Part Three

Ford was sitting at the living room table busily working on a project, occasionally turning to glance out the window. He had a feeling of something wasn't right. The twins had told him and Stan they would possibly be out during the night and had left that afternoon. Even when Dipper and Mabel said they may be back from their hike later the next day. However, as time went on, his concern became stronger. It was now mid-afternoon and the twins had yet to return. Ford glanced over at the phone, resting on the table and while he knew Dipper or Mabel would have called by now, there still had not been any incoming calls. Hesitantly, Ford picked up the phone and began to dial. He then waited for someone to answer. However, just as he was about to speak, into the phone, there was a low beeping emanating from the device. Ford looked at the phone and stared at the large letters splayed across the screen.. 'No Connection'. Ford had an uneasy feeling as he tried again, only to receive the same message as before. Giving up, Ford put the phone away and looked up. Something about all of this felt wrong.. Very, very wrong.. Looking out the window, Ford could see the rain was picking up.

"Is everything alright, Señor?" asked a gentle voice.

Ford nearly jumped and turned to see Abuelita approaching from the kitchen with a tray of tea.

"Oh.. Hello Miss Ramirez."

"Please, call me Abuelita." Abuelita replied gently. "I had brought you some tea."

"Thank you.."

He carefully took a cup.

"I just have this terrible feeling.." Ford began, mostly speaking to himself. "I can't help but think something might have happened."

That was when Stan and Soos walked in.

"Hey, you seen the kids?" asked Stan.

Ford's expression grew dark.

"No.." he muttered softly. "They have been gone for way too long.. They should have been back by now."

He then stood from the table, turning back to the window.

"Oh, come on," Stan said. "I'm sure they're fine.. They have Wendy with them."

Ford gave him a look.

"I could not get any connection when I tried to call them!" Ford argued. "We need to look for them."

He quickly began to gather supplies to head out of the Shack. Stan and Abuelita watched as Soos began to help Ford in gathering up what they may need to trek out into the forest.

"I think you guys are looking into this too much." Stan muttered.

"Are you telling me that you are not at least a small bit concerned about them?" Ford questioned.

His voice was growing angrier as he continued to speak.

"You are not concerned one BIT!?"

Stan cringed at his shouting but soon glowered at him.

"Of COURSE I am!" Stan huffed. "I just don't know where we could even possibly START!"

"We can START on the trail they told us about.." Ford replied, shouldering a large coil of rope. "They mentioned a trail head somewhere in the forest behind the Shack.."

"We're right behind ya, Mr. Ford Pines." Soos said with a salute.

With that being said, the three of them finished gathering supplies and quickly headed out of the Shack, leaving Abuelita standing near the table.

"I go check on the pies now.." Abuelita stated before heading into the kitchen, still carrying tray of tea.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Wendy, Dipper, and Mabel continued their trek through the tunnels. It had gotten much colder the farther they walked. Wendy angrily gripped her phone as the letters on the front continued to splay 'No Connection'.

"D*mn it!" Wendy growled.

She smacked the side of the cell, hoping it would somehow fix the problem. Wendy was surprised the cell was even still working, considering they had fallen from what had to have been twenty or so feet. Though she could see the screen had long spider-web cracks, the rest of the phone was surprisingly still intact.

"I guess calling Stan or Ford is out.." Wendy muttered, placing the phone back in her pocket.

Dipper and Mabel continued to become more concerned as they continued on.

"Wendy?" asked Dipper.

He flinched as Wendy turned sharply with a dark look. As their eyes met, Wendy's expression softened and she turned away with a sigh.

"W-Wendy.. T-this wasn't your fault.." Dipper told her, taking her hand.

Wendy turned to look at him. Dipper looked back at her, his eyes meeting with hers again as he gave her a sad smile. Wendy soon sighed as she stopped walking. She then stiffly began to sit on the stone floor, confusing Dipper and Mabel.

"We.. W-we should rest.." Wendy muttered.

The twins looked at her in shocked confusion.

"W-Wendy..?"

Wendy turned to look at her friends.

"I-I'm sorry.." she whispered.

Dipper moved closer and placed a hand on her shoulder. He soon turned to Mabel.

"Mabel, we should probably get a fire started.." he instructed. "We need to stay warm.."

Mabel nodded and quickly began to look for some wood as well as other supplies in the packs they had brought. Dipper turned back to Wendy and hesitantly brushed back some of her hair from her face.

"Wendy.. Wendy it's okay.."

Wendy looked back at him, her emerald green eyes filled with sadness and deep regret. It concerned Dipper more to see her like this. Wendy was supposed to be the strong one of the group. She was Wendy Corduroy, the strongest and bravest person they ever knew. However, as he looked at her more, he felt a pain in his heart. Dipper hesitated but soon pulled her into a tight hug. Wendy bit her lip and reluctantly hugged him back.

Mabel returned with some wood she had found and stopped as she saw the two holding each other, a look of concern showing on her face.

"It's going to be okay, Wendy.. I promise it will.."

Wendy let out a soft chuckle.

"I feel like we may have switched personalities or something.." she joked softly.

Dipper smiled a little to which Wendy smiled back. Wendy playfully ruffled Dipper's hair, to which Dipper chuckled. Mabel smiled as she watched them. After a moment, Mabel made her way over and began to build a pit for the fire. With Wendy and Dipper's help, the pit was soon finished and using two sharp rocks, Wendy started the fire, illuminating the area around them.

Author's Note: I would like to thank the help of fereality for helping me out with this chapter ^_^ I will try to get more up soon..