Mabel felt sick. She tired to put the horrible feeling that swirled in her stomach out of her mind, but every time she felt the cold, fat hand that held hers, and smelled the light scent of roses in the air, or even felt the soft threads of her sweater brushing her arms, the feeling came rushing back.

"So, what brought you back, fruitcake?" Gideon asked sweetly, resting his free hand on her arm.

Mabel fought the urge to shy away. "I felt really bad for hitting you like that," she said slowly, swallowing back her emotions, "I just wanted to make it up to you."

"Anything else, maybe?" Gideon teased, pressing a palm to his chubby cheek.

"I dunno," Mabel looked away.

"Well, it was very sweet of you," Gideon came closer, hugging her arm now, "Ask me anything in return."

Mabel's heart skipped a beat, "Well," she said quickly, then she slowed: "It might seem weird," she pulled away from Gideon and rubbed her arm nervously.

"Anything, my love," Gideon gave a little bow, disgustingly reminiscent of the time they first met.

"Can you show me your basement?"

"The basement?" Gideon straightened up with a confused blink. "There's really nothing down there-."

"I know I said it was weird, but you said anything," Mabel said so softly, Gideon could hardly hear.

"Well, I suppose I did. To the basement we go then."

Gideon led her down a hallway, and to a door which lay flat against the floor. A turn of the knob and a pull revealed a set of stairs into darkness. A blast of cold air met the children's faces, and Mabel hugged her sweater tighter around her body.

"The light is at the bottom of the steps," Gideon explained, and he offered her his hand. Mabel grudgingly took it, and Gideon politely led her down into the blackness.

Mabel moved along slowly, her grip tightening on Gideon's hand as she took each invisible step with great care.

"Shield your eyes" Gideon said at last. The light came on, and what Mabel opened her eyes to see was even less than what she expected. Lit only by a desk lamp on a table, the room held only a small handful of boxes along a wall, no windows, and concrete floor with matching walls.. One single pole stretched from the floor to the ceiling, and Mabel let out a tiny gasp at the sight of it.

"I told you there was nothing much down here," Gideon explained as Mabel let go of his hand and went for the pole. "It's beyond me why you would ever want to come down in this dusty old room."

"This is it," Gideon noticed that Mabel almost said it to her sheep. She sat down in front of the pole and threw one arm behind her back, around the pole.

"What are you doing?" Gideon asked at last.

Mabel jumped at his voice, but then she spoke, with hardly any fear in her voice, "Gideon, let's play a game."

Gideon sat beside her at the pole. "Like what?" he asked.

"You're a magician, right? Let's play escape artist." Gideon was rather unsettled by the enthusiasm in her voice.

"Um, alright," he said with great hesitation.

"Do you have any rope?"

"Slow down a little!" Gideon raised his hands in front of himself. "You already gave me a pounding once, let's play something a little less threatening, alright?"

Mabel was blushing immediately. "Oh, okay," she said quietly, "Let's play pretend escape artist. Walk me through this."

She put her sheep in her lap and put both hands behind her back as if she were tied. "Let's pretend I was kidnapped. I was tied up in your basement and nobody could save me, how would I escape?"

Gideon still seemed uncertain, but he played along. "Well, I guess there are a lot of things we would have to consider, say, what are you tied up with? Where is the kidnapper during this time? Things like that."

"Rope! He's tied up with rope, and the kidnapper, well, he's probably upstairs, but not watching the door very well. Like, maybe your dad can be the pretend kidnapper!"

"Um, well, first we'd have to cut the rope," Gideon glanced around for something with which to accomplish the task. "There's a pair of scissors on the table, but they're not reachable from here."

Mabel shook her head and looked around as well. "What about the knot? Maybe we could untie it?"

xxxxx

"Mabel?" It was with utter defeat in his voice that Stan poked his head into the attic and called her name one more time, only to be met with the same silence that plagued him during his entire search. He shut the door.

"Mr. Pines?" Soos stood behind him, concern showing in his eyes.

"We can't just leave her out there," Stan didn't look at him, but proceeded to descend the stairs. "It's not safe, she must be terrified." He sighed and covered his face with his hand, I'm such a horrible uncle. What if she gets hurt?"

"It's not your fault, you know," Soos said softly.

"But it is!" Stan stopped as well, a few steps further, "It's my fault she got upset in the first place, and it's my fault she doesn't want to come back! I just-" Stan took a deep breath, but before he could continue, the front door swung open.

"Mabel?"
She stood in the doorway, breathing heavily and wearing an unfamiliar blue sweater. The smile playing at her lips quickly disappeared when Stan threw his arms around her and lifted her in a giant hug.

"Mabel, where were you I was-" Stan stopped and cleared his throat, "concerned." He held Mabel out in front of him.

"Wait, where you with Gideon?"

"No," Mabel lied with a scowl, squirming out of her uncle's grasp. "I was picking flowers."

"Where'd you get the sweater?"

"Maybe I like sweaters, okay?" Mabel's face was quickly growing red.

"What he's trying to say," Soos stepped in front of Stan, "Is that he was really worried and he's sorry for yelling at you."

Stan looked away awkwardly, but he didn't object.

Mabel huffed and crossed her arms around her sheep.

"Look, uh," Stan rubbed the back of his neck, "Maybe we could help save your friend somehow. In a safe, thought out way."

"I already did it myself," Mabel said stoutly. "I just need to finish the portal, then I'll get out of your hair."

"Mabel, it's not like that," Soos spoke up.

"Just leave me alone so I can talk to Dipper!" Mabel snapped. "I won't run away this time either, so don't watch me."

Both Stan and Soos backed up at her command.

"We'll be building that doohickey then," Stan said softly, "You can come up when you're done, you know, if you want to."

"Fine," Mabel said, then she turned her back to them until they had retreated into the attic.

"Okay Dipper," she said when she confirmed they were gone, "I know how to get you out."

AN: Hoorah! Time for my annual update!

Haha but seriously, I apologize for taking so long to finish this up. I promised to see this story through to the end, so don't think I'm abandoning you, I'm just moving reaaaaly slowwwwwly

Also one very important note: I'm officially announcing that I will not be continuing The Curse. I've kinda tossed the idea around a little, but part 2 is just not happening. I leave the rest to your own wonderful interpretations. Thank you for all the support, and I hope you enjoy the rest of this story!