Chpater 31: It's Never What it Seems
(Emily's P.O.V)
Okay, you know those moments where so some bizarre reason, you just wake up in the middle of the night? Well that's what happened to me. Imagine my surprise when I was FLOATING ABOVE THE FREAKIN GROUND! Before I could react, gravity turned back on and I flopped back on my mattress.
I groaned and was thankful that I wasn't too high up from it. I rubbed my face and got out of my bed and opened one of my windows. In the distance I saw the glowing Shack and sighed to myself. I nearly forgotten about this. I was so busy with the Northwest stuff. Now I had to deal with possibility getting arrested.
The very thought of that sent a chill up my spin and I was reminded of a conversation I had with Stan a while back.
Before the twins even got here.
FLASHBACK
"So you and Georgia we're moved around a lot?" Stan asked as we were eaten my dinner. I nodded and took a bite of an apple before speaking.
"Not a whole lot, but there was a time where the government had to shut down a foster home we were at...it was awful. All of us were taken in for questioning. I was so scared." I admitted as I played with my fork.
"Huh, why was it shut down? Health code or something?" Stan asked and took a sip of Pitt soda.
"Uh no...it was really bad. The ones fostering us were smuggling several illegal items. Basically stuff that they could sell for money. One of the kids found out and turned them in. The fuzz came by in the middle of night and woke us all up. Everyone was terrified. Some of us have been there for about 5 years...it was just all overwhelming. I know those people we're trying to help, but I hated every minute of it. I was lucky Georgia was there with me. I wouldn't have been able to keep it together..." I explained and stopped talking as I shuddered. Just thinking about it made me uncomfortable.
"Hey, I've been...uneasy with the law. I know what it's like. And don't worry, as long as I'm around, you're never gonna have to deal with those bozos again." Stan promised and I smiled, secretly knowing that may not exactly by true, but I was glad to here it nonetheless.
"Thanks Stan. Thanks."
END FLASHBACK
I haven't said anything to anyone about that ever since. It's not the most happiest moment in my mind. Now I guess it was today. I sighed as I closed the shutters in the windows and flopped on my mattress.
"Cue theme song." I muttered softly and decided to get some more sleep before I officially started the episode. I couldn't help but feel worried about what was going to happen, but I knew I'd be okay.
I've made it this far after all.
Not long later, I was now dressed and locking my trunk up. It had the scrolls, and the gun Stan gave me, so it was important. Once I grabbed my phone, I made my way down the ladder and headed to the Shack. When I walked in I was immediately tackled by a familiar blur.
"Hey Mabel." I deadpanned. This wasn't the first time she tackled me down in the morning. I've gotten too used to it.
"Emily! Come quick! I need to show you and Dipper something!" She squealed and grabbed my arm and was pulled up and dragged upstairs by Mabel and she burst into her and Dipper's room and launched herself on her twins bed, waking him up.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up! I just found the most amazing thing ever and you and Emily gotta see it!" She exclaimed.
"If I see it, will you let me go back to sleep?" He groaned.
"Sure, but after seeing it, you won't want to!" Mabel said in a sing-song voice and rushed down the halls.
"Come on, I'm sure it'll be neat." I shrugged.
"It's Mabel, she'll get excited over a dust bunny shapes like an actual bunny." Dipper yawned.
"Fair enough." I replied and we followed Mabel into the hallway.
"Ahh! It's here it's here it's here!" She squealed as Dipper sighed. We then came to a door and Mabel turned to us.
"Okay, so I was just opening random doors, because I'm a creep, when I found something amazing!" She explained.
"If it was worth waking up at seven AM for, that will be amazing." Dipper said, rubbing his eyes.
"Don't leave us in suspense." I added.
"Feast your eyes!" Mabel opened the door to reveal the box with several fireworks, and labeled 'NO NOT TOUCH!'
"Whoa!" Dipper gasped in awe.
"I guess that means it was worth getting up for." I commented as Mabel placed a hand in her brothers shoulder.
"Bro. Bro. We're both thinking it." She insisted.
"Crazy rooftop fireworks party!" They cheered excitedly.
"I am so in!" I replied. That when Stan marched over to us.
"Not so fast, kids! There is no way on earth you're setting off those dangerous, illegal fireworks..." We paused and the twins looked upset for a brief moment until Stan smiled and bent down, wrapping his arms around the two. "...without me."
Next thing I know, I'm on the roof with the Pines and we were firing the fireworks having a blast. I was currently eating an icy pop as Dipper got one of his own. It was Mabel's turn to blast a fire work and Stan lit it up for her.
"Here you go, sweetie. Set something on fire for your Grunkle Stan." He said, ruffling her hair. Mabel eagerly aimed her firework out towards the woods.
"I AM THE GOD OF DESTRUCTION!" Mabel exclaimed and the fireworks blasted off and exploded in bright colors. We laughed happily and I suddenly spotted the policemen.
"Psst, here comes the buzzkills." I whispered and we turned down to them.
"Hold on a minute. Do you have a permit for those?" Bulbs asked suspiciously.
"Uh..." Dipper thought for a moment, but Stan cut him off.
"Uh, do you have a permit for being totally lame?" He asked, causing all of us on the roof to laugh.
"Heyoooo!" Mabel cried.
"Well, I can't argue with that." Blubs chucked and he and Durland waved as they walked away. "Carry on."
"But seriously though we should probably clean this mess up." Stan said in a serious manner as we all stared at the several small fore around the Shack and a rope that held the flags even snapped in half.
"With water balloons?" Mabel asked.
"I don't see why not." Stan shrugged.
Not 5 minutes later, the twins were chasing each other around with water balloons in hand. I was sitting with Stan as we watched the two run through the yarn and laughing. Dipper threw a water ballon which only went about a foot before falling on the ground, not even popping.
"Seriously?" He questioned before Mabel hit him with a water ballon, knocking him down and screamed by happily.
"Whooo! Go Mabel!" I cheered raising a fist up.
"Ah. This is what Saturdays are for. Doing dumb things forever." Stan sighed happily, in a relaxed manner. The twins linked arms and jumped on a pile of water balloons.
"DUMB THINGS FOREVER!" They cried, and caused a large burst of water, some of which ending up hitting Stan and me.
"Whoa there!" Stan laughed, and I joined. Mabel the held out an icy pop.
"To Grunkle Stan! Not just a great uncle..."
"The greatest uncle!" Dipper finished and I managed to walk behind them, sneaking two water balloons in my hands. Once Dipper finished his statement we pummeled Stan with balloons, causing him to laugh.
"Alright, alright. I tell you it's unnatural for siblings to get along as well as you do." Stan said, I frowned at that, but quickly turned it back into a smile before he caught it.
"Ha-ha! Don't worry. We've still got plenty of summer left, to drive each other crazy!" Mabel said, attacking Dipper through a hug, causing him to push her away with a water balloon that fell in her face.
"Boom! The revenge of Dipper!" I laughed as Stan chucked nervously.
"Yeah, plenty of summer left." Stan mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as the twins and I approached him.
"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 said suddenly and walked off.
"What was that all about?" Dipper asked and Mabel shrugged.
"Maybe he felt awkward that he didn't bring out more soda?" Mabel offered, and turned to me.
"What do you think Emily?...Emily?" Mabel asked as I stared off to where Stan had walked off and shook myself out of the trance.
"Uh sorry, just spaced out..."
"Target secure! Take the house!" Agent Trigger exclaimed form the side f the house and suddenly several helicopters flew above the Shack. I grabbed the twins shoulders and held them close as we were surrounded.
"What the...?" Mabel questioned as Dipper gasped.
"Kids are secure. Roof team! Go!" An agent cried into a walkie-talkie and several more agents rappelled out of a helicopter. One agent then grabbed me and dragged me away from the twins.
"Hey! What's the big idea!?" I exclaimed and struggled through his grasp. The twins reached out for me, but other agents blocked them. I was led to a car that Stan was being led to as she struggled.
"Ugh! Hey, hands off, you stooge!" Stan cried and the agent plants his head on his on the police car.
"Aah! I don't understand! What did I do that warrants this much arresting?" He questioned.
"And I thought Gravity Falls was lacking in the law enforcement." I grumbled. That's when Agent Powers and Trigger walked over.
"The government guys? I thought you got eaten by zombies!" Dipper gasped in shock.
"We survived. Barely." Trigger replied.
"I used Trigger as a human shield. He cried like a baby." Powers deadpanned and I held in a snicker.
"What? Hey! Not in front of the special-ops guys!" Trigger whined and I turned my attention to my captor.
"Eh, I doubt their laughing." I shrugged as Powers showed Stan a tablet that played security footage.
"This is security footage of a government waste facility." Powers explained as Stan, wearing a radiation suit, in the screen and taking several barrels of the waste."
"What? You think that's me?" Stan asked.
"Don't play dumb with us, Pines." Powers glared.
"But I actually am dumb!" Stan cried as he was being led away. "Last night I was stocking the gift shop. I swear!"
"You don't have any proof other than some footage! You can't just arrest him!" I protested. Mabel rushed up, desperation in her eyes.
"Wait! Grunkle Stan! You've got the wrong guy! Our Grunkle Stan might shoplift the occasional tangerine, but he's not some evil super villain!" She cried and Powers bent down to face the twins.
"Listen, kid. We've been watching your family all summer and we've seen some disturbing things. But nothing as dangerous as what your uncle is hiding. Somewhere hidden in this shack is a doomsday device!" He explained.
"But why are you arresting Emily? She never did anything illegal!" Dipper asked.
"We've looked into it, and found out she is nonexistent from every record we could find. That's not normal, so either she's on the run, or there's an even bigger secret she's hiding." Powers said and looked at me with suspicion.
"Hey! Can't a girl just live off the grid?" I snapped.
"Normally yes, but this situation is far from normal." Powers said and turned to Trigger, while handing him a tablet. "Trigger, you take the children. I'll talk to the old man and take the teen."
"We have names!" I snapped and Stan looked at me from the car he was in.
"Emily! Get out of here!" He called before he was forced in the truck. I then felt a slight pulse in my necklace and, as fast as I could, wrenched my hands out of my captor's grasp, and noticed a beam of green light appeared as I did so.
"Sorry to break it to you kids, but you don't know...WHAT THE?" Powers gasped as he saw I escaped from my captor and I started running towards the woods.
"DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!" I heard Powers order and several footsteps chase after me.
I headed in a certain direction and made a slight detour to my treehouse, that would hopefully lead them astray, but I couldn't keep running from them. I may have run from danger a lot this summer, but I was never one to run for very long. I eventually turned a corner and rushed towards where my home was. I heard the footsteps, but they seemed farther away. I finally caught sight of my treehouse, but quickly stopped when I saw who was there waiting for me.
"What the...!? Nate!?" I gasped, catching my breath.
"Hey Emily, I came by wondering if you..."
"No time! Quick!" I hated to cut him off, but my life was possibly at stake! I grabbed his hand and practically dragged him up the ladder and once we were both up, I slammed the door and pushed my chest over it.
"Whoa, what's going on?" Nate asked as I opened the chest, took out the gun and holster, and put it on around my waist.
"Sorry to rush this, but Stan got arrested, the twins are gone, and several government guys are after me!" I explained as I felt the top of the roof, and opened a door that I made after the pterodactyl incident. I quickly jumped onto the roof and Nate followed me. Once we were both up, and under the cover of the branches, I sighed and heard several footsteps outside the treehouse.
"This must be where the girl was staying." One of the agents said.
"She must have grabbed supplies before running off, let's split up to cover more ground." Another agent replied and I peaked through the branches and saw them split off in separate directions and I breathed a sigh of relief I didn't realize I was holding. I then felt I gentle hand on my shoulder.
"Emily, are you okay?" Nate asked in concern and I turned towards him. He had a very worried look in his eyes and I felt tears weld up I'm my eyes.
"Actually, no...no I'm not okay..." I said and attempted to wipe away the tears.
"It's just, I try to be confident and brave when the twins are scared...but this time...I just ran away. All because I'm scared of getting arrested...it's stupid!" I cried and Nate suddenly pulled me into a hug. I was shocked at first, but returned it and tears streamed down my face.
"It's gonna be okay, we'll figure this out." He assured me and I hugged him tighter as he rubbed my back gently. "I know this seems scary, but I've seen you do amazing stuff before. We can do this, together. I promise."
I broke the hug and held onto Nate's hands and seeing his soft smile calmed me down. I didn't realize how much I needed that. All this time I spent in Gravity Falls has lead me up to this, and I wasn't as ready as I could have been, but I've made a life for myself I didn't think was possible. After Georgia passed away, I didn't feel like moving forward, yet here I was. In a world I thought was fiction, with a boy I loved, and who loved me back.
"Nate, thank you." I said and pulled him in for a kiss. Which he returned. I felt a small pulse on my necklace, but didn't pay much mind to it and once we ended the kiss I stood up, holding Nate's hand tightly.
"Let's get to the Shack." I said simply and Nate gripped my hand in return and nodded.
"Lead the way."
Once we snuck to the Shack I noticed that the back entrance was lacking the most guards and we made out way over there. I peaked through the bushes and sighed in annoyance.
"Okay, we have to get inside, but there's no way we can get in without the guards seeing us. So we need some sort of..."
"Uh!" I was cut off by Nate grabbing a rock the size of this hand and tossing it to the opposite direction of us. It crashed into the bushes with a loud *THUNK* and the two guards rushed over to the rock.
"...distraction..." I finished and gave Nate a quick hug. "You're the best!"
"Aww, well I do what I can." Nate said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck and I grabbed his arm, tugging him twirls the Shack.
"Come on!" I urged and we rushed inside and I quietly closed the door behind us.
"Okay, where to?" Nate asked.
"Stan's office." I replied and we walked towards the office and I opened the door slowly. I saw the twins looking at the box of fake ID's and the froze when the erase the door, but I opened it wide enough so they could see me.
"EMILY!" They cried and rushed over to me, tackling me in a hug. Nate follows me in and closed the door behind us.
"Are you two okay? I'm so sorry I rushed off like that, it wasn't cool..." I apologized.
"Emily, we're not mad at you." Dipper assured me.
"Yeah, you've always been there for us. You never given us a reason to doubt you, so we didn't. And made it back to the Shack in once piece." Mabel added.
"Aw guys. You're just too sweet!" I gushed and hugged them once again.
"I told Stan I would take care of you if something happened, and that's what I'm going to do. I promise." I assured them.
"Uh guys?" We the turned to Nate, who was looking through the supplies the twins were rummaging through. "Why does it say Stan Pines is dead?"
"...oh yeah...that bombshell that was dropped..." Dipper muttered and started pacing back and forth.
"It just doesn't make any sense. If Stan is dead, then who have we been living with? Who has been watching us this whole summer? Who have you been working for!?" Dipper exclaimed.
"I get all the fake ID's, Stan has been on the run a lot..." I said.
"But that doesn't explain the newspaper article! Emily, you trusted this guy, and he's been lying to you!" Nate exclaimed, shoving the paper in my face. He had a clear look of concern in his eyes that unsettled me, but I reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder.
"There's going to be an explanation, I know it. We can't risk jumping to conclusions." I said sincerely.
"Yeah! Emily's right, maybe we're getting Ker-Prank'd! Justin Kerprank is gonna jump up from behind one of these plants any minute now!" Mabel exclaimed and gestured to a potted plant, only for nothing to happen. "...any minute Justin..."
"Yeah, that's not going to work...sorry Mabel, but this isn't some adventure that wraps up in half an hour..." I said, pulling her away from the plant.
"I can't believe it. This whole summer I've been looking for answers and the biggest mystery was right under our nose." Dipper said in confusion. Mabel then pulled me over to the clippings and we looked through them.
"Ugh, there's gotta be some kind of explanation in here somewhere. What the...'secret code to hideout'?" Mabel questioned, holding up the piece of paper.
"Was it really smart to leave that lying around, and have the words 'secret hideout' on there?" Nate questioned.
"Maybe not, but let's be thankful that there are those words on there." I shrugged and Dipper took out the Journal and his black light.
"Let me see that...hmmm...'A1, B, C3'...I've never seen a code like this." Dipper said, looking through the pages of the journal.
"Wait! I have! Guys, it's the vending machine!" Mabel gasped.
"Oh, yeah I see it now." Nate nodded.
"Then that's where we're going next." I said in a serious tone and we all snuck to the gift shop, only to stop because of the excessive amounts of guards there. They walked towards where we were hiding and I subconsciously reached for the gun in the holster, but the guards then started shouting.
"Stanford escaped! He's at large! We need to sweep the town! Move! Move! Move!" The guards cried and rushed out of the Shack and into their vehicles before driving off.
"Phew, that was close." I sighed and turned to see everyone staring at me.
"What?"
"You. Have. A. Gun!?" Dipper whisper-yelled at me.
"Uh...yeah?" I shrugged, did he not see it before?
"Why!?" The twins exclaimed.
"Stan gave it to me, to protect you two..." I was cut off by Soos stumbling in the window and positioning himself in front of the vending machine.
"Alright Soos, remember the plan. Protect the machine, earn Stan's trust, legally get adopted by Stan, change name to Stan Junior." He said to himself and we walked over to him.
"Soos?" Dipper questioned.
"Ahh! Oh, guys! Where've you been?" Soos asked.
"Long story." I deadpanned.
"What are you doing here?" Dipper asked.
"Stan gave me a mission to protect this machine! Ha! And I thought I loved snacks." Soos explained.
"Uh, I don't think that's why he asked you to guard it..." Nate mumbled awkwardly.
"Soos, listen. Something huge is going on here. If Stan is hiding some dangerous secret, we need to find out what it is! I need you to step aside." Dipper said sternly.
"Yeah, just let us through so we can prove this is all just a big misunderstanding." Mabel added, with uncertainty in her voice.
"Guys, I know this seems crazy, but I promised Stan I would guard this with my life." Soos declared.
"Yeah, well we're not kidding around Soos, last chance. Move aside." I said sternly. Soos squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. Dipper nodded at Mabel, who walked towards Soos.
"I'm sorry Soos." She said, Soos then opened his eyes, only to have glitter blown into his eyes.
"Aah! Attack glitter! It's pretty, but it hurts!" Soos cried. Nate and I then rushed over and grabbed each of his arms as the twins rushed over to the machine.
"Aww, c'mon, I don't wanna fight you guys! This hurts me more than it hurts you!" Soos pleaded, and Nate and I tugged at his arms rather harshly. "Ah! Seriously, it hurts me way more that it hurts you!"
"This is for the best!" I cried as Dipper reached for the number pad and typed in the code. The vending machine suddenly burst open which knocked us all to the floor. Once the dust cleared we all gasped at the sight of the secret passage.
"Whoa...I don't know what we even expected, but dang that looks creepy." Nate gasped. I stood up and walked over to the machine.
"Come on, we can't turn back now." I said simply and Soos lead the way down the stairs.
"It's like something from a video game..." Soos observer.
"Or a dream..." Mabel added.
"...or a nightmare." Dipper shuddered. We made our way to the elevator and I'm honestly surprised that we all managed to fit inside, thought it was a tight fit. Once we made it to the bottom floor and the doors opened we all gasped.
The secret lab.
"Guys, are we dreaming? Somebody wake me up." Mabel pleaded and I held my hand out for her to take and she gripped tightly on it.
"This can't be real..." Dipper said in disbelief.
"I don't understand. Why would Mr. Pines have all this?" Soos asked.
"It's just like that bunker in the woods..." Dipper said.
"Yeah, expect it looks like it's more active and functional." Nate added.
"But what is it doing underneath the Mystery Shack?" Soos asked.
"I don't know Soos..." I muttered, I mean yeah I knew, but I couldn't exactly tell anyone that...
"Okay, okay, so he's got a huge gigantic lab. That doesn't mean anything bad! Everyone's got secrets!" Mabel said, she noticed the picture of her and Dipper on the desk and let go of my hand to grab it and show everyone. "It's still Stan, and he loves us. And we love him. Right?"
Dipper didn't seem to noticed or hear what Mabel was saying as he looked at the desk in utter disbelief. "It can't be... it's impossible. The other two journals? All this time... all this time, Stan had them?! I can't believe it! Was anything he said to us real?! Why would he have those journals!?"
"Dipper! Hey, calm down!" I exclaimed and held his shoulder, after he kicked the desk.
"Why should I!?" He cried back at me.
"I don't want you to hurt yourself!" I exclaimed back and Dipper's eyes widened.
"Maybe...maybe Stan is the author." Soos suggested and Dipper glared back at Soos.
"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 cried and the opened each of the Journals to the portal page and laid them all out of the desk. He then turned on the black light and ex,aimed the page and we gasped at the hidden messages.
"Whoa..." Mabel gasped, grabbing my hand again.
"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! It must not fall into the wrong hands. If the clock ever reaches zero, our universe is doomed!" Dipper read.
"Wait, WHAT!? How much time do we have!?" Nate exclaimed in fear and we turned to the giant count down clock which read 1 minute and 30 seconds...and counting down...
"It's the final countdown! Just like they always sung about!" Soos exclaimed.
"Okay, NOT the time to get a song stuck in my head Soos!" I cried as Dipper flipped through the Journal.
"The agents were right! We have to shut it down!" Dipper exclaimed stopped at a page that read, 'MANUAL OVERRIDE'. We all ran into the portal room and gasped as the ground began to shake.
"There! Quick! Turn these, together!" Dipper cried. Nate and Soos joined Dipper in turning the keys as Mabel clung onto me fearfully. I turned seeing the device in the middle of the room open up to reveal a red button. We all went over to us and Dipper lifted his hand up, hovering over to button.
"That's it! The shutdown switch! This all stops...now!"
"DON'T TOUCH THAT BUTTON!"
We all turned towards the doorway to see Stan panting heavily and we all started with emotionless gazes. Dipper didn't move his hand from over the button.
"Dipper, just back away." Stan urged, Dipper still didn't move. "Please don't press that shutdown button, you gotta trust me."
"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!" Dipper exclaimed angrily, hurt and betrayed laced in his voice.
"Look, I know this all seems nuts, but I need that machine to stay on! If you'd just let me explain..." Stan was cut off by his watch beeping and the ground began to shake violently. "Uh-oh, oh, no! Brace yourselves!"
We were all then lifted off the ground and floated towards the machine. I held onto Mabel as her feet got caught onto the wire and I used my freehand to grab onto the wire.
"T minus thirty-five seconds." The computer voice announced.
"Wh-whoa-aaaah!" Stan cried, spinning in midair.
"This is not cool!" Nate exclaimed, failing his arms around.
"Aaah!" I looked up to see Dipper hit a wooden support and hold onto it.
"Dipper!" Mabel cried worriedly and Dipper turned towards us.
"Mabel, Emily! Hurry, shut it down!" Dipper cried and Mabel let go of my hand to start crawling along the wire to the button and I followed after her.
"No! Mabel, Emily, wait! Stop! Aah!" Stan cried as he was tackled down by Soos, who held him tightly.
"Soos, what're you doing?! I gave you an order!" Stan exclaimed, hitting Soos on the head. Mabel I then made it to the button and held on to it tightly as she watched the scuffle.
"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!" Stan cried in anger. Nate, missing his hat, then tackled Stan along with Soos.
"Stay away from her!" Nate exclaimed. Dipper then pushed off the support beam and joined the tackle.
"Go! Mabel, press the red button! Shut it down!" Dipper exclaimed.
"No you can't, you gotta trust me!" Stan pleaded. Mabel the started crying, and quite frankly I was about to as well...
"Grunkle Stan, I don't even know, if you're my grunkle! I wanna believe you, but..."
"Then listen to me. Remember this morning when I said I wanted to tell you guys something?" Stan asked.
"T-minus twenty seconds." The computer announced.
"HEADS UP!" I cried and the portal let out a burst of enter and pushed the boys against the wall rather roughly and Mabel lifted her hand to push the button, but Stan cut her off.
"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 for, everything I care about, it's all for this family!" Stan explained.
"Guys, what if he's lying? This thing could destroy the universe! Listen to your head!" Dipper urged and Mabel looked over at me with tears.
"Look into my eyes, Mabel! You really think I'm a bad guy?" Stan asked and Mabel looked over at Stan.
"He's lying! Shut it down NOW!" Dipper yelled.
"Mabel, Emily, please!" Stan pleaded.
"Ten. Nine..."
Mabel turned to me with uncertainty, but I gave her a soft smile and reached my hand out. She then sniffed and reached her hand towards mine.
"Grunkle Stan..."
"Six. Five."
She grabbed my hand and we both let go of the stand.
"We trust you."
We floated up.
"GUYS ARE YOU CRAZY?! WE'RE ALL GONNA..."
"One."
I pulled Mabel close to my chest and held her tight before the explosion of light appeared and everyone around us screamed in fear and horror. I suddenly saw my necklace glow and several beams of light spring out and engulfed everyone in a green aura. Everyone gasped and I lifted my right hand, while keeping my left hand around Mabel, and slowly lowered my hand and we all were slowly lifted to the ground.
"E-Emily?" Mabel gasped I looked down at her with worry, but she simply hugged me and I returned it. I then looked over to the portal and gasped.
Ford had emerged from the portal and the light around it had described with only a sliver of light around it as he walked out. He then stopped to grab Journal number 1 from the ground, his hand fitting perfectly on the cover and placed it inside his jacket pocket.
"What...? Who is that?" Dipper asked, in utter and complete shock. Stan walked in front of us, his eyes wide.
"The author of the Journals..."
Ford the removed his goggles, revealing his face to us.
"...my brother."
"Is this the part where one of us faints?" Mabel asked, gripping tightly to my arm.
"Ohoho, I am so on it, dude." Soos assured her and eyes rolled in the back of his head as he collapsed. I just stared with amazement and relief.
The Author has returned.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
DUN DUN Duuuuun...yeah, you all knew this was coming, and what's happening next, but hey! First update of the new year yay!
So, I'm SO sorry for not updating that much, but the first few weeks of 2020, have been INSANE!
First I was sick around Christmas, so not fun! Next, I was visiting with some family, cause it's that time of year. Then, I had a whole bunch of school stuff to do, and FINALLY, I had a hecka lot of tests to push through.
But I'm back! And boy was this chapter fun to write! I'm really glad I added Nate in. Cause he's gonna have some stuff to comment on next chapter! Speaking of which, don't expect next chapter to be super long! I'm not writing down everything that happens. We all know about the original mystery twins, especially Emily, so I'll mainly be focused on the parts where Emily and others are commenting on the story.
And, as always, please leave a review! I really want to know what you guys are thinking!
Now, onto last chapter's reviews.
Guest:...okay, I'm gonna make this clear, Emily is NOT going to use the gun on the spied lady. I thought I made that clear, but I guess I didn't.
Linz2: Yes, Nate has a much bigger role in this series. I'm glad you liked Pacifica making up with everyone. More on that later.
GF Geek (Guest): I'm so glad you liked it! I fell in love with the Dipcifica ship! I think it has a lot of potential.