sleeve button up shirt.
Wendy unlocked the door to her green Fjord J-150 pickup truck and sat down on the bench seat, soon joined by her boyfriend. After a short drive, the pair arrived at the familiar wooden building, which was adorned with balloons and streamers. Dipper had barely exited the truck before becoming wrapped up in one of Soos' signature bear hugs. "Happy Birthday dude!" the large man exclaimed. Although he usually spent his days in a suit, today he was in a decidedly more relaxed attire of khaki shorts and his trademark Mystery Shack t-shirt. "Thanks!" Dipper coughed as he was placed back onto the dusty ground of the parking lot. A crowd gathered at the front of the building, each greeting the now eighteen year old man. While Dipper tried to put on a smile and celebrate his birthday, it was merely a façade. Inside the brown haired man a war was raging between grief and anger. The flannel clad teen was upset that he would have to celebrate not only this birthday, but every one going forward without his other half; his twin sister Mabel. The anger he felt stemmed from the fact that he saw the events that led to his sister's demise as needless and careless. "Why couldn't have Robbie just asked his parents for the money? They're the only morticians in town, and they'll never run out of customers, so surely they could have helped their son out…" the man with the blue and white ballcap tried to rationalize to himself.
Unknowingly, Dipper had wondered off from the gathering as he became lost in his thoughts. The teen came upon a clearing in the forest; one that was quite familiar to him. It was where he had professed his crush to Wendy that first summer. Where Pacifica and he had ended their first date. Where a few months ago, he and Wendy had begun to make out before a storm cut things short. The brown haired man sat down on the familiar log and began to weep. "Mabel… I-I miss you so fucking much sis… You've been gone for three months and it feels like three decades…" Dipper struggled to say between sobs. Wendy, curious to where the man of the hour had disappeared to, looked high and low. After searching every conceivable inch of the Mystery Shack, a thought came to the scarlet haired woman. "Of course!" she exclaimed to herself. The athletic young woman broke out in a sprint as she rushed into the forest, as branches scraped along her arms and legs. Seeing the familiar clearing in the distance, the redhead slowed her pace, not wanting to alarm her boyfriend. She watched as the teen sat on a fallen tree trunk and wept. The heart of the freckled woman broke as she saw her love in utter despair. While she had lost a mother and knew what the death of a family member felt like, she couldn't fathom what the loss of someone who was nearly identical to you in every way must feel like. "Poor Dip… I knew this was a bad idea…" she said to herself.
Using the skills her father had instilled in her as an outdoorsman, the ginger woman managed to walk up to her boyfriend undetected. Wendy sat down on the weathered log and wrapped her lover in an embrace as he continued to cry. Dipper immediately knew that it was Wendy who was comforting him. The twenty year old woman rubbed his back in a calming manner. "I-I'm sorry you had to see me like this…" the flannel clad teen apologized in a raspy voice. Wendy continued to comfort the upset teen, knowing that the best thing to do right now was to listen, instead of speaking. "I-I'm just not who I was three months ago… I don't know if I'll ever be again, to be honest. I-I just miss having her around…" the brown haired man said as he tried to fight the tears in his eyes. While he was learning to accept that he was allowed to show his emotions, the young man was still adapting to the concept. "I-I took her for granted Wendy… I thought that she'd always be there… I-If I could just have one more moment with her… I-I'd tell her how special she was to me… That I shouldn't have been annoyed by her… That I shouldn't have gotten angry at her so much… I-I was a bad brother to her…" Dipper said as his breathing intensified and the tears rained down from his eyes.
"Mason… You were not a horrible brother to her… Not at all…" Wendy said in a caring tone. "Y-You're just saying that… You didn't see how bad I was to her sometimes… I made her feel bad for being herself… I-I mean, yeah, she could be a little selfish at times… A-And a bit annoying… And a little immature… But that was just who she was… A-And I made her ashamed to be herself…" Dipper rebuffed. A frown formed over the redhead's face. She hated to see her boyfriend be so hard on himself. "Dipper… I've seen a lot more than you think I have… I saw all the times you were there for her… Like that time she tripped over a tree root in the woods your first week here and you carried her back to the Shack… Then you wrapped her ankle up, made her an ice pack for it, and even sat and watched 'Why You Ackin' So Cray Cray?' with her… even though I know that you abhor that show with every fiber of your being…" Wendy offered as evidence to prove her point. "A-And how about that time that she got dumped right in the middle of that huge Summerween party two years ago? Who was there to comfort her and left the party early because he wanted to make sure his sister got home safely? Oh yeah, that was you…" Wendy said as she looked into the almond colored eyes of her lover, trying to convince him of how wrong he was.
Dipper turned and hugged the redhead, thankful that she saw the good in him. "Dude… Siblings quarrel and bicker all the time… They sometimes even say or do mean things to one another… But they're still siblings, and they still care about each other. Mabel absolutely loved you… And I know you absolutely loved her… I also think that if she were here right now, she'd say the same thing… I think she'd tell you that she gets why you're down, but that you should remember all the great times you had growing up together. I think she'd tell you to go have a great time at the party, and to have fun for her too…" Wendy said in a reassuring tone. "You know what?... You're right… It sucks that she's not here right now, but she'd want me to go have fun… Just like I would if I was killed and she was still alive" the brown haired teen said as he rose to his feet, sniffling a bit. Let's get back to the party… I'm sure everyone is wondering where we are..." Dipper explained. "Yeah… They either think something bad happened… Or that we snuck off to bang or somethin'…" the freckled woman said with a chuckle. "Yeah…" the eighteen year old said as a slight blush came over his cheeks. The pair grasped one another's hand and made the short trek back towards the Mystery Shack as the party began to get started.
Author's note: So, this will be a two parter… I had a lot of good ideas and wanted to fit them all into the story. This is a very busy time of the year for me, so sorry the updates are taking so long…
My playlist while writing this chapter:
Panic! At The Disco – "Victorious"
James Arthur – "Say You Won't Let Go"
The Decemberists – "We Both Go Down Together"
Jens Lekman – "Evening Prayer"
LCD Soundsystem – "Call The Police"
Nothing More – "Jenny"
Band Of Horses – "The Funeral"
M83 – "Graveyard Girl"
Courtney Barnett – "Avant Gardener"
Sir Sly – "High"
Phantogram – "You Don't Get Me High Anymore"
The Kooks – "Be Who You Are"
Middle Kids – "Never Start"
Grouplove – "Good Morning"