Disclaimer: YESSSSSSSS! Ford enters the picture! WOOOOOOOOOO!

Nina Everblade: Yep!

nightmarehunter676: Neither can I!

RainbowCelin: Preston deserved it, in my opinion.

DomesticatedPiggy: Hard to say. Besides there being some same level of being able to trick people, there's not much in terms of similarity.

TheGoldenDragwolf: That story will come out in the future. When the time comes, I'll leave a note in here.

Kalli Amissa: You can try, but a bulldozer isn't going to kill him.

1-18-9-5-19: Thanks! It's Billaine, not Elainebill, and Ford finding out about them… won't happen for a while.

CoolCuttz: Been a while since I've gotten a review from you. Oh boy, Ford isn't going to understand a lot about what his brother's been up to. The Shack, and the criminal record in his name, and the girl from another dimension… yikes.

JDMichelle2626: That's hard to say, actually. I've got ideas about what happens after Elaine's done this summer. While the short story helps carry a small weight of what happened, a sequel would be about her returning next summer. How that would go, and what would happen… it'd be all my own idea. No series to guide me through. In the end, it's up to me and all of you whether or not there will be a sequel.

RillFipher: I have no idea. Let's pause for a moment, and think that… THIS WAS MY FIRST EVER STORY! HOW ON EARTH WAS I READY FOR ALMOST 400 FREAKING REVIEWS!? I never planned for attention, and I had no solid writing experience going in here.

Guest: Not immediately, but he is curious about her.

Gravity's Fallen Angel is indeed slowly coming to its end, with things picking up speed for the finale. I'll ask during the last few chapters whether a sequel is a good idea.

I own Elaine.

"Speaking"

Thinking

"Reading"

Bill speaking

Edited: Sept. 30/18


Elaine's POV

Stan and I had woken up around the same time when we heard the twins down the hall talking about fireworks. Going to bed after turning on the machine wasn't so bad. It was him not coming back for two hours going for more toxic waste was the problem. I was touchy without my 7-9 hours. So, grumbling under my breath and throwing on my sneakers, I joined Stan in finding the kids crowded around a closet on the second floor, said fireworks stored in a box inside. "Not so fast, kids!" Stan said. He was still in his tank top and boxers with a red house coat thrown on, and I still had my nightgown on too. "There is no way on earth you're setting off those dangerous illegal fireworks… without me." He smiled, bending down and putting his arms around their shoulders. "Go get some clothes on, grab something to eat, and meet me on top of the roof." Dipper and Mabel grinned, and ran back towards the bedroom. Stan stood back up, and turned to me. "Worried, kid?"

"That Ford is coming back today, and there is a chance that there's a chance that Dipper's gonna hate me for hiding this from him like I've done with everything else so far this summer?" My voice cracked at the end, but I kept smiling. "I'm fine!" Stan rolled his eyes, and shoved me in the direction of my bedroom. Some… what.

"Sure you are. Go get changed, kid." I was fine, I was! But, he was the boss. I just reached the room as the twins sprinted past me, and smiled sadly. We were right into it. Hours were ticking by ever so quickly now, counting to when he would be walking through that portal to a dimension he hadn't been in for thirty years Today was the day.

Today, everything changes.

(Time Skip)

A breakfast comprising of cans of Pitt Cola and ice pops gave Mabel way too much energy. Like, she was practically way too into the fireworks we were firing off the roof. I had a bowl of cereal, so I wasn't going after the sugary treats as much as she was. Dipper ran up to me with a frozen treat-figures-as Stan was lighting Mabel's skyrocket with a sparkler. The man had changed into his suit, lounging in the chair Wendy had brought up there. "Here you go, sweetie. Set something on fire for your Grunkle Stan."

Mabel grinned, and aimed it into the air off the deck. "I AM THE GOD OF DESTRUCTION!" She screamed, and the firework shot off. The resulting explosions blew our hair back, and we cheered loudly, soaking in the excitement. Hate to break it to Mabel, but I' was pretty sure Bill had that title under lock and key.

"Hold on a minute." We looked down, and saw Blubs and Durland had walked up. "Do you have a permit for those?"

"Uh…" Dipper and me looked at each other uncertainly.

"Uh, do you have a permit for being totally lame?" Stan retorted. We laughed, as Mabel gave an exclamation of a zing. I blew out my own sparkler as the police officers walked back to their car, driving off back down the road. "But seriously though we should probably clean this mess up," he added, finished chuckling.

"That's a lot of tiny fires," I added. "Should I get the fire extinguisher again?" I hadn't had to use it since Stan caught on fire before our trip to the pool. I wasn't sure if it would still work or not. Does that mean I need to get a new one?

"We could do it with water balloons?" Mabel suggested, perched on Stan's shoulders.

"I don't see why not." We grinned at Stan, and that's what led to the three of us running around the yard like idiots chucking balloons at each other. Mabel and me teamed up against Dipper, to his annoyance. We had much better aim than him. Giving out a war-cry, we ran past Stan on the couch before tackling Dipper. I scooped up several more of our ammo, and tossed them at the hot spots still scattered about. That should do it. "Ah, this is what Saturdays are for. Doing dumb things forever." He took a sip from his drink, and Mabel, Dipper, and I launched ourselves in the air.

"DUMB THINGS FOREVER!" We landed on a large pile of water balloons, bursting them in a large splash. The water managed to reach Stan, making him laugh. Mabel, with her sweater tied around her waist, orange ice pop on her face, and a water balloon behind her back declared, "to Grunkle Stan! Not just a great uncle…"

"The greatest uncle!" Dipper and myself ended. Mabel shoved her ice pop in her mouth, and we began firing at Stan with our remaining ammo.

"Alright, alright." Stan stood up, smiling at our antics with a now soaked suit. "I tell you it's unnatural for siblings and some random teen to get along as well as you do."

"Ha ha!" Mabel waved her hand, having finished her treat. "Don't worry. We've still got plenty of summer left to drive each other crazy!" She attacked Dipper in a hug, only for him to push her away. I dropped a water balloon on her face for good measure, smirking as it burst. Thankfully, the water managed to wash away the orange gunk still on her face.

"Yeah, plenty of summer left," Stan laughed. I think I was the only one able to tell how nervous he was. If it wasn't for the agents cutting in, he could have broken the news to them so much more easily. It would have skipped the entire fight at the end of the day. The two kids walked up to him, and I followed. "Kids, there's something I, uh, something I should tell you. It's um, well it's complicated. I… I'm gonna go refresh my soda." He walked around the side of the house, and Dipper and Mabel exchanged confused looks.

"Elaine, what was that about?" Mabel asked. I sighed, and shook my head.

"Listen, Mabel. Whatever Stan wants to tell you, it's obviously really hard on him. Just be patient. I'm sure he'll… oh crud!" I grabbed the kids as the whirling blades of helicopters were heard overhead, coming in fast without any clear warning. Six armed men in tactical gear rushed towards us, circling any possible escape route. Mabel grabbed my arm, and Dipper stood in front of us as they began taping off the property.

"Kids are secure! Roof team! Go!" I watched several agents rappel out of a helicopter, smashing through the windows and front door. Stan's voice came from around the house, and we saw him being led to a police car. Mabel threw her sweater back on, and we broke out of the guards blockade to reach him.

"Aah! I don't understand! What did I do that warrants this much arresting?" His face was slammed down on the hood of the car, as a man attached cuffs to his wrists. Powers and Trigger walked over, to Dipper's shock.

"The government guys? I thought you got eaten by zombies!" He exclaimed.

"We survived. Barely," Trigger said.

"I used Trigger as a human shield. He cried like a baby." He moved over to Stan, and I heard a bit of humor in his teasing.

"What? Hey! Not in front of the special-ops guys!" Trigger complained, pointing behind him. Powers pulled out a tablet, and turned it around to show Stan. Dipper, Mabel, and me managed to lean over to get a glimpse of the video.

"This is security footage of a government waste facility. At o'four hundred hours last night someone robbed three hundred gallons of dangerous waste." The footage revealed a man in a hazmat suit stealing barrels, and I strongly resisted the urge to slap Stan. He pulled it off already to get the waste for the machine, but they were only going after him now after he went back for more?

"What? You think that's me?" Stan asked incredulously, straightening up.

"Don't play dumb with us, Pines," Powers leered.

"But I actually am dumb!" An agent led him away to another car. "Last night I was stocking the gift shop. I swear!"

"Wait! Grunkle Stan!" Mabel cried. "You've got the wrong guy! Our Grunkle Stan might shoplift the occasional tangerine, but he's not some evil super villain!"

Powers bent down to our height. "Listen, kid. We've been watching your family all summer and we've seen some disturbing things. But nothing as dangerous as what you uncle is hiding. Somewhere in this shack is a doomsday device!" I looked down, heart breaking at the horrified looks on Mabel and Dipper's faces. Powers handed Trigger the tablet, and stood back up. "Trigger, you take the children. I'll talk to the old man. Sorry to break it to you kids," he finished, sliding on sunglasses. "But you don't know your uncle at all." He went to walk away, before pausing. "Fair warning, girl. The government doesn't take kindly to secrets. By the end of the day, we will find out where you came from."

That... that wasn't what I was planning to hear. Hearing the twins gasp beside me, I tried to… oh, my brain was shutting down again, look at that. It's finding out about Bill's true form and age all over again. Reboot. Reboot. Reboot.

I was out of it enough to not even notice we were being led to the police car by an agent, and were shoved inside. As Trigger climbed into the front, the door locked, and we could see Stan inside a government vehicle. "Kids, you gotta believe me! For once I'm actually innocent!" He banged his cuffed hands on the window, as the car drove off down the road. "Kids!"

The car began to head off down the road, far behind Stan. I kept shivering, and drew my knees to my chest. Dipper looked over at me, frowning. "Elaine. Hey, it's gonna be alright. Nothing's gonna happen to you."

"Kid, this wasn't ever something I thought of. I-I was so focused on getting back, I never thought about what happened if someone researched my past with a fine-toothed comb. The freaking government. How could I have not seen this coming?"

"We've got Mr. Pines in custody." We saw Powers' face appear on a video link at the front of the car. "Our men are searching the shack for the device. You take care of those kids." The chat ended, and Mabel gasped.

"What're you gonna do to us?"

"We'll be taking you to child services. You friend there will be staying under government surveillance until she tells us why she doesn't exist in any record we've searched through." Maybe it's because I was from Canada and a different dimension! Huh!? "In the meantime, enjoy some mindless reality TV, designed to pacify you and make you stop asking questions."

Ignoring the prank show that began playing on the back of his seat, the three of us huddled up. "Dipper, this is crazy. There's no way Stan was stealing hazardous waste! We gotta clear his name!" Mabel said.

"Stan was restocking the shelves," I cut in, head still propped on my legs. "Get those security tapes, and we're golden."

"Then we just need a way to get out of here!" Dipper said. Mabel looked out the window, before smirking. Dipper and me couldn't tell what she was doing, but it appeared as if she was trying to get someone's attention. Breathing on the window and steaming it up, she quickly wrote "Sevral Timez is Overrated." Now, seeing what she was trying to do, I grabbed the kids just as Manly Dan rammed the logging truck into us, spinning the car and having us fall down a hill into the forest.

"Mayday! Mayday! Agent down! The car crashed into several trees, throwing the twins and myself back in our seats on impact, and trapped Trigger in his seat. "Darn branch!" A large tree limb blocked him from opening his door, and the front of the car was crushed down partially on his legs. He won't be getting out any time soon.

"Ha ha, yes!" Mabel opened the door, and she and Dipper climbed out of the car. I unbuckled myself, and slid out after them.

"Backup! Requesting backup! Ah!" I ripped the earpiece from his ear, and crushed it in my fist. Letting the circuits fall to the ground, I stormed up to him, barely holding myself back from breaking his nose. Recovering as fast as he could, he glared back at me. Though, it appeared I had his attention.

"Never. Hurt. My friends. Again." I began walking through the woods, and Mabel jogged to catch up with me. "Mabel, I-"

"We're gonna clear your name too, Ellie. No one's taking you away either." Dipper ran up to us, and I sighed.

"Mabel, I don't belong-I want to belong here. I do. But I can't escape the fact that I don't exist in this dimension. You remember what Asger said back at the cemetery? I... I'm starting to sound like I don't wanna go back. My family doesn't exist here, and I hate that." We began trekking back up the hill, watching several government vehicles head off towards the Mystery Shack. However, my feet dragged just the bit behind, keeping me a fair distance away from them as Dipper took the lead. "If anything happens to me here, I can't go back, and I wanna go back… right? I just... don't know what to do… this one… get in." We sprinted and launched ourselves into the bed of a truck at the end of the line. Ducking under the tarp, we laid low to avoid detection, and found ourselves bathed in darkness.

"I can't see anything," Mabel mumbled.

"Oh, uh… h-here. Ignis." A small flame appeared in the middle of our huddle, bobbing in the air harmlessly, and I grinned successfully. "So that really wasn't a fluke the first time."

"First time? Elaine, when did you learn a fire spell?" Dipper asked.

"Bill. He figured seeing how I'm growing used to the supernatural, and have a heightened sixth sense because of how much I'm around him, I should learn some form of magic. I, uh, kinda thought it was by chance I pulled it off the first time around. Never thought to do it again. Must be why I had to perform it a few times just in case." The warm light bounced around in the air, and I smiled. Holding out my hand, the flame moved to hover over my palm. The twins watched me in aw, and I adjusted my seating. Cool. I didn't know I could manipulate it too. "Dipper can summon zombies and almost preform an exorcism. Why can't I learn magic too?"

"So I do evil magic? Perfect." Mabel and me snickered at his misfortune, and the vehicle began to slow down. "Get ready to jump." Extinguishing the flame by closing my hand around it, we jumped out of the truck, rolling into the woods just outside of the Mystery Shack.

"The ground entrance is too hard to get through," I said. There were way too many guards, and no way were we going in guns a-blazing. "The upper floor should be our best bet. Hey Mabel, you got your grappling hook on you?" The girl pulled it out from her sweater pocket, and beamed. "Let's roll."

Climbing to a higher point in a nearby pine, we launched the hook through the shattered bedroom window. Climbing across, I had the kids go before me. Things at this point, they were going to get really intense. Stan's tapes, the false identities, and the portal… oh. Dipper… when-when Ford comes through that, he-he's gonna find out I knew all this time. It's… gonna be the Mindscape all over again.

"Elaine, snap out of it!" Dipper grabbed my wrist once I got into the room, and dragged me to Stan's office as my breathing hitched at the end. We slipped through the door as fast as we could, and Dipper let go to close the door without alerting of the agents in the hallway further down from us. "We got to get those tapes!" Running down the stairs, we turned the corner and ran into the room. Dipper quickly locked it behind us, and we looked around in the pitch black. "Alright. If I was Stan, where would I hide those surveillance tapes?"

Splitting off, Dipper looked through the bookcase as I shuffled through a filing cabinet. "Wait! The antelabbit!" We looked over at Mabel, who was staring up at the jackalope head. A noticeable bolt was stuck in one of its horns, showing a possible lever.

"Don't you mean jackalope?" Dipper asked.

"Pfft, that can't be right." Mabel jumped onto the chair to fix the antler, and the wall spun around to reveal two old TV monitors and a tape player. The specific one we were looking for was already in the machine, partially ejected. "Yes!" We cheered. "It's this week, this is it!" Pushing it in, Dipper grabbed the remote. The first thing we end up seeing though was Mabel, Wendy, and Soos in the gift shop. Soos was doing the worm, while the girls were cheering him on.

"When did-we just had the ball last night. When did this even happen?" I asked. Mabel shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "Ugh, fast-forward."

"Ha! There it is!" Dipper paused at a clip of Stan in the shop, restocking the counter. "Stan restocking like he said! And the date shows it was last night! It's proof! He's innocent!" Dipper skipped ahead a few more hours, and our faces fell as we saw he hadn't returned from sneaking out of the Mystery Shack. "Uh oh."

"Uh, maybe he's just going to the bathroom outdoors. Like nature intended!" Mabel said nervously. He skipped a few more hours, and gasped in horror. Stan, clad in his hazmat suit, wheeling in barrels of toxic waste. Oh, thank goodness they didn't see the part where I entered the basement.

"Oh no, Stan, you didn't…" Dipper mumbled.

"Don't panic. That could be anyone in that suit!" Mabel tried to calm him.

"Gah! Hot Belgian waffles!" Stan cried, accidentally dropping a barrel on his foot. "Wait, I'm alone." He looked around. "I can swear for real! SON OF A-!" I slapped my hands over Dipper's ears, while Mabel covered her own just as quickly.

"That's him, alright," Dipper said, shutting off the video.

"Okay, okay, so maybe Grunkle Stan stole some toxic waste. That doesn't mean he's leading a nefarious double life!" Mabel walked away, holding her head.

"Mabel, I'm not so sure about that…" I clicked the lamp on the desk, seeing the box Dipper pulled out from under the TV. That's… a lot of IDs and passports.

"What? What is all this?" Mabel moved over to the desk with us, and we rummaged through the IDs. "Stetson Pinefield?"

"Hal Forrester? Andrew '8-Ball' Alcatraz?" Dipper also read off of a few, getting louder with each one he found. "These are fake IDs, guys! You wouldn't need these unless you were trying to hide your real identity!"

"Kid, we all know Stan has a massive criminal record. These are probably just the result of all that. it doesn't prove anything," I argued. Dipper nodded dismissively, still not convinced, and shuffled through more of the box.

"But why would Stan do that?" Mabel pulled out a newspaper clipping, and read over it. I couldn't read it from my angle, but it was scary how her face just… morphed slowly into dazed terror.

"Mabel, kid? Are you… alright?" She silently passed it to Dipper, staring straight ahead in a daze, like whatever she had read turned off all processing in her head.

"WHAT!? Stan Pines Dead!?" Dipper shouted the headline, written in large bold letters of an old news article.

"Foul play suspected in Pines' death," Mabel read on. "Fiery car crash, brakes cut… by who!?"

Dipper grabbed another clipping from the box, showing a scruffy picture of Stan without glasses. "Unnamed grifter at large?" Why would they call him unnamed? Unless Stan…"

"Isn't…" Mabel and him looked at each other, as the girl picked up where his idea was going. "Stan!?" We looked up at the portrait of Stan on the wall above our heads, him smiling down at us with a fixed grin. Dipper jumped away from the desk once he could force his eyes away from it, and began pacing angrily.

"Stan Pines is dead!? Then who have we been living with? It doesn't make any sense!" Mabel said something about pranks, and began peering into a plant, but I was more focused on the poor boy tearing himself apart over the matter. "I can't believe it. This whole summer I've been looking for answers and two of the biggest mysteries were right under our nose."

"Two?" I looked at him, confused.

"You haven't been exactly truthful at the start too, you know." Ouch. And I still was.

"I know. Just, give me a sec. Maybe we're missing something." Bending back over the box, I shuffled through it to find the code to the vending machine. Bingo. "This should do it. Catch." Dipper caught the paper, and dropped the journal to the floor. He flipped to the code page, and brought out the stupidly large black light. He compared the code to what Ford had written, frowning.

"I've never seen a code like this," he answered.

"Wait! I have!" Mabel said, reading it over his shoulder. "Guys, it's the vending machine!" That was our cue. Sprinting out of the room, we noticed a distinct lack of security. Guess Stan is already on his way here. Turning into the gift shop, we halted, seeing Soos standing in front of the machine.

"Soos?" Dipper asked, surprised.

"Ahh! Oh, kids! Where've you been?" Soos smiled.

"What are you doing here?" I reached towards my pocket, feeling for my pocket knife. Hey, if I was never gonna return it, then I may as well call it mine. Stan never complained about it missing. Still… as much as the tension is high, I wasn't pulling it on Soos.

"Stan gave me a mission to protect this machine! Ha! And I thought I loved snacks," Soos laughed.

"Soos, listen. Something huge is going on here," Dipper said. "If Stan is hiding some dangerous secret, we need to find out what it is! I need you to step aside."

"Yeah, just let us through so we can prove this is all just a big misunderstanding," Mabel added.

"Guys, I know this seems crazy, but I promised Stan I would guard this with my life," Soos admitted.

Dipper and Mabel looked up at me, and I sighed. "Sorry, Soos. In advance, of course. Ignis!" I winced, watching his shoes catch fire. Soos yelled out in shock, and fell to the floor. As he quickly began patting at the flames to put them out, I tackled him, pinning his arms to the floor. "Move!"

Dipper ran past me, and input the code. The door swung open, and knocked us all backwards to the floor. Coughing from the dust cloud that came up, we stared at the secret passageway. Making sure the man wasn't still on fire, I climbed off of him. Might have gone a little overboard with that. Soos stood up as well, and together, we began to descend the stairs, one at a time.

"It's like something from a video game," Soos said, awestruck as he reached the bottom.

"Or a dream," Mabel added with a hint of confusion and optimistic, right behind him.

"… or a nightmare," Dipper and me echoed together. Taking the lamp hanging at the foot of the stairwell, I lit our path to the elevator, and we began to head down further. As the cage came to a slow stop, we entered the lab. The three gasped, and I gripped my branded hand tightly. We were… so close now. Only minutes away from the portal activating.

"Guys, are we dreaming? Somebody wake me up," Mabel said, traces of fear lingering in her voice.

"This can't be real…" Dipper muttered quietly, looking around.

"I don't understand. Why would Mr. Pines have all this?" Soos asked.

"It's just like that bunker in the woods." Dipper glanced a camera on the dashboard, frowning as he could see what was happening outside of the Shack.

"But what is it doing underneath the Mystery Shack?" Soos asked.

"Okay, okay, so he's got a huge gigantic lab," Mabel said. "That doesn't mean anything bad! Everyone's got secrets! It's just Elaine all over again!" "Hey!" "Sorry." Mabel picked up the picture of her, Dipper, and me off of the table, and turned it around to show us. "It's still Stan, and he loves us. And we love him. Right?" He… he kept that picture? It was taken around the start of the summer, when we were fooling around outside. I had a copy in the front of my journal, but I didn't know he put one down there too. I felt so happy when I first got it. Even when I wasn't that close to Mabel and Dipper back then, I… I loved that simple gift.

"It can't be… it's impossible." Dipper stared down at journal one and two in disbelief, lying innocently on the table with the photocopied pages of journal three off to the side. "The other two journals? All this time… all this time, Stan had them!? I can't believe it! Was anything he said to us was real!?" He rammed his foot in the desk, whirling around to meet us. I hadn't seen him this mad… since he found out about me and Bill. "Why would he have those journals!?"

"Maybe he's the author," Soos suggested nervously.

"Or maybe he stole them from the author! Maybe the reason he has all those fake IDs is because he is a master criminal, and this machine is his master plan!" Dipper began to set up the journals, revealing the completed prints for the machine. I brought out my black light flashlight, and shone it on the pages.

"I was wrong the whole time. The machine was meant to create knowledge but it is too powerful. I was deceived, and now it is too late. The device, if fully operational, could tear our universe apart!" A gruesome image of the world splitting in half was drawn underneath, with chunks of the planet drifting around the tear. The more Dipper read, the more urgency was felt in the room, feeling smaller by the minute. "It must not fall into the wrong hands. If the clock ever reaches zero, our universe is doomed!"

A beeping sounded above our heads, and we looked up. The countdown clock read below two minutes. "It's the final countdown! Just like they always sung about!" Soos cried.

Dipper flipped through one of the journals, reading about the manual override. "The agents were right! We have to shut it down!" We ran into the room, and my heart picked up at the swirling portal high above our heads. "There!" Running to the machine to the side, Dipper, Mabel, and Soos grabbed a key each, while I stood to the side watching. I-I had to do something. Anything! But what!? If I acted, then Dipper would ask why, and it would be the Bill secret all over again! If I didn't, then Ford-! "Quick! Turn these together!" They did, and a device in the center of the room popped open, revealing a large red button. "That's it! The shutdown switch!" We rushed over to it, with Dipper reaching it first. He held his palm over the button, face set in what he had to do. "This all stops… now!"

"DON'T TOUCH THAT BUTTON!"

Turning around, we saw Stan standing in the doorway, panting. It was-the tension was terrible. Mabel looked sad and hurt, Soos looked betrayed, and Dipper… this had topped the list of things people never told him. "Dipper, just… back away." His hand was inches over the button, and he looked from Stan to the machine, testing the man. "Please don't press that shutdown button, you gotta trust me." He began walking towards us, and Dipper removed his arm.

"And I should trust you why!? After you stole radioactive waste? After you lied to us all summer!? I don't even know who you are!" He moved away a few steps, but he was still ready to turn around and act at any given moment.

"Look, I know this all seems nuts, but I need that machine to stay on! If you'd just let me explain-" Stan's watch began beeping, and the tremors picked up. "Uh-oh, oh no! Brace yourselves!" The portal sped up, and we were all lifted up into the air, floating around the room. Hats went flying, and I was hurled into the rock wall on the far side of where the others were, and rubbed the back of my head. My head hurt on impact, and I was I turned myself around to see what became of my friends, I could hear… laughter?

Not just… any laughter. "Bill." I stared at the portal, and down to where the button was. I-I had no clue if the demon was even aware of what Stan was up to. There were no triangles down there, so he could never see the progress being made. And if Ford came through the machine… he was facing down the Henchmaniacs and Bill as we speak.

"Dipper!" Mabel cried, gaining my attention. Her ankle was hooked around a wire, keeping her afloat over the button as small rocks drifted around her body.

"Mabel! Hurry! Shut it down!" She grabbed the wire, and began crawling down to grab the pole on Dipper's command. Stan, panic-stricken, began floating towards her in a swimming motion.

"No! Mabel, Mabel, wait! Stop! Aah!" Soos tackled him, knocking him away from Mabel. "Soos, what're you doing!? I gave you an order!" Stan hit him in the head, the two still spinning in circles.

"Sorry, Mr. Pines-if that is your real name-but I have a new mission now! Protecting these kids!" Soos declared.

"Soos, you idiot, let me go!" Dipper pushed off of the support beam he rammed into, and tackled Stan as well. The two fought to keep Stan from reaching Mabel. All the while, I was still pressed against the wall, just… lost.

What do I do? I-I couldn't press the button, because Ford had to come back, and Dipper would… I didn't want the Mindscape thing to happen again. But if I did hit it, the machine would still be in one piece, and Bill could get to it while leaving Ford trapped on the other side. No matter what I did, if no one hit that button, when the night was over… the machine would be destroyed. One of my ways of returning to my dimension: gone. But no matter what, it's too risky with him involved.

"Go! Mabel, press the red button! Shut it down!"

"No, you can't! You gotta trust me!"

Trust. Heh… such an odd word. I had given my belief that a dream demon, a monster, would be able to return me home to my dimension. To my family. But… everyone in this world, and the next: Mabel, Dipper, Stan, Asger, Kat, Pyronica, Pacifica… Bill… ever since I opened up, I-I got attached. I just… I… I… I couldn't leave. I couldn't, not even if I wanted to. I-I loved the Pines family, and all of my friends I'd made. And Bill… whatever it was I felt towards him… I-I didn't want to fully say goodbye to him either.

"Grunkle Stan, I don't even know, if you're my Grunkle!" Mabel's tears floated up into the air, and the three guys paused in their fight. Mabel... I hadn't seen her this emotionally conflicted since she found out about my deal with Bill. Her voice was so quiet and broken, making her so much younger than what she was. A little girl, lost and confused. "I wanna believe you, but-"

"Then listen to me. Remember this morning when I said I wanted to tell you guys something?" The portal flashed a bright light, sending them against the wall farther from me. Dipper and Soos hit the rock wall, and Stan collided with a pipe, denting it. Mabel prepared to press the button, but paused when Stan continued speaking. "I wanted to say that you're gonna hear some bad things about me, and some of them are true, but trust me. Everything I've worked, everything I care about, it's all for this family!"

"Mabel, what if he's lying? This thing could destroy the universe!" Dipper shouted. His hair flapped in the breeze, revealing his birthmark. His hat was no doubt somewhere else now, floating through the room with Soos'. "Listen to your head!"

"Look into my eyes, Mabel! You really think I'm a bad guy!?"

"He's lying! Shut it down NOW!"

"Mabel, please!" The countdown clock began speaking. Ten seconds. Electricity crackled around the light pillars, and Mabel closed her eyes and lowered her hand. Just millimeters from hitting the button, she started at Stan one last time.

"Grunkle Stan…"

"Six. Five."

"... I trust you." Mabel let go of the machine, and began floating upward. Her long brown hair drifted up and over her head, sweater blowing in the air. She brought her hands up in a surrendering manner, floating just slightly enough away that no matter what she did now, she would never reach it. Looking at it from Dipper's view, it looks as if she's defeated, but I knew Mabel held trust in her uncle. Things, they… they would work. This was going to work. Here we go… three. Two.

"MABEL, ARE YOU CRAZY!? WE'RE ALL GONNA-!"

"One." An explosion of bright light came from the portal, engulfing us. I heard the others screaming, and I wasn't sure if I was too. Screaming, that is. Everything just went… white, and mute. Gravity just turned off, and so did all of my thoughts. All except for one thought, which wasn't even my own.

Angel, as much as I'd love to come to this dimension and wreck havoc, it's a little too soon for that, I'm afraid. Say hello to Sixer for me!

And then everything came crashing down.

I landed on my side, groaning as my brain caught up with reality. Pushing my glasses up my nose, I rolled over to my knees and looked towards the portal. A large pillar crashed down in front of it, and the entire thing was a mess of tangles wires and metal. The machine though, was still glowing a bright blue. A shadow approached from the other side of the rippling blue, and the man we were all waiting for stepped through just as it turned off for good. A large gun in a case was strapped to his back, and a cloak wrapped tightly around him over the coat he already had on. Goggles covered his eyes, and a scarf around his mouth. His heavy boots thumped against the dirt, passing by the machinery scattered about in the portal's destruction.

The portal.

The portal was one of two options of ever getting home. Both easily could kill me, but were the only possible ways. Now, it's just… gone. Ford approached the first journal, laying in the dirt, and placed his hand on the cover. I loved… everyone. No matter how much I'd kept from them, no matter how much Dipper and me had fought, I treasured those moments. I wanted to go home; to see mom and dad, and to hug the air out of my sister. I wanted to be told that this was all a dream, and that I never left my world in the first place. That my life was never in danger, and they were all still cartoon characters.

But all of that was wishes from the start of the summer. And… now?

"What…? Who is that?" Dipper asked, looking up with his head in his hand.

"The author of the journals…" Stan said, rubbing his own head, and staring at his twin. Ford pulled off the goggles covering his glasses, and pulled down the scarf covering his face so we could finally see him. Him, the true author of the journals. "… my brother."

Dipper, Mabel, and Soos, now all standing up, were bunched behind Stan in shock. "Is this the part where one of us faints?" Mabel asked, all three having their mouths hanging open in shock.

"Ohoho, I am so on it, dude." Soos' eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he landed on his back in a dead faint.

Even though they're nowhere near perfect, regardless of how many times I'd almost died because of them, and have their many, many flaws, the Pines were my family too.

I was already home.


Oh, my gosh! You have NO idea how much I've been wanting to write this chapter. I just started one afternoon, and couldn't stop!

A Tale of Two Stans will be up, but be warned, I have two finals next week and two the following.

Gsv grnv szh xlnv gl dvoxlnv slnv,Hrcvi uiln yvblmw Srh gsilmv.
Dsrov kibrmt vbvh dzgxs uiln zuzi,
Zmtvoh dlmwvi dsl gsvb ziv.

Krmv Givvh yivzp wldm, zmw Hsllgrmt Hgzih uzoo,
zmw z Uva rh uizbvw zg gsv hvznh
Yv xzivufo, Krmvh, lu z wldmuzoo:
blfi Zmtvo rh mlg dszg hsv hvvnh.

Angel