Back to Piedmont
SUMMARY: When Ford shows the kids childhood videos of him and Stanley back in Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey the family decides to go back to Piedmont, California to recover the home videos of Dipper and Mabel as children; Mabel confronts Dipper about his conversation with Pacifica.
Gravity Falls High School gave the students a week off due to the bad plumbing in the school, so of course the teenaged twins sat in the living room on the floor watching "Ductective" out of boredom.
"Don't you kiddos have school?" Stan's voice bellowed from the doorway in a confused tone.
"The plumbing is bad so they're taking the week to fix it," Dipper explained. He adjusted his glassed, they kept sliding down his nose.
"Oh…" San shrugged it off and sat on the couch behind the twins to watch TV.
Ford then walks in with a large box, filled with what looked like extremely old tapes. He sets the box on the floor and everyone looks at him.
"Stanford, what's in the box?" Stan asks, raising a silver brow.
"Well," Ford began. "When I left home, Ma gave me some tapes of when we were kids."
Mabel's eyes instantly lit up. "WAIT! THERE ARE VIDEOS OF YOU TWO AS KIDS!?" she screams excitedly.
"Ugh… those films…" Stan grumbled.
Ford gives a chuckle, "Yes, sweetheart, they're videos of when Stan and I would try to find the New Jersey Devil." He pulls out a tape and an old, dusty VCR and starts connecting the seemingly ancient device to the television.
Stan narrows his eyes and grumbles, "You couldn't have waited until this episode was over, could you?"
"Nope," Ford smiles as he switched the TV's settings to the VCR. He puts a tape in the VCR and after a few moments of static a crackly black and white image showed up on the screen.
Dipper gasps, "Whoa, no way!" He scoots closer to the TV.
"Wow! This is cool!" Mabel shouts. "I don't think you guys ever showed us what you guys looked like when you were kids!" She then playfully punches Dipper's shoulder. "You looked similar to them when we were younger."
On the screen was an image of two young boys, probably the age of twelve. One was wearing a striped shirt and was waving, a bandage on his cheek and a missing tooth. The other wore glasses and a thick jacket, him waving with a six-fingered hand. The two then proceeded to jump into a box that they had designed to be a pirate ship, and start laughing when it tipped over.
Ford smiles to himself, and he glanced at his twin, whom was giving one of the biggest smiles that he had ever seen. Ford then glances at the younger twins, who were smiling at the video, they even saw their great-grandmother in the video, going to the box to help Ford and Stan up and laughing with them.
"Mom and Dad used to film us…" Dipper remarked, his tone going soft.
"Yeah… like our first day of school…" Mabel adds, her tone equal to her brother's.
Stan then leave the comfort of his chair and kneels down by his great-niece and nephew and gives them comforting pats on their shoulders. "Hey, kiddos, did they keep those videos somewhere at your house back in Piedmont?" he then asks.
Mabel nods sadly. "Mom kept a whole box in the attic…" she says.
Ford was getting at what Stan was hinting at. "Well, since school is out for the week for maintenance… how about we take a little road trip to get them?" the old scientist suggests.
Dipper looked as if though he was about to cry while Mabel jumps up. "Really, Grunkle Ford?" Mabel squeaks, her brown eyes flooding with tears.
"Yes, sweetie," Stan then pipes in. "It'll be a chance to visit… since well…" he puts a hand behind his head, scratching nervously.
"You two go back a few things to bring with, I think it's about an eight hour drive…" Ford tells the younger twins. He watches as the two got up and went upstairs, them already chatting about it.
"Do you think it's a good idea?" Stan then asks Ford, concern in his voice. "When we there before… I never thought Mabel would never stop crying… and with Dipper's… mental stability, I don't know how he will handle being there again…"
Ford nods his head gently. "I know it seems like a bad idea… but the kids need to pay their full respects without the risk of being killed by demons." Ford pointed out.
Within the hour the Pines family was getting into the RV that they had kept after the events of Weirdmageddon.
Soos was left in charge of the Mystery Shack with the help of Melody. Wendy was working too, despite her not really wanting to. While Soos did mainly the tours and Wendy running the register as usual, Melody mainly helped take care of the house part, mainly with Orion and Waddles as they did not go with the twins.
Stan was once again driving the RV, something he thought he wouldn't be doing again. In all honestly he really disliked driving, the couple of years driving across the country tapped him out as it reminded him of the decade of being kicked out state after state. Next to him in the passenger seat was Ford, reading some sort of book.
Mabel and Dipper sat at the small kitchen table of the RV, them remembering the last time they had been there. Both of the twins stared out the window as they saw the slowly turning red-orange landscape disappearing as they drove away.
Dipper was wearing a thick blue hoodie, a red-orange shirt underneath, his pine tree hat on his messy brown hair, with thick jeans and blue converse. His brown gaze was staring out the window, his chest feeling tight as they drove pass the Gravity Falls sign. For some reason, it made him feel sick to his stomach.
Mabel was wearing a sweater she had knitted, a bright pink in color. She wore a matching headband in her shoulder length, curly brown hair. Once in a while she would glance at her brother, noticing the sheen of sweat on his face.
"You okay, bro-bro?" Mabel asks gently.
"I'm fine!" Dipper snapped, causing his sister to flinch. Ford glances back from the front, a concerned look on his face. Dipper takes a deep breath and sighs. "I'm fine…" he repeats, this time much more calmly. "I'm… I'm gonna lay down for a bit…" He then gets up and goes into the room that he and Mabel had shared during their travels.
Mabel looked the door as it shut. She sighs as she rests her head on the table. A sound startles her and she looks up, seeing Ford settle himself in the seat Dipper was in.
"You okay, sweetheart?" Ford asks his grandniece. He had shut his book and set it off to the side.
Mabel shrugs. "I don't know… I feel like Dipper isn't telling me something," she admits. "Like… I feel like other people know, but I, his twin sister, know nothing."
Ford grimaces, as if contemplating on his thoughts. "Dipper… is going through something right now, he'll tell you when he is ready," he finally says.
Mabel glowers at her great-uncle. "You know something, don't you, Grunkle Ford," the young girl stated.
Ford shrugs. "I do and I don't," he reveals. "But, he will tell you when he is ready. Maybe he feels you will judge him too harshly."
Mabel scoffs, "Yet he can tell Pacifica." She crosses her arms. She didn't have a problem with the blonde, at least not anymore like when they had first met, but the new relationship between the blonde and her twin brother is making her feel like second place.
"A love from someone on the outside is completely different than love from a family member," Ford points out. "You can always move on from someone, or normally you can, but when someone from your family denies you, it… does something to your psyche. Dipper thinks highly of you, Mabel, he is your twin after all. He is probably worried that you will deny him, making him feel like he would lose everything."
Mabel debated whether or not to tell Ford that she had overheard Dipper and Pacifica discussing Dipper's suicidal actions. Does Ford know? Does Stan know? After a few moments she just nods her head, acknowledging Ford that she processed what he had said.
She decided that after getting the videos, she will ask about it to Dipper, maybe he will open up to her…
The house was still the same as from when they were there last.
It stood in the middle of the block, its yellow exterior almost glowing in the sunlight. The white trim around the house and the wraparound porch was clean and neat looking. It was a typical two-story home, it was a three bedroom, but the twins had shared a room as one was their father's office. Both Mabel and Dipper had grown up in that house… seeing it now felt so foreign after being at the Mystery Shack for so long.
Mabel and Dipper stood on the lawn, looking up into the house. They subconsciously held each other's hands, remembering the last time they were in there. With a gentle prod from Stan, the twins walked through the front door, it still being unlocked. Inside the house was nothing like the cleanliness of the outside.
Thick dust covered everything, the pictures on the walls looking a dull gray in saturation. The couch looked like it would shatter if it was sat on, and the TV that hung on the wall was cracked. Overhead there was still a large hole that revealed the twins' room, where their beds had fallen and…
Mabel stifles back a sob, her memories flashing to the corpses of her and Dipper's parents. Dipper wraps a protective arm around his sister, him feeling her shake.
"Um… well…" Stan stammered, not sure on what to say. He honestly didn't know what to do now that they were there.
"Kids, how about you two go find those tapes?" Ford suggests, saving Stan from the awkwardness. The twins left and headed upstairs, remembering where their mother kept the tapes. "Stanley," Ford said after the twins disappeared. "Where are the bodies?"
Stan then led Ford to the backyard, the makeshift graves and tombstones that Stan had made still intact. Ford kneels down and pays his respects to the nephew he had barely known and his wife.
"I'm sorry you and your children got caught up in my mess…" Ford whispered. "You two have great children and it is honor to have them in our lives." A hand goes on his shoulder, Ford seeing that Stan was there.
"Yeah, they're great kids…" Stan agreed, a sad smile on his features.
The two old men stayed at the graves, waiting for the younger twins to return.
"Okay, they're in the attic, right?"
Dipper was going down the hallway that led to the spot where a door above them was the entrance to the attic. He pulls the string and the door opens, a rickety, wooden ladder sliding down.
"Yeah, they should be in a box next to our baby stuff," Mabel tells him.
Dipper climbs the ladder, Mabel following suit. They got in the attic, both sneezing form the dust. Their childhood home's attic was nothing like the attic at the Mystery Shack, this attic was tiny and cramped, with webs and a dank smell.
After a moment of navigating around the attic, Dipper finds the box with the tapes. "Aha!" he exclaims as he beings to rummage through the box. As he dug through the box, Mabel took a deep breath. She was going to ask.
"Dipper… is there something you want to talk about?" she asks her brother, her voice wavering with nervousness.
Dipper turns around, confused. "About… what?" he replies with his own question.
Mabel takes a step forward as she says, "Oh, I don't know, like how you tried to kill yourself and never told me?"
There was a crash as Dipper had dropped one of the tapes in the box. His face was covered in sweat, his brown eyes darting around. "W-what are you talking about?" he stammers.
Mabel narrows her brown eyes. "Don't play dumb, Mason!" she spats, noticing her brother flinching at the sound of his real name. She knew that he knew that she meant business when she said his real name. "I overheard you talking to Pacifica at the mini-golf place!"
"Mabel…" Dipper softly whispered. "I… I was going to tell you…"
"WHEN!?" she screamed. "When I catch you trying to kill yourself!?"
"No…" Dipper tried to explain. "Mabel, please listen-"
"Are you not taking your medicine, Mason!?" Mabel demands, tears streaming down her face. "If not you need to go back-"
"THE MEDICINE DOESN'T WORK, SHOOTING STAR!" Dipper then screams, his hands in tight fists and his face red. For a moment it looked like his eyes were yellowing… He then gasps as he collapses onto the ground, realizing what he had just said. "Mabel… your name is Mabel… not Shooting Star…" he kept repeating to himself.
Mabel had started shaking. "M-Mason…?" she shakily said to him, walking towards him with a hand outstretched. "Are… are you…?"
Dipper then repeats, "The medicine doesn't work… no matter how much I take, no matter what dose… he is still there…" He then puts his head in his hands. "I can't God damn take it anymore!" he then screams, him slowly standing up. "I'm suffering, why can't you see that!?"
Mabel narrows her eyes as she reached into the neck of her sweater. Her hands wrap around a cold handle that was in a special holster that wrapped around her torso. She pulls it out to reveal her gun. The girl then walks to her brother and pressed the gun into his hand.
"You want to do it so bad!?" Mabel cries. "Then look me in the eye as you pull the trigger! Let me see that you truly mean this! Let me watch my twin brother's blood pool on the floor! CAN YOU LOOK ME IN THE EYE AS YOU END YOUR LIFE, MASON!?" Her face was a heated red, her voice shaking. Tears spilled down her face, but she refused to not let it fully affect her voice.
Dipper then looks at the gun, it feeling heavy in his hands. He glances up at his sister's red face, her lips quivering. He looks back at the gun and slowly raises it, putting it towards his head. He closes his eyes, but forces them open as Mabel had said to look her in the eye. As he looked her in the eyes, his heart caught in his throat.
I don't know what's gonna happen in the future, but whatever it is, you don't have to fear because we'll do it together… We've been to Heck and back to get you and we're goin' back together… Let's beat Bill and grow up together!
Tears fells down his face as stared at his sister. He remembered what he had said to her when she was trapped in her bubble that Bill had imprisoned her in. His hand shook as his finger wavered over the trigger.
"No…" he finally said. "I can't…" he tosses the gun onto the floor, it sliding towards Mabel's foot. "I can't… I can't break your heart Mabel…" He then rushes forward and embraces his sister, wrapping his arms tightly around her. "I'm sorry… I so sorry… why would I ever think about ever doing that…?"
You're not getting rid of your pain… you're passing it on to someone else…
Mabel returns the hug. "You're okay, I got you, Dip'n Dot…" she whispered to him.
"Kids! Everything okay?" Stan called from bellow.
"We're okay, Grunkle Stan!" Dipper called back. He then separates from his sister. "I'm okay now…" he says softly with a sad smile.
The Pines family was back at the Shack, everyone piled in the living room.
Soos and Melody stayed for dinner and were eager to see videos of Dipper and Mabel as younger children. Pacifica and George were over as well, sitting on the floor next to the twins. Everyone was buzzing with excitement as Ford popped in a tape and soon an image of Dipper and Mabel were shown on screen.
"Guess what today is?" the voice of Katherine Pines asked the young twins.
"What, Mommy?" the small Mabel asked, her hair tied up in pigtails.
"Well, Mabel and Mason, today you two are going to school!"
"Yay!" the small Dipper cheered, his short brown hair not even covering his birthmark. "School, school!"
As they all watched the film, Dipper and Mabel were holding hands tightly, silent tears going down their cheeks as they saw their mother join them in the shot of the camera, giving them both kisses on their cheeks.
The film ended when the camera zoomed in on Katherine's face, giving a brilliant smile at her two children.
"I love you, Mabel. I love you, Mason."