Dipper rubbed his eyes as he walked down to the front door. He had recently been awoken by the sound of the doorbell ringing," Who could be up at this hour?"

He opened the door, a frown on his face,"We don't open for another 30 minutes." He looked up at the tall woman, noting her white dress, freckles and long red hair," Wendy?"

The woman looked down at him, a small smile on her face,"Oh, do you know my daughter?" She knelt down to his level,"I'm Arin Corduroy." She cocked her head, "I heard she worked here?"

Dipper frowned. He was pretty sure Wendy has never talked about her mother before. In fact, whenever he or Mabel asked about her, Wendy always seemed to dodge the question. Dipper had assumed her mother was dead or something. Suspicion arose in his mind, but he held himself back,"You heard right. Wendy should be coming about 2 minutes before we open."

Arin nodded,"Well, I guess I came a little too early, didn't I?" She sighed,"I really want to see her."

Dipper raised an eyebrow,"Yeah, about that, how come I've never seen you around before?"

Arin pouted,"Oh, I've been... preoccupied." She looked down at Dipper,"It's kept me away from my family for so long. But if Wendy isn't here yet, I'll go."

Then Mabel ran next to Dipper,"Oh, if you want, you can wait here!" She grinned.

Dipper looked at his sister,"Mabel!"

"What, she is Wendy's Mom!" Mabel smiled at him,"We should let her see Wendy!"

Dipper frowned, and whispered,"Mabel, what if she's some sort of demon, or other creature trying to do something terrible!"

Mabel leaned in and whispered,"Dipper, what if she isn't!? Why do you have to be so cynical all the time!?"

"Gee, could it be because we're in a weirdness magnet!?" Dipper argued.

Arin raised a finger,"Um if it's alright, I don't really mind sitting here and waiting."

Dipper looked at her, before looking at Mabel,"Alright, we're going to let her in, but the first sign of trouble, I'm calling Grunkle Ford."

Mabel smiled up at Mrs. Corduroy,"Alright," She took her by the hand,"Come on, Wendy usually works at the register."

Arin giggled as she happily followed her,"I assume you two must be twins. You look so much alike."

Dipper walked behind her,"Yeah, I'm Dipper and that's Mabel."

Arin let out a hum,"I think I heard those names from Wendy." She turned to Dipper,"She thinks highly of you two."

Dipper blushed a little, and scratched the back of his head,"Does she?" He laughed a little.

Mabel stopped at the register, and looked at her watch," Wendy usually comes right around..."

At that, the door to the shack proper opened up, revealing a teenaged girl in flannel, who was whistling a tune.

"Wendy, guess who's here!?" Mabel shouted, pointing to Arin.

Wendy opened her eyes,"Who-" Wendy immediately took a step back, her face contorting in horror,"M-Mom!?"

Arin smiled at her,"Hello, dear."

Dipper raised an eyebrow," Wendy? Is everything ok?"

Wendy looked at Dipper and Mabel, fear in her eyes, before looking at her mother,"Uh, Mom?" She gave a nervous smile, slowly moving towards her,"What are you doing here?"

Arin cupped her hands together and smiled,"I wanted to see you, of course. Am I not allowed to? You see me all the time."

Wendy nodded, stopping in front of her,"Yeah, when I'm allowed to." She looked at Dipper again,"Are you even allowed here?"

Arin laughed,"Oh, honey, that doesn't matter." She put a hand on her shoulder,"I finally get to see your workplace."

Wendy gulped,"Yeah, you do. Look, I just remembered that I needed to do something, why, uh," She quickly grabbed Dipper and Mabel,"Don't these two show you around the Mystery Shack?" She quickly whispered to them,"Keep her busy, don't let her near anything sharp, understand?"

Dipper and Mabel gave her strange looks.

"I'll explain later, OK?" Wendy whispered.

The twins gave slow nods.

"Alright, Mom, I'll be back in a bit, okay?" Wendy looked up at her mom.

Arin cocked her head, and pouted,"But, we've been apart for so long."

Wendy nodded,"Yeah, but I'll only be gone for... a few minutes, okay?" She began to slowly back away,"Just stay with the twins."

Arin sighed,"Okay, honey."

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other. Dipper frowned,"Okay, why was Wendy so scared?" He whispered to his sister,"I don't like this."

Mabel looked up at Mrs. Corduroy, who looked sad,"She doesn't seem all that bad." She whispered,"Maybe Wendy was just nervous seeing her?"

Dipper shook his head,"Mabel, the way Wendy was talking, especially about not letting her near sharp objects, just tells me that this woman is dangerous."

Mabel sighed,"Okay, I'll be careful around her." She looked up at her,"Come on, let's show you around," She took Arin by the hand.

Stan walked out of his office,"Okay, where's We-" He stopped when he saw Wendy's Mom,"Hot Belgian Waffles! I'm hiding the knives!" He ran off.

Dipper raised an eyebrow,"Okay, that's not fair, how come Stan knows what's going on, and not us!" he ran off after Stan,"Wait, why are you doing that?"

Arin smiled as Mabel began to take her around the shack,"Grunkle Stan put a lot of work into this Shack, Mrs. Corduroy," She began to explain some of the Mystery Shack's exhibits and other oddities.

Arin noticed a glint to the side, seeing a small sharp pocket knife. She quickly grabbed it and hid it behind her back.

"And here's the Sascrotch!" Mabel giggled a little, pointing to a sasquatch figure with undies,"He's pretty silly looking, right?"

Arin's mouth became a thin line,"Yes... silly."

Mabel turned to her,"Uh, you okay?"

Arin's smile came back,"Well, is there more?"

Mabel hummed to herself, "Oh, there's the Franks-in-stein."

"You mean Frankenstein?" Arin cocked her head.

Mabel ran to a cloth, and unraveled it to reveal a humanoid figure covered in hot dogs,"Franks-In-stein!"

Arin giggled at that,"Oh, I get it." she noticed a small figure in the corner,"What's that?"

Mabel waved it off,"Oh, that's just an unused mannequin, it's nothing."

Arin frowned,"Oh, I thought it was..."

Mabel looked around,"Hey, wait here, I need to grab something from another room!" She took off out of the room. She looked around,"I should show her-" She was interrupted by the sound of something striking wood in the other room. She looked back inside, noticing that Arin had thrown the mannequin to the ground. She straddled it, and was stabbing it several times.

Arin's face was contorted in rage, her teeth bared as she stabbed it with the pocket knife again and again,"Die. Die. Die!"

Mabel slowly walked in,"Um, Arin?"

Arin stopped at that noise. Her wide eyes slowly turning to Mabel. She got up at slowly walked to Mabel, her knife still in hand.

Mabel slowly backed away, fear in her eyes,"Um, you want to put that knife down?"

Arin cocked her head, her eyes twitching as she stared at the little girl. Mabel closed her eyes as she pounced at her. Mabel then felt Arin's arms wrap around her, and pull her close,"Wendy, it's okay, the monster's gone now." She chuckled,"I killed it. I killed it, it's okay..."

Mabel gasped as she turned her head away from Arin's shoulder,"Um, I'm not Wendy..."

"Wendy? Don't be like that..." Arin giggled,"It's just a little blood. I managed to get it dead. It's not gonna bother you anymore, we're gonna have to put it in the backyard though, poor thing,but that'll teach it to mess with you..."

"Uh, Ar-" Mabel stopped herself, and took a deep breath,"Mom, I'm okay, could you let me go?"

"No!" Arin shouted, rocking Mabel back and forth,"If I do, the beasts will get you..."

Mabel looked to the door, noticing it quickly opening, and Wendy's form running in, Dipper following close behind.

Arin turned to the noise,"More?" She cocked her head,"Get behind me, Wendy, they'll know why they shouldn't mess with a momma bear like me!" She roared as she ran at Wendy.

With expert precision, Wendy's hand flew to her mother's wrist, and twisted it, causing her to drop the knife.

Arin whimpered as she knelt to the ground. Wendy let go of her wrist and bent over to pick up the knife.

Arin rubbed her wrist, before looking up at her daughter, her eyes softening,"Oh, no," She looked back at Mabel,"Did... did it happen again?" She looked back at Wendy.

Wendy stared at her mother and slowly nodded.

"N-no one was hurt, right?" Arin asked.

"Only a dummy." Wendy frowned as Mabel ran to hug Dipper.

Arin looked down at the floor,"I... I thought I was feeling better. I thought I was cured, and the doctors were just keeping me from seeing you." she sniffled,"But... I guess I'm never getting better..."

Wendy knelt down to her,"Mom," She looked down at the floor with a sigh,"I think you're showing progress." She gave a weak smile"After all, you actually remembered my name this time, so that's a plus!" She gave a bigger smile,"And I know someone who's also getting better! If he can become sane, then so can you!"

Arin smiled up at her,"Such optimism." She reached her arms around Wendy, and took her in,"The fact that one day I'll come back to you all is the only thing that's keeping me going."

Wendy hugged her back,"Yeah, one day." She pulled away,"Dad's here, you know."

Arin frowned, and looked down,"He wants to take me back, right." She slowly got up,"Well, I'm not going to fight it."

Wendy took her by the hand and led her out.

Dipper put his hands on Mabel's shoulders,"You okay?"

Mabel let out a relieved breath, and wiped her eyes,"I-I just looked away for a second, Dipper, and..." she sniffled a little,"I messed up again, didn't I?"

Dipper shook her head,"You didn't mess up, Mabel, we didn't know, ok?"

"Sorry about that." They turned to see Wendy leaning on the doorway. Wendy's eyes turned down to the floor,"... Now you know why I don't talk about Mom too much." She sighed,"I wasn't expecting her to escape from the hospital. I thought they had better security." She walked over to them, and sat down next to them,"Mom's been like that for a long time, longer than we'd like." She held her arm and sighed,"We're not quite sure how it started, but one day she just... snapped." She frowned,"Though, after meeting the Society of the Blind Eye, I have my suspicions." She looked at the twins,"We've kept her in that hospital for a long time, and for me, it feels like she was never going to get better." She smiled a little,"It wasn't until I met Old Man McGucket that I started getting hope that, one day, she'll be back to my mom again."

Mabel sat down, and put a hand on Wendy's shoulder,"You're right, if Old Man McGucket can get better, so can she!" She smiled,"Hey, if you show her her memories, maybe she'll get sane faster!"

Wendy chuckled a little,"Okay, but how am I gonna explain that to the doctor?"

Mabel frowned,"Haven't thought of that..."

Wendy got back up,"Stan decided to let me have the day off." She sighed,"I need a moment to myself." her head went down, her hair covering her eyes as she left.

Dipper looked down at the ground,"Mabel,"

Mabel turned away from him,"Yeah?"

"Let's call our mom, and tell her we love her." Dipper said, getting back up.

"Right." Mabel walked away with him.

A/N: Did something a little more dramatic than my usual. This is something that just clicked in my head, figured I wanted to do something a little more different than,'Wendy's mom is dead.'