CHAPTER THREE

Dipper awoke feeling surprisingly refreshed considering he had slept on the forest floor without a blanket all night. He slowly got to his feet, careful not to wake Mabel. He felt more power flowing through him than he had the day before, which meant he could probably do more too.

"Hmm, let's see", he muttered to himself.

He shot his arm in the direction of a nearby tree, extending his palm as he did so. A shockwave erupted from his open hand and hit the tree directly, snapping it in half. Dipper yelped in surprise at the power of the attack. It collapsed towards the two of them, Dipper raising his hands upwards instinctively. Mabel burst into consciousness from the racket.

"Dipper, what the heck's going on!?" she yelled, startled.

Then she saw it. Her brother with his arms raised in the air, a snapped tree trunk levitating just a few feet above him. He had a strained look on his face.

"Little help", he wheezed.

"Oh, right", she said, still taking it in.

She raised her arms too, and together the two of them levitated the tree back into place and healed the damage.

"Well, that's one way to start the day", Dipper gasped, laughing.

"Yep", Mabel huffed, laughing along with him. "So… wanna fill me in on that?"

"I think we got more powerful", Dipper said. "Don't you feel it?"

"Wow, yeah, I guess I kinda do", Mabel said, noticing for the first time the greater influx of power she felt. "Do you think we're gonna keep getting stronger too?"

"Looks that way".

"Neat-o", Mabel said, before exploding a nearby boulder with her mind.

Both of them watched with great amusement as the shards of rock rained down all around them.

"But we probably shouldn't do anymore", Dipper said. "If we use too much, we're gonna be exhausted again. We need to keep our energy to get back to the Shack".

"Oh right, yeah", Mabel said, slapping her forehead.

Worry filled her.

"I feel so bad for our Grunkles", she said. "They must be so worried about us, and I really miss them and we need to get back to them".

Dipper nodded solemnly. He didn't like the thought of his family in distress one bit. Stan had already been faced with the possibility of losing them during the Weirdmaggedon, he had spent four entire days wondering if any of his family was still alive in all the chaos. And now, to be faced with losing them again. He wondered if it would be too much for Stan to bear.

"Yeah, you're right", he said. "But first we need to figure out where we are. Are we in the Gravity Falls forest?"

A sudden shaking of the earth interrupted his thoughts. The two of them looked around for the source of the racket when all of a sudden, a Manotaur came charging out of the undergrowth, screaming for dear life as he was chased by a Beartopus, a half-bear, half-octopus monster. The two of them watched with blank expressions as the two creatures passed them by, vanishing once more into the trees.

"Definitely Gravity Falls", Dipper said.

"Okay, so we're close to home", Mabel said, because honestly the Shack really did feel like their second home. "But if we don't know where we are in the forest, how the frickafrack are we supposed to get back, bro?"

"I don't know", Dipper said. "Just… Just gimme a sec".

He went to gnawing his finger again, thinking hard on how to get back to the house. He had no idea where they were, this was a completely unfamiliar region of the woods. He supposed they could try and figure out which way was which by looking at the direction of the tree shadows, but even then, he wasn't sure where the town lay in relation to this area.

"Um… Dip", Mabel said tentatively.

"What?" he said.

It was then that he realised he was floating several feet above Mabel, levitating in the air. He let out a brief scream of surprise as he plummeted back to earth. Mabel sniggered as she helped him to his feet.

"So I guess we can fly", she said, her voice barely containing her excitement.

"Y-yeah", Dipper said, a look of shock on his face. "And I didn't even realise I was doing it".

Without further ado, Mabel concentrated hard, and slowly she drifted into the air.

"It worked!" she gasped.

A lightbulb switched on in Dipper's mind.

"Mabel that's it!" he said, snapping his fingers. "If we can get up high enough, we'll be able to see the town".

Mabel grinned broadly.

"Way ahead o' you bro-bro", she said, her enthusiasm obvious.

In an instant she was zooming upwards.

"Mabel, wait up!" Dipper said worriedly.

He lifted himself upwards, and slowly, carefully, he rose up into the air after his sister. At first he felt uneasy looking downwards, but the adrenaline (did they have adrenaline anymore?) quickly kicked in, and he picked up speed, zooming high above the forest. Soon he had a glorious view of the landscape; he could see the horizon stretching in every direction.

"OH MAN THIS IS AMAZING!" he cried, laughing joyously. He let out an enormous whoop of excitement.

He saw Mabel zooming around him, laughing as she swooped upwards and downwards, spinning and twirling in every direction.

"Mabel, how cool is this!?" Dipper called.

"I know right", she yelled back, and she zoomed towards him, her palm extended.

Dipper held out his own palm and the two of them high fived, a spark of lightning forming between their hands as they did. Then Dipper began to feel a tug, and he remembered that this was draining his energy. Remembering what he was up here for, he looked around and very quickly spotted the town in the distance, towards the west.

"Mabel, there's Gravity Falls", he said.

"Oh yeah, I see it", she called as she did a loop-de-loop.

"We should probably get back to ground before we drain all our power", he said.

"Aww, but this is so much fun", Mabel said. She knew he was right, however, and slowly, the two of them descended until they lightly touched down on the ground. Mabel was practically bursting with excitement, dancing up and down on the spot with the broadest grin he had ever seen her give, and that was saying something.

"THESE POWERS ARE THE COOLEST THING EVER!" she shrieked.

"Definitely", Dipper agreed as the two of them high fived again. He couldn't deny how awesome it was, especially thinking of the possibilities of what they could do as they grew even more powerful. He shunted aside the chilling thought of the possible downsides of all this, which was where his mind was naturally inclined to go.

"Alright, onwards to the Shack", Mabel said.

Together the two of them began to walk westwards toward the town. The forest seemed very serene today, sunbeams drifting down into the undergrowth. The two of them noticed that their senses all seemed sharper than before.

They could see more clearly than they ever had, and everything around them seemed to look even more distinctly three dimensional than it had before, if that made sense, and far away objects were just as clear and detailed as nearby objects. Their ears now picked up sounds too distant for humans to hear, and sounds which human ears could never detect in the first place. They could smell every scent of the forest for miles.

It was a little strange considering the perception of the world they were used to, but at the same time they were in awe at their newly heightened senses. Dipper couldn't help but wonder what else they could do with their senses now if they so chose, but he left further experimenting for another day. For now, his mind was set on getting home.

As they neared the town, they saw construction workers busy repairing the damage caused by the Weirdmaggedon. A brief glance at one another was all they needed to know to avoid the town. They needed Stan and Ford to know they were okay, and if they went into town they were sure to face a line of questioning from the residents. Later they would check on the town, but for now they pushed aside the thought of the rest of the townspeople, even though it was painful to think of Wendy, Soos, Candy and Grenda worrying about them too. It was the afternoon by the time they made their way through the woods and were stood before the Shack. All was silent here, the Mystery Shack closed for obvious reasons. The twins carefully glanced at one another, and then, slowly, entered through the back door.

"Hello", Mabel called. "Grunkle Stan? Grunkle Ford?"

No reply. The two of them made their way to the living room, and it was here that they saw Stan, fast asleep in his old yellow armchair. He looked restless, tossing and turning, enormous bags under his eyes. Relief and happiness flooded the both of them. He was obviously distressed, but he was okay.

"GRUNKLE STAN!" the two of them yelled joyfully.

Stan's eyes shot open.

"K-kids?" he said, unsure if he was dreaming or not.

Identical grins formed on their faces as their eyes filled with tears. A second later Stan had pounced on them, pulling the both of them into the tightest hug he had ever given as he burst into tears, sobbing unrestrainedly into the tops of their heads. Dipper and Mabel burst into tears with him, both of them feeling relief like none they had ever known.

"J-Jesus Christ", he sobbed. "K-k-kids, y-you're alive".

"C-course we a-are", Mabel said, pressing her face against his chest as yet more heaving sobs racked her body. "Y-you can't get r-rid of us that easily".

The three of them laughed between sobs. They remained like that for what must have been at least ten minutes, Stan clinging to them like his life depended on it.

"I thought I lost you" Stan said after a long silence, his voice thin and reedy. "Christ kids, I th-thought you were… you were". He couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Sorry Grunkle Stan", they both said.

"Ya got nothin' to apologise for", Stan said.

He kissed both their foreheads and hugged them even tighter. None of them were ready or willing to let go just yet. Suddenly, the back door opened once again.

"STANFORD!" Stan yelled, his voice strained and hoarse.

"Stanley, what's wrong!?" came the voice of Ford.

A second later and Ford had entered the room, panic etched on his face. Then he saw the twins, and his eyes bulged. He bolted towards them, dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around all three of them. Stan and both of the twins hugged him back. Now it was Ford's turn to cry, and even though he was silent, they could feel his whole body hitching.

"Thank god", he whispered. "I thought we had lost the two of you, thank god you're safe".

The family huddle remained for at least another half hour, the relief and joy overwhelming them. Eventually though, the four of them separated.

"Christ, kids, ya had us real scared there", Stan said, tears still clinging to his eyes.

"I'm so glad you're both okay too", Mabel said.

"Never mind about us", Ford said. "We're both fine. What about the two of you? Are you hurt or injured at all?"

"No, we're fine", Dipper said. "Just glad to be back home".

"You kids are incredible", Stan said, laughing lightly. "Ain't nothin' that can beat the two o' you".

The twins smiled, quickly sharing another brief glance as they remembered that they were going to have to tell their Grunkles sooner or later.

"I… I'm so sorry", Ford said, his eyes pointed at the floor.

"What for, Grunkle Ford?" Mabel said.

"Everything", Ford said. "Every decision I've ever made. It always made things worse, and I never seemed to learn. I should never have kept secrets from you and Stan, and I should never have forced Dipper to keep it a secret from you either. There was a near apocalypse because of my life of stupid mistakes. But then, when the two of you vanished into the rift with Bill… I thought that my mistakes had killed the two of you".

"It's okay, Grunkle Ford", Dipper said.

Ford was surprised. Dipper had only referred to him as Grunkle once or twice before now.

"Yeah, don't kick yerself poindexter", Stan said, smiling. "You did good".

"Yeah, you shouldn't hate yourself just because you made some mistakes", Mabel said, "everything turned out for the best in the end, and you did great against Bill".

A small but genuine smile formed on Ford's face.

"It's kind of the three of you to say that", Ford said, "but…"

"No buts", Stan said. "You made yer mistakes, and you did everything you could to fix 'em. Everything's alright now, you crusty old nerd, so stop kickin' yerself. We don't care about your mistakes Sixer, we're yer family".

Ford smiled again.

"Thank you", he said quietly. "Thank you all".

Dipper and Mabel rushed into him and hugged him round his middle. Ford knelt down and hugged them back.

"I promise the both of you I'll do better", he said. "Dipper, I won't ever expect you to keep secrets again. Mabel, I won't push you away anymore, not now or ever again. I'm sure I'll get the hang of this whole uncle business sooner or later".

The four of them laughed, Stan clapping his brother on the back.

"Glad to hear it poindexter", he said. "Our family's gonna come outta this stronger than ever before, just you wait 'n see".

Ford relinquished his hold of the twins.

"The one thing I can't figure out", he said, "and I'm so sorry to have to put this question on the two of you so soon, but… How did you survive?"

"That's… an interesting point", Stan said. "You got sucked through that rift thingamajig, but how in the heck did the two o' you escape?"

Dipper and Mabel stared at each other intently. Then they took one another's hands, holding on tightly.

"About that", Dipper said.

"There's kinda something we need to tell you", Mabel said.