"Mabel, come!" Dipper grabbed his sister's arm and dragged her into their car.
Their parents had given the Twins a car in their 18th birthday, and allowed them to use it "only if absolutely and strictly necessary". Dipper got his driving license some weeks later. And he did pretty well with it.
"Dipper, what the heck happened?!" Mabel exclaimed, lost and confused.
"There's no time to explain, I'll tell you in the car!" Dipper answered her, tense and nervous, his voice trembling.
They got into the car, put their seat belts and disappeared from Piedmont quickly as ghosts.
"What? Are you sure?" Mabel yelled shocked.
"Yeah, that's what Mom told me." Dipper's voice never sounded so trembling.
"Dipper, careful!" Mabel shouted.
They almost hit a car. And dodged in the last second.
"STOP SCREAMING!" Dipper shouted back, raising his voice.
"Okay, sorry. You always drive so well, please, I know you're nervous, but focus! I don't wanna end up dead in the road!" Mabel was way too nervous too.
Dipper usually drove very well and safely, but no one could blame him right now for driving way too fast and bluntly.
Not even when the dusk appeared in the sky Dipper succumbed. "Why... Just why..." He whispered more than one time.
Gravity Falls, Oregon. 5th July 2018. 3:26 am
The sky was dark like the feathers of a raven. No clouds, no stars in the sky. Only the white moon illuminating everything.
The Mystery Shack was completely empty. The Twins rushed into the door. Dipper pushed it with so much strenght it made a deafening noise when it hit the wall.
They were paralyzed by the horror of what they just saw.
Grunkle Stan was lying on the floor of the gift shop, near the vending machine, bleeding from some big wounds.
The Twins couldn't say anything, they just rushed to Stan's moribund body and knelt next to him.
"Grunkle Stan! Oh my God, how could this happen?" Dipper lamented.
Stan was still alive, but barely. He was just looking at Dipper, breathing with difficulty.
Mabel started crying, holding her grunkle's hand. "Grunkle Stan... You... You'll be alright! You'll be fine, I know it! Please..."
"We'll leave you alone." Their mother said. Their parents left the Shack.
Dipper's eyes became wet. He couldn't bare the possibility of losing his grunkle, who passed through so many adventures with them, protected them so many times. Stan was almost like a father to him. Dipper remembered that time when he entered Grunkle Stan's mind to protect it from Bill and found that memory.
"You see it? That's why I'm hard on Dipper. To toughen him up. So when the world fights, he fights back."
"Do you think it's actually working?" said Soos back then.
"He's really comin' along! When push comes to shove... I'm actually proud of him. Just.. don't ever tell him that. His head is big enough as it is."
A tear trickled through his cheek as he remembered that words. "I'm actually proud of him." No. He couldn't die. Not now.
He wiped the tear and started examinating his Grunkle's wounds. They prooved clearly that Stan was murdered, and didn't die from his declining age, though he was already 81.
He felt a shiver when he saw through the blinding darkness that Stan's white shirt was torn in the abdomen, that had a very very ugly wound, bleeding a lot.
Horrified, he shouted to his sister "Mabel! Go get a roller bandage to stop the bleeding! Now!"
Mabel looked at her brother's face. It was so dark she could barely see him. His eyes were bright with the reflection of the moon, his skin with a dark, blue-ish shade. She had never seen her brother so distressed in her life. She felt so sorry for him. His condition was pitiful. With her sweater soaked in tears, she turned the gift shop upside down, frenetically searching for roller bandages.
"Mabel..." Dipper started. He couldn't wait anymore for the roller bandages. He sighed nervously, took his gray hoody jacket off and wrapped his grunkle's wound with it.
"Please... Please, speak to me, man. Say something..." He begged, holding his tears.
Suddenly, Grunkle Stan coughed, spitting a little blood.
Dipper widened his eyes. "MABEL!" He called.
Mabel rushed as a cheetah to Dipper and Stan.
"Hi, kids..." Stan said with a weak voice, breathing heavily.
Mabel drowned herself in tears for hearing her grunkle's voice again. Even Dipper started to cry.
"Oh, man... Oh man! I can't believe it! Come on, hold on! How do you feel?" He asked with anxiety.
Grunkle Stan coughed before he spoke again. "Dipper... Mabel... Yeesh, sorry for leaving you like this..."
Mabel held her tears "Oh, please, don't apologize! You WON'T leave us!"
"Look..." Stan looked at his nephews deep in their eyes. "I want to tell you something. Dipper... I... I have to say... I was always tough with you. Most of the times too tough. Sorry for mocking and insulting you sometimes, kid. It may look like I prefer Mabel over you at times... I just didn't want you to end up like me... But... I am proud of you, boy. You are a hero, kid. A true hero. You've always made me proud."
Dipper could barely hold his tears in that moment. He didn't know what to say.
"Keep protecting your sister. Now, Mabel, come here, girl."
Mabel approached from her Grunkle and held his hand with strenght.
"You were always my sunshine. That times when you used to cheer me up... and... " He coughed. "... And make me laugh and tell me jokes... I hope you receive as much happiness as you gave in your life."
Mabel gave him a painful smile, and with her face wet of tears, she hugged her brother. Dipper couldn't hold his tears anymore. So he cried his eyes out. For him, it felt like he cried so hard that cry could relieve all his problems. Wendy and Robbie, the bullies at his school, the fact that no one in Gravity Falls ever believed in him or his abilities unless his close friends. But it didn't relieve anything. He felt miserable.
"I love you, kids... You were the light in my life. I never felt so happy as when I was spending the summers with you two. You made me realize... You made me realize that the most important thing in life isn't money. Dipper and Mabel... please, say to your parents I thank them forever for bringing you to my life... and please, promise me... that you'll remain together and protect each other..."
"Yes, YES! I promise!" Dipper exclaimed.
"I'll do Pinkie Promise!" Mabel cried.
Both Twins held their grunkle's hands.
"I can't just leave this good ol' shack abandoned... Please, Dipper. You are the most mature person I've ever known. Please make sure the Shack is running properly."
Dipper kept in silence for some seconds. "M-Me?" He finally stammered, his voice trembling.
"Yeah, kid. You are the owner now... Mabel..." He coughed hard. "Please... would you be as kind... as to be the co-owner of this old thing?" He asked, looking around him.
"Oh... Grunkle Stan, of course!" Mabel exclaimed, crying.
"I love you, kids. Never... forget that... Dipper." The boy looked at his grunkle with attention. "Raise the prices, kid. You deserve it."
"Grunkle Stan..." Mabel whispered, unable to talk louder because of crying so much.
"GRUNKLE STAN?!" Dipper yelled, wagging his grunkle's body.
Mabel and Dipper didn't know what to do, only cried and cried. His grunkle was gone forever.
That would be Grunkle Stan's last breath. He left the Twins and took a piece of their souls with him.
