Mabel had seen blood before.

She'd had her fair share of scrapes and bruises in her childhood. Something that came with being a kid, especially a kid like Mabel. Plus she'd been living in Gravity Falls for two months, even if she hadn't gone on all those adventures she'd have gotten busted up.

But she had never seen someone as injured as this.

The portal had spun itself out, and gravity had returned to normal. Mabel looked up and saw a dark figure literally fall out of the center of the vortex. Stan's eyes widened, and he didn't even pay attention to Dipper's question of "Who is that?"

Stan rushed over to the figure, kneeling down in front of him and ripping something limp and black from off of the new man's face. Stan ordered the man gently, but firmly, to keep his eyes open, and the man groaned in response.

"Stan... Lee? You... I'll try..."

Mabel realized with a start that Stan's fingers were now coated in a red liquid. Stan was busy unfastening the man's black coat. There was a dark puddle that was spread on the ground around him. Grunkle Stan was kneeling in a pool of blood.

Mabel felt sick. She looked over at Dipper, whose eyes were wide with shock. Mabel didn't know what to do, but it appeared that Stan did.

"Ford." He said firmly, "I'm taking off your shirt. I have to look at your cuts." Ford opened his mouth, and a rattly breath shook him slightly, making him cough.

"Stanley... I... How do you know how..."

Stan didn't answer his brother, he slid the sleeve of the coat off of Ford's arm, and draped it on the ground. Stan hoped that he could find the deepest wound soon and that Ford wouldn't be too upset with his clothes being ruined. "I spent ten years on my own." Stan said quietly, "I had to do this a couple of times."

Ford's eyes drifted off to the side, and his blinking became longer and deeper. "No, no, no." Stan said, grabbing Ford's jaw and forcing him to look at him, "You can't do that to me Poindexter, you gotta stay awake."

"So... Tired..." Ford mumbled, "I'm sorry Kacy... Stanley..."

Stan didn't bother to ask Ford who 'Kacy' was. He lifted Ford up slightly, wincing as Ford gave a sharp squeal of pain.

He pulled his sweater off, trying to not listen to Ford's ragged breathing. Stan nearly fainted when he saw all of the bleeding cuts that littered almost the entirety of Ford's torso, not to mention the scars and tattoos that were already there, many of which were being stained by even more blood.

On Ford's left side was the deepest cut. It looked like someone had tried to turn him into a living watermelon. The worst part was that if Stan squinted, all the cuts looked like they made smiley faces...

He laid Ford back down and ordered him yet again to keep his eyes open. He pulled his own jacket off and ripped the already torn sleeve all the way off and into one long strip. He dried up the blood, as much as he could, and wrapped the sleeve around Ford's chest, covering the deepest wound. Stan couldn't tell if it was just the dim lighting, but he felt like everything was covered in Ford's blood. This was bad... This was bad...

"Grunkle Stan? Do you need any help?"

Stan looked up and saw the kids, Mabel and Dipper looked super duper worried, and Stan didn't blame them. He looked at Ford, whose eyes were blinking shut again. This was bad...

"Yeah," he said, wiping the sweat from his brow, not really caring that it was probably now covered in blood as well. "Keep him awake. His eyes need to stay open and you need to make sure he can listen."

"I... Can hear you..." Ford mumbled, turning his head over to look at the kids. "Hi."

"Hello!" Mabel said, fake enthusiasm filling her voice. She sat down next to Ford and tried her best not to look uncomfortable. "I'm Mabel. It's nice to meet you. Do you like my sweater?"

Ford blinked and tried to smile at her, but it only turned into a grimace. "It's lovely..." he mumbled, "Where..."

"Oh, I made it myself. When you get better I'll make you one." Mabel said, shifting in her spot. "What's your favorite color?"

Ford opened his mouth, but at that moment Stan was busy wrapping another piece of his jacket around his arm. He let out a strangled cry and he squeezed his eyes shut. Mabel reached a hand out and laid it on his forehead, which, fortunately, didn't have any injuries. His cheeks had trails of blood falling down his chin, and Mabel was sure that the one facing her was a cut in the shape of some sort of emoji. Who had done this to him?

Stan worked quietly, and Dipper joined him at his side. Stan handed him the suit coat and ordered him to tear it into long strips. Soos came over as well and offered to do whatever Stan told him to. Stan told the repairman to go upstairs and get any first aid kits he could find.

Mabel talked to Ford, who did his best to respond to her. He finally just tried nodding, and that seemed to work.

After what felt like an eternity, Stan had stopped all the major blood flow. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand and looked down at Ford's face for the first time since he'd gotten back.

Ford was watching Mabel as she talked to him. His eyes followed her movements, which Stan was grateful for. Mabel was talking to him about Waddles, and sweaters, and Candy and Grenda, and Ford seemed to be interested in what she was saying.

Dipper had the first Journal, and was flipping through it rapidly. Stan looked over at the kid, whose shirt and shorts were splattered with blood, and asked him what he was doing.

"I'm looking to see if the Author ever found any healing stuff." Dipper said matter-of-factly. "I've never looked at this one... Because you had it."

Stan didn't answer Dipper, he instead moved over to sit next to Mabel, who had stopped talking and was watching Stan along with Ford. Ford mumbled, "Thanks Stan... Can I..?"

"No." Stan said, and Ford sighed. "Who did this to you?" Stan asked, and Ford's injured face looked even more pained, if that was possible.

Ford mumbled something incoherent, and Stan asked "What?" Ford sighed, and said a bit louder, "Bill. Bill Cipher..."

Stan sent Dipper to stop Soos before he told the Government agents about Ford. That was a problem Stan really didn't feel like dealing with right now.

Dipper and Mabel knew whoever this 'Bill' guy was, and expressed their hatred for him. That had perked Ford's interest, and Mabel was explaining their encounters with the (apparently a) triangle.

The four of them had figured out a way to get the Government guys out of the house. And a way to turn a few sheets into a makeshift stretcher. They carefully got Ford onto the bed and carried him upstairs. Where Stan cleaned his wounds and got actual bandages on them.

After checking online (thanks Soos) they deducted that they could let Ford sleep, a fact that he was most grateful for. He was out like a candle, and Stan finally had a chance to explain his backstory with the kids.

Needless to say, Dipper and Mabel were satisfied with his answers to their questions, and Dipper was overjoyed that the Author would be staying with them, even if he was sorry for the guy. Dipper knew very well what Bill thought of pain.

Stan helped Ford in every way he could. He helped him change his bandages, and find books he wanted to read. Ford was grateful to have his Journals back, and he even thanked Stan when he gave them to him.

Mabel asked what he wanted on the sweater, and Ford asked for a UFO. Said something about how that the one he'd been on looked like the stereotypical drawings of them. That perked Dipper's interest.

With literally every hour of Ford's time being back in his Dimension taken up by lying around the Shack, Dipper got plenty of opportunities to talk to his uncle about Gravity Falls. And every time Ford would talk to him about it, he'd look like a kid in a candy store.

Mabel presented Ford's sweater to him the day Stan said he could begin walking on his own again. Ford said that he was impressed with Mabel's artistic talent, and that he was grateful for the sweater. Stan had been forcing him to wear a white t-shirt, which allowed a certain tattoo to show...

Needless to say, Ford still looked good in blue.

"Finally, after all these long years of waiting!"

Ford glared at Bill. It had been a pretty long time since he'd been in the Nightmare Realm. Bill looked just as confusing and terrifying as the last time Ford had been there, but Ford should have a better time than last...

He pulled his quantum destabilizer off of his back and aimed for Bill.

"Oooohh, am I supposed to be scared?" Bill asked, sounding like someone speaking to a three-year-old. The triangle held his hands up and gripped his body near his eye. "Take your best shot Sixer!"

Ford felt like something was wrong. Bill's friends were standing around them, but they were doing nothing to stop him from completely obliterating the yellow abomination. What did Bill have planned..?

Ford decided that no matter what Bill actually thought he was going to do, at least trying to destroy him would count for something. He pulled the trigger on the massive gun, and watched the blue light it emitted streak towards Bill. Yes. Yes. A little more...

The laser destroyed one of the 'buildings' behind Bill, who was now nowhere to be found. Ford's eyes widened as Bill's Henchmaniacs began to laugh.

"Aww, that was adorable." Bill's voice called out, coming from behind Ford. The only human spun around and saw the triangle only inches away from his face. Bill seemed to 'frown' at Ford's sour expression, and he reached a large black hand out and lifted Ford up like a rag doll. "Come on Fordsy, turn that frown..." Bill reached towards Ford's face with his free arm's pointer finger, and dragged it sharp tip over Ford's face. "Upside down!"

Ford screamed.

"And your scars? How are they?"

Dipper had to physically hold Mabel away from the small camera on the laptop they used to video chat with Stan and Ford since they'd gone home for the school year. Ever since Ford had arrived in the Shack, Stan had been forced to rely on Soos' help running the place. The repairman had been teaching the two old men how to use the computer, and Stan and Ford were actually getting better at it.

"They're fine." Ford answered, rubbing his right cheek, over the scar of a winky-frown. "Stan says they're getting paler, but you know Stanley..."

"They are!" Stan exclaimed, folding his arms and staring indignantly at his brother. "I'm telling you, they're barely noticeable anymore "

Mabel and Dipper smiled as their Grunkles began to argue. "Boys will be boys." Mabel told him, and Dipper silently agreed.

"Fine! Be that way!"

"No! You be that way!"

"Will they ever grow up Dipper?" Mabel asked, just as she was forced to turn the volume down. Her brother shrugged and mumbled, "And I thought his being here would make the summer more serious..."

Hi guys!

I think that if Bill was more into knives, he totally would carve smiley faces into people (I'm just going to go rethink everything). Poor Ford. I've just really liked being a monster to him lately...

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this. But not in a weird way!

Thanks for the reviews! And for everything else! Um... Happy June day? Yay!?

-BrilliantLight