Chapter Fourteen: Somber Mornings

"GRUNKLE STAN!"

"DIPPER, GET BACK!"

A bright light blinded him and a pain spread over his body. He screamed, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Stan, who was glaring at him, telling him to stay put, as the light engulfed him. The familiar fez flying towards him was all he saw before the world went black.

Some time later, he awoke very slightly. Enough to register the voices around him, but not enough to open his eyes.

"Grunkle Ford, please! You-you have to save him! D-Dipper and me, we...We have to stay together!"

"Relax, Mabel. I've run all the tests I can think of and everything's normal. His brain functions and heartbeat are fine, nothing's broken, and I've already treated the injuries he does have. I promise he'll be fine. All we can do now is wait." Although he wanted nothing more than to somehow reassure his sister that he was safe, exhaustion overtook Dipper as he quietly slipped under again.

He moaned as he forced open his stinging eyes. He was in his room back at the shack. The window was open, letting in a crisp breeze and the whole place smelled of early morning. The first thing Dipper noticed aside from his surroundings, was that there was a numb aching throughout his body. When he turned his head to Mabel's bed, he was surprised. Mabel was in her bed, but she wasn't the only one; Soos was sleeping on a folding chair and Wendy was on Mabel's bed, her back slumped against a wall.

Dipper forced himself up, moaning from the pain, which seemed to lessen as he stretched in his bed. He couldn't help the yawning either, which woke Soos.

"Dipper!" he grinned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "You're up."

"Hey, Soos." Dipper said, continuing to stretch his arms and trying to remember how they'd gotten here. Okay, there was weirdmageddon, which, judging by the peacefulness of this morning, was over. So Bill had been defeated. There was a light, and he was thrown back, and –

"Dipper!" Usually, it would just be Mabel's yell that would have brought Dipper back to reality, but this time he was practically swished to his bed as his sister pounced on him. She was also squeezing him so tightly that he had trouble breathing.

"Morning, Mabel." Dipper said, moving to loosen her arms.

"Calm down, Mabel, give him some air." Wendy said, lightly pulling her off of him. "You okay, Dipper?"

"Kinda sore, but I think I'm okay." Dipper said, noticing that the pain went away as he stretched. Whatever happened must have been rough on him. "How long was I out?"

"All day yesterday." Soos said.

"Mabel never left your side for a minute." Wendy said with that relaxed grin that let her look like her old self. Mabel did look a bit less perky than usual, with unkempt hair and trails of dried tears running down her face. Brother and sister smiled warmly at each other for a moment before Mabel hugged Dipper again, which he returned this time.

"Love you, bro-bro." Mabel smiled.

"Love you too, sis." Dipper answered. They slowly pulled away when the door opened, revealing Ford and McGucket.

"Dipper, yer awake." McGucket grinned. Dipper was happy to see that the old man seemed to be able to focus his eyes again. He must have been making progress.

"How're you feeling." Ford asked, giving the kids a small smile. He didn't have the look of seriousness and determination that he usually did. He looked...tiered and defeated.

"Fine." Dipper answered and looked around for a moment, noticing they were short one Grunkle. "Where's Stan?"

At the saddened and bewildered faces around him, coupled with his sudden memory of Stan being engulfed in light, Dipper felt a pit in his stomach. Soos and Mabel instantly looked like they were trying not to cry, McGucket took his hat off and looked melancholy, and Wendy and Ford were both now looking nervous. Dipper was beginning to dread the answer. "What's going on?"

"Dipper." Ford said, and he took a long, deep breath, as though he were trying to calm himself. "I...have something to tell you."

Because sometimes the build up alone is enough...Ya know, it just hit me: If Stan goes (Well, he kinda was already because Ford's, like, the worst brother ever, but I digress), that leaves the kids with nowhere to stay. I'm sure Ford would let them stay for the couple of days before they were already going home, but what about in the future? Does this mean that Dipper and Mabel wouldn't be dropping by for a few years afterwords? That's...kinda sad. I hope that doesn't happen. Oh, also, how do you guys like my novel-ish type of writing? Lemme know if you wanna see more of it. Review!