The moment the car doors opened up, Mabel rushed towards her parents and gave them each a deep hug.
"Mom, Dad, it's so good to see you!"
Their embrace was even tighter than their daughter's. "It's good to see you too, Mabel. I'm so glad that you're okay."
Her father and mother looked around as their daughter took a step back to give them some space, taking in the scene around them. A couple of gnomes were peeking out behind some trees, evidently trying and failing to remain hidden as they observed. A fairy flitted to and fro in the air, spreading sparkles all around the area. Perhaps most noticeable, though, was the damage that the Shack had taken. The roof was filled with holes, though most had been patched up with plywood; the walls were covered in dents and pockmarks; the sign that had proclaimed it to be the Mystery Shack (or, rather, the Mystery Hack, as their efforts to keep the S in place always turned out fruitless) was now missing another letter, rendering it the Mystery Ack.
"What… happened?"
Grunkle Stan, who was standing on his porch, gave the couple a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head. "It's a long story."
"And where's Dipper?" the twins' mother asked. "I thought Mabel said he'd be here to greet us."
"But he IS!" Mabel gestured towards a patch of air on her left. "See? He's right here! I told him to give you guys a hug when I did, but somebody was too scared to do it." The girl stuck out her tongue briefly.
The two parents exchanged a long, somber glance, their eyes telling what they weren't quite ready or able to express in words just yet.
Her mother was the first to break the silence. "Mabel… honey… there's nothing there."
The smile disappeared from Mabel's face. "But he's right here, he's waving to you guys and everything and… you really can't see him?"
"Look, Mabel…" Her father walked over to his daughter and crouched down until the two were face to face. "I know it's tough for you to understand, but… your brother's not around anymore. Now, of course he'll live on in our hearts, and he'll never really be gone as long as we remember him…"
"But he's not gone! Just because he's a… ghost, or whatever, doesn't mean that…"
As her voice trailed off, Mabel looked to her left, her eyes dark and sad. "I'm sorry, Dipper… yeah, I thought so, too, but… I guess it's just me, huh, bro-bro? Just the two of us. Mystery Twins?" The girl held her fist up while tears began to trail down her face.
Out of nowhere came a strong gust of wind, blowing Mabel's long hair into her face. Several shingles from the Mystery Shack's roof blew away. Two more letters fell off of the Shack's sign, so that it now advertised itself as the Mystery A. The gnomes that had been spying on the scene gave out a series of high-pitched cries and retreated into the depths of the forest, and the fairy flew away, leaving behind only a thin trail of glittering dust to mark its path.
"DIPPER!" Mabel put her hands on her hips. "Calm down! I know it's tough, but… we'll figure something out. It'll all be okay, I promise!"
The winds abruptly died down.
Grunkle Stan took a shaky step forward and extended one arm in the direction of the door to the Mystery Shack. "You two must be tired after that long car ride. Why don't you just come inside and rest up a little? Maybe I'll even feed you if you ask nicely enough!" The old man punctuated the end of his statement with a rough, hollow laugh.
Slowly, the rest of the Pines family began gravitating towards the door that Stan held open. As Mabel stepped inside, her father ruffled her hair and gave her a thin-lipped smile.
"We'll talk more about Dipper later, alright, Mabel? Right now, I'm just glad to see that you're safe… and sound."
Mabel sighed and stared at the ground, unwilling to meet her father's gaze. As her parents sat down on the couch and Grunkle Stan started chatting them up with a forced light-heartedness, she headed up to the attic, scrunching her arms into her sleeves until they were entirely covered up by her sweater. She would have to come back downstairs and talk to her parents soon, she knew that. But right now, all she wanted to do was hide away in Sweater Town.