A/N: Sooo.. here it is! Chapter one! This is right after Not What He Seems. Thanks guys! Please review! Hope you like this!
Chapter I: Cold
Summer of 2012
Gravity Falls, Oregon
The Basement of the Mystery Shack
Soos fell to the ground with the loud thud, totally fainting. Well, you would if you just found out that the effing Author your friend was searching for the whole summer, is atually the brother of your stingy, grumpy boss.
Mabel and Dipper simply gaped at the Author, who was brushing dirt off his clothes, then pushing his cracked glasses up to the bridge of his nose. Even Grunkle Stan was struck dumb, as though his brother's presence was compressing into him. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak.
"Is... is that really... you?" He croaked. His brother gazed at him. Slowly, he nodded.
"This is gonna be a very wet moment," Mabel simpered, her eyes gleaming.
Grunkle Stan snorted.
"Told 'ya from the start, didn't I, that that deal would never work out? Mind you, you owe me big time. I had no idea on what all your geeky algorithm-thingy was all about, and got meself in jail for two times just because of this madness." He shook his head, smirking. "You're still a moron, eh Stanley?"
"Well that's typical," Mabel mumbled.
Stanley rolled his eyes. "And you never changed, Stanford." He grew solemn. "How's Simon?"
Suddenly, everything clicked for Dipper.
"Excuse me!" He yelled. All of them stared at him. Stanley- that's what he's called?- examined them curiously, obviously only noticing that they were there.
"Grandchildren, Stanford?" He said expectantly.
"Ermmm... about that..."
Mabel gasped.
"You!" She said excitedly. She glanced at Dipper, whose jaw had dropped.
"If you're his brother-" Mabel began.
"And Grunkle Stan's our grand uncle," said Dipper in hushed tones. "Then-"
They wheeled about to look at Stanford. "Is he-?"
"Your... grandfather..."
They whizzed around; Stanley looked surprised with himself, stunned at what he had just discovered.
Mabel landed on the dirt next to Soos: she had fainted, too.
"I am the grandson of the Author," Dipper muttered feverishly. "The grandson of the Author.. the grandson of the Author!"
Dipper gazed at the twins, mouth still hanging open. He just didn't know what to feel right now; it's as if all these mixed emotions were fighting for dominance over his being. And so he contented himself with being completely speechless.
As if in a trance, Stanley approached him. He knelt down and placed a hand on Dipper's shoulders, dazed. Dipper thought on how identical he looked like to his Grunkle, except for their noses, their chins and their hair. Something suddenly lurched inside his stomach. It made him feel sick.
""What is your name, child?"
"D-Dipper," he stammered.
"You... you look just llike your father when he was young," his grandfather whispered. Dipper swallowed. He remembered the tales his dad used to tell him, about how he missed his own father terribly, how he lose him at such a young age. All of those sufferings, for this?
"Why did you leave?"
There was a painful silence.
You're too young, kid " Stan said quietly, and it wasn't his usual gruff voice either.
"Yeah?" Said Dipper coldly. "Too young to discover all the lies? Well guess what, it had already happened."
There was a small moan; Soos was already coming around.
"Dudes, I got this crazy dream that Stan actually has a doomsday device under the basement, and everything went all floaty and-"
He caught sight of Stanley.
"Oh..." he said slowly. "So... that wasn't a dream? Can.. can I faint back or-"
BANG.
The whole basement shook, as dust went raining down on them, and the wreckage began to loosen and threaten to crush them. They looked up, startled. In the distance, they could just hear the sirens of the FBI blaring right on the premises of the Shack.
There was another BANG, and Mabel jerked awake.
"Where's the giant pig?" She said rather stupidly.
"Right there!" An angry voice echoed just from above the broken lift. "We got 'em cornered!" With another lurch, Dipper remembered that they had left the vending machine open.
"It's the cops," Stan muttered. He turned to Stanley, who was looking at him in disbelief.
"Always wanted the center of attention, eh?"
"Hey, do you think I wanted this? Now, do you have any tunnel or other secret passage or whatever? Seems to me they're trying to force their way into the place."
It did seem that the place was about to cave in. Small pieces of junk are starting to fall from the dark ceiling. Stanley walked across the cavern, then reached the opposite wall. There was no trapdoor, no opening, no any means of escape. They were trapped, and it's either being crushed to death, or get arrested by those darn cops. Panic started to reverberate horribly around the room.
"Stanley, this is not the time to be weird!" Stan barked. Stanley was running his hands over the wall. Dipper noticed that the wall actually has a carving of a circle surrounded by 15 odd symbols. "We need to get out of here!"
Stanley wasn't listening. He was still examining the carving.
There was a CREAK from above them. Dipper looked up. He gasped.
"MABEL, WATCH OUT!"
He jumped and pushed her out of the way just in time, screaming: a large part of metal tubes had fallen and smashed to the ground with a CRASH.
"STANLEY!" Stan roared, hurrying towards the twins, who were both sprawled on the floor, panting. They could hear the scramblings of the cops getting nearer, going down. "For God's sake-"
"I GOT IT!" Stanley yelled. "Alkaid and Arcturus, of course!"
He pressed two consecutive symbols.
The circle suddenly glowed red: the wall moved backward and slid sideways, opening a huge underground tunnel.
" Hurry, get in!"
They all scrambled inside it. And just in time, too; as the wall began to close, the cavern collapsed, bringing in a tide of rocks, metals, boulders and wood. The whole Mystery Shack was destroyed, giving in to the curse of gravity. Everything, the evidence and the portal, was gone.
The wall clanged shut. They stood stock still, shocked.
"Well," said Stanley, breathing heavily. "We need to get going. This leads to my bunker in the woods," he added."Just follow me."
"You never told me about this place," Stan grumbled, slipping a little on the damp stony ground, as he followed his twin. Soos started walking, but Mabel stayed behind.
"Dipper, did you hear?" She said. "If this leads to the bunker, then he must have created the Shape shifter! Do you think it es...?"
Her voice faltered when she saw Dipper deep in thought with a scowl on his face.
"D-D-Dipper? " She asked uncertainly.
Dipper marched away without uttering a single word, the scowl more pronounced than ever.
"Hey, wait up!
The bunker was so cold.
Dipper shivered as he wrapped the blanket more tightly around himself. He realized that he must have left his cap inside the basement. It felt weird not wearing it, like another part of him was ripped away.
They had just went through a series of winding tunnels. It was horribly familiar. After all, their visit to the bunker was still etched on his brain.
"Be careful," Stanley had said. "There's a monster around here, and he can take on any form."
"Psssh, don't worry about that, grandpa, Dipper and I tackled the Shape shifter ages ago!" Mabel had said cheerfully. "Right, Dipper? The Mystery Twins are on the case!"
But Dipper refused to say anything. He had been relatively silent throughout the journey. They passed the underground lab and saw the iced compartment of another Dipper, frozen, in the exact position as they remembered: screaming as though in unbearable pain.
It was disturbing. Grunkle Stan stared at it.
"B-b-but.. w-who...?"
"Shape shifter," Dipper grunted. "Says that's the form I take before I die."
All of them flinched at how bluntly he said it.
"Well, good luck sleeping with that haunting your dreams," joked Soos, trying to lighten the mood. No one said a word.
"Best if we keep going," Stan said gruffly, after a moment's silence.
They went inside the surveillance room, then went on to the main part of the bunker itself, where the storage was kept, careful not to step on that certain part that triggers security shut down. There Stanley found some moldy blankets and handed it out to the children. They were now trying to find something edible to eat.
"Hey, Dipper."
Mabel went closer to Dipper, who was huddled by the corner. She was using her own blanket like a flimsy hat. But she looked concerned.
"You're a little off lately," she said. "Off-er than off. Missing Waddles, too, eh?"
Dipper sighed, irritated. "You really don't know what's the problem, Mabel?"
"No, but I am one million percent Doctor Mabel's gonna heal 'ya! C'mon, Bro-bro, we're twins!"
"I can't believe you're so naive," said Dipper harshly. He had not meant to say it, but finally the feeling of betrayal won over.
Mabel looked taken aback, confused and hurt.
" Dipper... what...?"
"I'll tell you what, " said Dipper through gritted teeth. " I'm your brother! But you chose to listen to someone who lied to us all along, who would have just watched us become bait! Think, Mabel, If you pressed that button, would we be in this mess?"
"Is this what you're sulking about? Dipper, if I did press that button, Grandpa wouldn't be here! I thought you're happy you finally met the Author! "
"That's besides the point! After all we'd been through... after all we'd done... you chose him, not me."
Dipper glared at her. Mabel turned red.
"I was only trying to do the right thing, " she said hotly.
"I don't think you even know what's the right thing. Not one clue. Just leave me alone. Don't ever talk to me again."
And with that, he brought the blanket over his head, covering his face completely. He thought he heard a sniff as Mabel walked away.
A tear splashed down his cheek.
A/N: Sorry about this... I just can't resist! Oh, by the way, the circle etched on the wall with 15 symbols are actually the Behenian fixed star symbols, same as the one that surrounds the portal, with one missing ( I looked it up, and the guide only has 15 symbols, the sixteenth is unidentified.) Alkaid is the star at the tip of Big Dipper (Ursa Major) and Arcturus is the brightest star in constellation Bootes. Arcturus is known as the guardian of the bear: It is near Ursa Major. *Wink* Bye!