How could Stan have been so oblivious?

His heart gave a great leap when he saw Ford again. His brother looked good, healthy, fine, maybe some emotional scarring but that should be easy to take care of. Stan would do whatever Ford needed in order to make him feel welcome, as long as Ford allowed him to. Plus, Ford would be spending the rest of the summer with Dipper and Mabel, that would help him readjust.

Stan stepped past the other occupants of the room, moving to stand in front of his brother, holding his arms out for a hug. "Finally, after all these long years of waiting, you're actually here!" He called out and tried to keep his spirits up when Ford's face glared at him with almost no emotion.

"Brother!"

Ford's fist collided with Stan's face. He didn't punch him hard enough to move him, but the very fact that Ford would want to hurt Stan made it feel a million times worse. Great. Just what Stan needed.

"Ow! What on Earth was that for!?" Stan called out, and Ford sneered at him.

"This was an insanely risky move, restarting the portal." Ford lectured, and Stan couldn't help but sigh in frustration. "Didn't you read my warnings?!"

Stan rolled his eyes. How could Ford be upset over warnings? He was literally back home after thirty years! Stan crossed his arms and answered, "Warnings, shmornings. How's about a little 'thanks' for saving you from what appears to be a..."

Suddenly, Dipper's terrified voice called out, "Where's Mabel?!"

Stan froze. In his excitement to see Ford again, he had completely forgotten about his niece and nephew. He spun around, and his eyes widened when he only saw Dipper and Soos. There was no pink-sweater clad girl. There was no Mabel. There was...

"Oh no." He breathed. He held a hand up to his fez and he barely heard Ford ask, "Why is there a child here? Who is 'Mabel'? What's going on Stanley?!"

Stan spun back around and stared at his brother, his mouth hanging open. He felt like crying, but he knew he couldn't in front of Ford. He squeezed his hands into fists and stared off at the portal, which was half destroyed already. Sparks flew from broken pieces of wire, and Stan had a sinking feeling.

Dipper, Soos, and Stan all rushed up past Ford and began throwing pieces of rock and metal every which way, trying to see if Mabel was under any of them. But they were as lucky as Stan had been thirty years ago. There was only one place where Mabel could have gone.

"Stanley? What are you three doing? Who is Mabel?" Stan looked over his shoulder at his brother, who was glaring at the three of them with his arms crossed. There was a mixture of anger, confusion, and sadness in Ford's eyes, and Stan suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe.

"Mabel..." Stan squeezed his eyes shut, and his next sentence wavered, his voice not strong enough to fully grasp the realization of what had just happened. "Is our niece."

"Grunkle Stan? I trust you."

Mabel let go of the button's shaft, and felt the lack of gravity pull her up next to her tears. She held her arms up, then felt her entire body streak backward. There was a piercing white light everywhere, and she felt the warmest she'd ever been and the coldest. It was like a fiery blizzard.

When she blinked her eyes open she saw a dark figure push himself through a swirling vortex, then she was alone. Or, at least she thought she was alone. She didn't know how wrong she was.

"Wait, wait, wait. Shooting Star? Oh my goodness this is perfect! Good ol' Fordsy's left me his niece!"

It took Mabel a moment for her disoriented brain to recognize the voice. She felt like she could see but not hear, and hear but not see. It was the strangest sensation ever. She blinked profusely, and then it clicked. And when she realized who was speaking, she could suddenly see the yellow triangle looming above her.

Bill Cipher was as huge as when Mabel had stopped him from getting the code to Stan's safe, but he was still yellow. He looked... almost happy to see Mabel, and the young girl briefly wondered who 'Fordsy' was. Wait. Niece? Did he mean Grunkle Stan? But no one ever called him 'Fordsy'.

Bill tried to swipe at Mabel, who screamed and kicked her legs out, moving like she was swimming through the craziest place she'd ever seen. There were mismatched and broken buildings everywhere, along with a series of caves just randomly spread around the entire area. If only she could hide in one of them...

A pink vortex suddenly opened to her right, and a thin hand reached out and grabbed her by her sweater, just as she saw about ten aliens on either side of Bill.

The triangle cried out in frustration, and Mabel felt her hair get briefly snagged by some of his thick black fingers, and then she was pulled through another portal, and into a beautiful marble room.

"What?" was all she could muster the energy to say, then the last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was a face with seven eyes.

"We... Have a niece?" Ford asked, watching Stan nod. A million new ideas fell into his mind. His niece had been sucked into the portal, and if she had ended up in the same place Ford had been... Bill would definitely know who she was. If Bill kept her alive (which he probably would, he would much rather mentally torture Ford) then she would be kept either locked up, or in pain. Ford was in quite the conundrum. If he saved her, he risked letting Bill into their world. If he didn't, then his niece would most likely die in the Nightmare Realm.

"Yes." Stan said, and he bit his lip. Dipper sat down on the ground, a large piece of rock held in his shaking hands. Ford looked at the boy's sorrowful face, and connected the dots.

"He's her brother?" Ford added, waving a hand toward Dipper, and Stan nodded again. "Yeah, that's Dipper..." He squeezed his eyes shut, then held a hand up to his fez again. "Okay. I've fixed it once, and with you here it should be easier. We'll just have to put it back together and..."

"Wait." Ford said, folding his arms, "You're not thinking of restarting the portal again, are you?"

The glare Stan sent Ford almost made him question his resolve. Stan looked so angry and sad. Their niece must have meant a lot to him. But Ford had an iron will, and it would take a lot more than a simple stare to make him change his mind.

Ford would not restart the portal. Ford might hate to admit it, but there was no way he could even try to get his niece back. There was no way he would let Bill have even more of a foot in the door to his Dimension. Ford had done enough to help the demon.

"Of course I'm restarting the portal! I just accidentally stranded my twelve-year-old niece in that place!" Stan practically yelled at his brother. "There is no way that I'm just leaving her there! Who knows what could happen to her!"

Ford grit his teeth together. He knew what could happen, but it was too risky. He squeezed his eyes shut, then said quietly, "I know what can happen to her. And if we restart the portal it can happen to all of us. The only thing we can do is hope that the Axolotl has mercy on her."

When Mabel came to again, she was lying on a white bed, staring at a pink sky. There was a cool mountain breeze blowing inside of her open window, and she could see the tops of mountains surrounding the room she was in.

"Hello?" She whispered into the stillness, and, almost to her shock, a calm voice answered, "Good morning."

She pushed herself up onto her elbows, and stared at the alien that had saved her from Bill's place. "Morning." She said, and she watched a small pink salamander crawl up the side of her bed and curl up next to her. "Hello." She told it, her voice getting a bit higher. She noticed that she was no longer in her key sweater, but a pale blue nightdress.

"Hi." She said to the seven-eyed woman. "I'm Mabel. Who are you? Oh, thanks for saving me. Where are we? Who are you?"

The woman smiled at her sadly. There was a look in her eyes that told Mabel that she knew many things, and her steady voice sent calming messages to her. "I am Jhesselbraum the Unswerving." She answered, sitting down on a chair that Mabel could have sworn wasn't there a second ago. "We are in Dimension 52. And you are welcome. I could not have the niece of the Cipher-Slayer dead."

Mabel tilted her head at Jhesselbraum. "Huh?" she asked, and the woman smiled at her. "The Cipher-Slayer. The Axolotl told me that your uncle is the one to defeat Bill Cipher."

Mabel nodded, she didn't know what an axolotl was, but she trusted this lady. The pink creature snuggled closer to her, and she petted it gently. "Cool. What's an axolotl?"

"You have many questions child," Jhesselbraum said, and she reached under her chair and pulled out a silver platter. "Which I shall answer once you eat."

Come to think of it, Mabel could really go for whatever those grey berries on the right of the tray were. And that brown pudding stuff looked tasty. She smiled and placed a hand on her stomach. "Thanks Jessa-bomb."

Jhesselbraum smiled at her again, and she placed the tray on Mabel's lap. "There are clothes and a bag in the drawer. Pack wisely."

Say what?

Ford sat in the car with Stan and Dipper. They had argued for almost the entire rest of the summer, or at least, the Stan twins had. Dipper was torn between both opinions. He wanted Mabel back, but he also did not want to let Bill into their universe. It was a difficult situation.

They reached California. Dipper was not looking forward to telling his parents that Mabel was lost, but he wasn't the one who had to explain it to them. Stan had been acting more responsible ever since the incident, and Dipper didn't exactly know if there was a change in Ford.

His great uncles had been a bit overprotective of him. Stan had threatened Ford with death if Dipper got hurt, and Ford took that very seriously. The entire town believed that Mabel had either died, or had gone missing during the gravity anomaly situation, and had given Dipper his respectful distance. Wendy was one of the few people they told the truth to, and she was very understanding.

Dipper had been having trouble sleeping. He'd had insomnia before, but this was a whole new level. Ford helped with that. He taught Dipper old meditation practices that he had used throughout his own life, and became Dipper's mentor in Gravity Falls. Dipper hated the fact that he liked spending time with Ford when Mabel couldn't, and that sometimes he'd even forget that Mabel was missing. Luckily Ford understood. It helped that they both had lost their twins once.

When they reached Piedmont Dipper was sleeping, his head leaning against the back window. Stan leaned back and shook his leg. "Come on Dipper. We're almost there."

Ford watched his nephew wake up, and his already sinking feeling was even worse once Dipper began to frantically look on either side of him, and then seem to notice that his sister wasn't there. Ford knew that feeling.

When they got to the Pines house Ford was ready to break out into a cold sweat. He knew that it was mostly Stanley who had to apologize, but Ford felt very responsible for what happened. If he hadn't been in the Multiverse... If he had never built the portal... If he had only listened to Fiddleford... If he had never trusted Bill...

"We're here."

It was all Stan had to say. His voice had finality, like he had just said they were going to the guillotine. It was full of terror, and immense sorrow. Dipper stretched, and Ford opened his door once Stan had parked. Almost the entire ride the twins had been silent, now Ford felt like he wanted to talk to his brother. To tell him... What?

Dipper grabbed his suitcase from the trunk, and the three of them walked up to the pristine white door. Dipper knocked, and the three of them were met by two perfectly normal looking people. Dipper and Mabel's parents.

Here goes nothing.

Here goes nothing.

It had been how long? Three years? Mabel had lost count. She was almost twenty. Or at least she felt like it. She adjusted her face mask and then dropped her hands to her sides. She grabbed a small bag of attack glitter (that worked really well) and she watched the vortex open. She stepped towards it and took a deep breath.

She walked right on through, and entered a dark room, completely contrasted with the bright whiteness of the vortex. Her thermal goggles told her that there were five more people in the room. She reached up and took the mask off, and stuck it in her pocket.

Standing in front of her was Dipper. He looked older, stronger... Goodness. Was that muscle? Nope. This had to be the wrong dimension.

"Mabel!" He yelled, and she yelled back, "Dipper!" The two of them rushed towards each other, and Mabel picked her brother up and spun him around, just like she used to do when they were twelve. Dipper winced, "Ow. What do you have inside of your clothes?"

Mabel dropped him, and laughed. "Oh... Only a few explosives... Currency... A gun or two. I chose to walk through with my attack glitter." She held up the sack, and Dipper smiled sadly at her. "You're just like Grunkle Ford."

Mabel smiled, and then she glanced behind Dipper and saw the other four people. "Mom? Dad? Grunkle Stan? You're all here!"

She dashed past her brother, who turned around to see her tackle their parents. "Oh my goodness! You're all here! How long has it been? I sorta lost count."

Mr. and Mrs. Pines were crying into their daughter's hair. They squeezed her tightly to her and her mother whispered, "We thought we might never see you again. And you're sixteen by the way."

Mabel looked up into their faces and tears of her own filled her eyes. "Sweet. Um... Oh boy. I'm going to be in trouble."

"Well, trouble is your middle name..." Stan said, and Mabel looked over at him and her eyes widened. "Jessa-bomb was right. Wow! You two are identical!"

This would be quite an interesting experience.

"And it took you three years to stabilize the portal?"

Mabel glared at the Grunkle she had just met. Ford rolled his eyes and muttered, "Well, I stabilized the portal, after I rebuild it. Without construction workers. Then there was this whole Bill fiasco... Let's just say things around here got weird. Then there was the whole 'finding Mabel' part. That took a while..." Mabel still had her eyebrow raised, then she shrugged. "As long as you got me back." She said, and took a swig of Pitt Cola.

She looked over at Dipper, who was still smiling at her. An evil grin suddenly spread across her face and she said, "Hey, wanna see something cool?"

Her family, which were all sitting in the dining room, glanced between each other, then nodded at the same time. Mabel grinned even wider and pulled up on her left sleeve, up past her elbow.

"If you see here," She said, pointing out a pinkish spot just over the crook of her arm, "I got this totally awesome burn. It sorta looks like a cat!"

Her parents and Stan shared a concerned look, and Ford chuckled and lifted his own sleeve, revealing an even larger burn on his own elbow. "Take a look at this." He said, and Mabel's eyes grew wide. "Whoa, that looks like an octopus!" She then scowled slightly, then reached up to yank her collar down. "But it's not as awesome as my tattoo." She said, and she sounded like she was defending herself.

Her tattoo was one of a star, holding two thumbs up. Above it's face and under it's 'legs' were the words Hey now, I'm an all star!. Ford laughed when he saw it, and pulled down the collar of his own sweater, showing off his matching tattoo.

"Oh." Mabel said, and Dipper and Stan knew that the 'awesomeness competition' was on. Mabel pulled up her black leggings and pointed out a deep groove in her calf muscle. "I got that from a laser shark!"

"And I got this from a stellar cat!" Ford said, pulling his sleeve up and showing three deep claw marks on his right bicept. This could go on for a while...

"I fought an entire army of intergalactic ninjas!"

"I once singlehandedly destroyed Bill Cipher!"

"Man. You are not playing fair, are you?"

Hey guys.

So, I had this idea that's sort of like half canon, half Drifting Stars. Basically Mabel gets trapped in the Multiverse, and Ford gets brought back to their Dimension. Yay..! All the confused sadness!

I can totally see Stan starting to act a bit more responsible and transparent after he looses Mabel. I also see Ford immediately shut down the idea of restarting the portal, only for him to be convinced (by his brother and niece and nephews) to try to get her back.

Then, IDK how, Weirdmageddon would happen, but of course they'd stop Bill. We can't have them just die. Plus, Bill and the Pines always have something up their sleeves. So who knows what they'd do.

Anyway, thank you all for reading. I hope you have a great day!

-BrilliantLight