One-Shot #2- 42

42 is a wondrous number. It's the jersey number both Hall of Fame baseball players Jackie Robinson and Mariano Rivera wore. It's the angle needed for a rainbow to appear. 42 is the title of both a Doctor Who episode and a Coldplay song. There are 42 territories in the game of risk and 42 dots on a pair of six-sided die.

However, what we don't realize is that the number 42 has a deep and dark significance to a certain old man in Gravity Falls. That cranky, stingy, yet very caring and hilarious man is none other than Stanford Pines. It was on his 42nd birthday that Stanford Pines lost something very near to him, someone... close. On July 4th, 1982, Stanford and his twin brother Stanley Pines gained another year to their lives, but lost one another as Bill Cipher gave Stanford a birthday present that he will never forget.

"Bill, you can't do this." Stanley Pines said as Bill hovered around him and his brother.

The vibrant colors of the world around them had turned to gray after Bill had shown up. The trees had stopped swaying in the wind and the animals froze as Bill dashed around the Pines twins.

"I can do what I want!" Bill said with a laugh. "That's the great thing about being a demon." He stopped in front of them, his eye narrowed. "I already got your friend, McGucket."

"You didn't!" Stanley said in shock, trying to move forward to punch the demon. He was stuck though, unable to move his legs.

"I most certainly did. You shouldn't have gotten him involved... Now, his brain is like tapioca pudding." Bill laughed before growing larger and increasingly red. "Now, it's your turn to pay!" He said with a low voice, pointing at Stanley.

"I told you that you should have stopped this crap when we were younger! Why couldn't you just let this go!" Stanford yelled at his brother, not helping the situation.

Stanley pleaded with the yellow demon. "Bill, can you give us a break for one day? It's our birthday for god-sakes!"

Bill paused for a moment and returned down to his normal size. Stanley felt an invisible force release him from its grasp. He could move again. "Why didn't you just say so?" Bill said in his high pitched voice. "I can wait another day. It's not like you could run away from me." Bill laughed. Stanley and Stanford let out a slight sigh of relief as they looked at each other with worried eyes. Bill backed away from them. "I'll be watching you guys. See you tomorrow!" He said happily as he vanished in front of the twins. Stanley and Stanford looked at each other and began running furiously towards the Mystery Shack. They needed to get to Stanley's red El' Diablo and get as far away from Gravity Falls as possible. They couldn't pack, say goodbyes or even check up on McGucket. They needed to leave, now.

The branches smacked the twins in the face as they ran through the dense forest. Dirt flew up behind them as their sneakers picked up the mud and flung it in the air. It felt like ages since they had run through the woods in fear. Their bodies not as in shape as the twelve year old Stan twins that ran away from Vampire Bats, or the twenty-six year old Stan twins that ran away from a pack of eight werewolves. They had met Bill Cipher only a handful of times back then, but he wasn't as evil or nasty to them as he was now. Bill went rogue, his anger set off by something Stanley had mistakenly done.

"Why is he so pissed off?" Stanford said between breaths. He was starting to feel tired now.

"I screwed up dude. I screwed up big time." Stanley said worriedly, while still remaining vague.

Stanford stopped next to a tree and held onto it to catch his balance and re-intake a steady flow of oxygen. Stanley stopped next to him, he was clearly in better shape than his brother. "You need to tell me right now, what happened?" Stanford said, holding onto his brother's shoulder.

"He already told you, he screwed up big time!" The Pines twins turned around to see Bill floating behind them. Bill laughed. "Surprise!" The twins looked at each other, their impending doom was upon them. "You really thought I'd give you the day off? You two are so ignorant!" Bill became large and red again. "And now it's time to pay for what you've done!" His deep, booming voice rang in their ears. The twins tried to move, but they were held in place by Bill's invisible force.

Stanford gazed at his brother in horror as he began floating up into the air. Stanley's eye's faded into a blue glow as he lost control and feeling of his body. Stanford tried yelling Stanley's name, but he couldn't hear his own voice and all that came out was a measly croak. Stanley stopped rising and Bill's demonic voice echoed throughout the force. He was speaking in tongues in which Stanford could not understand. However, he did understand that they were doomed. Stanley had a black hole form where his stomach was as it slowly sucked him in. There was no resistance as Stanley Pines was fully under Bill's control. The last thing Stanford saw of his brother was his leg being swallowed up by the vortex that sent him far beyond this dimension.

Bill turned to Stanford and morphed back into his yellow form. Stanford's ears began to ring as if someone had shot a pistol right next to his eardrum. Somehow he could still hear Bill through the loud ringing. "Happy Birthday Stanford Pines." Bill said as he laughed maniacally and disappeared in front of Stanford.

Stanford fell to his knees as he cried and wiped blood from his nose. He picked up the glasses that had fallen off his brother's face and stared into them. He swore that he could see his brother's reflection in the lens of the glasses. After a night of sobbing and sleeping in the woods, Stan returned to the Mystery Shack the next morning with the glasses, only to place them on a desk in Stanley's room before sealing off some of the memories that haunted him... until one day, this mysterious room was found by a handyman named Soos.