Ford felt completely awful. His hand hurt, a lot. His brain hurt, his pride hurt, his aspirations hurt, his logic hurt, his heart hurt... his family hurt.
He could see the children, or at least, he could see them in his mind's eye. Mabel was her usual bubbly self; until you pulled the glittery exterior back and you saw the fragile child that she truly was. Dipper was his confident (Ford had trained him well), mystery-loving mini-genius; until you got to his insides, where he was an untrusting mini-thirty-year-old-Ford. Ford knew that it wasn't what he should do, but he couldn't help but place a few of his own burdens upon the young boy.
But there was one burden he'd never thought he'd get rid of. Never dreamed of trying to make Dipper handle it. The greatest burden of all. The Truth. And yet, if Ford had actually told it to the children, they wouldn't be in this situation.
Right then they were floating, weightless in the bright white light. Ford was sure he had stabilized the portal, but still, the gravity anomalies persisted. But it was okay. Ford was done with putting off what he should have taken care of years ago. He should have saved him literal decades ago. Ford was ashamed it had taken watching his niece and nephew to break him out of his thirty-year stagnation.
Today, in the end of July, was the day that Ford completely stepped up to the plate and performed the perfect act. The act he should have done as soon as that fatal mistake had been made. Today was the day that Ford... brought Stanley back.
Mabel fell to the floor with a thud, her heart pounding in her chest. She had done it. She hadn't pressed the button. She looked up at her brother, great uncle, and friend, who all pushed themselves to their knees, rubbing their heads and looking at something behind her. She tilted her head towards the portal, then decided just to turn her entire body around, looking at the figure stepping slowly out of the portal. Wait. There was a person inside of there? Who? What in the...
"Who is that?" Dipper asked, watching the same man walk out into the room, bend down, and pick up the second Journal, holding it in his hands before slipping it inside one of his pockets. Mabel couldn't see her Grunkle's torn expression, but she heard Ford say, "That... is a person who hasn't been here for a long time... that... that's my brother."
Mabel's mind froze. She watched in stunned silence as Grunkle Ford's brother reached up, and pulled a black mask off of his face, which looked almost exactly like Ford's. He had a jagged scar over his right eye, which was paler than his left, and Mabel instantly felt sorry for him. She stared at him as her other uncle pushed past her, moving to stand in front of the man and look at him silently.
The mysterious portal Grunkle looked Ford up and down, then within seconds he dashed forward and swung his fist into Ford's face. Ford recoiled in shock and pain, then gasped, "I... deserved that." He looked into Grunkle Portal's face, then said quietly, "But that actually hurt Stan. I mean... You've punched me before, but I actually saved your life."
'Stan' sneered at Ford, "Oh yeah, you 'saved' my life. As if I needed saving! I was doing great on my own without you! Speaking of which, why did you make a deal with Mr. Demon Nacho in the first place! Do you have any idea how upset that guy was!? Do you know how hard I had to fight in order to stay away from him?" Stan crossed his arms, glaring at his brother, who shrank back a little bit. All that determination he had felt that day was steadily dwindling with every second Stan stared at him.
"Stanley... I have no idea what was behind there... well, not true. I have a good hypothesis," Ford said, adjusting his glasses and looking sadly at Stan, who stood perfectly still, the portal's winds ruffling his hair. "But I know that I shouldn't have left you there... I thought I was doing everyone a favor... but... I was wrong." Ford bent his head in shame, staring at the ground. "And I understand if you never forgive me... but... there's a few people you need to meet... Just... let me tell them who you are, and then you can destroy me. I've accomplished my life's goal, you're all set."
Stanley continued doing what he'd been doing, not making a sound, then he said quietly, "What, in Gildon's name, are you talking about Ford? I was expecting you to fall at my feet and apologize," He dropped his arms to his sides, looking at Ford like he was crazy. Ford himself sucked in deeply, then whispered, "If a detailed apology is what you want, I'll give you one... but not until I explain everything to the kids."
"What kids?" Stan asked, looking confused and slightly appalled. "Wait." He held a hand up towards Ford, then said in a quiet voice, "Did you get yourself a girl!?"
Ford chuckled, his tone laced with sadness. "Unfortunately, no. They're Sherman's grandchildren... Their parents sent them to me for the summer..." Ford turned around, and waved a hand towards Dipper and Mabel, who were standing perfectly still, mouths hanging open. Stan's eyes widened, then he said, "Wow. I didn't know Shermie was capable of having rodent-offspring."
"Say what?" Ford asked, looking at his brother with a confused face. Stan waved a hand towards Soos, then said, "Well... If these are Shermie's grandkids, and that's one of the people here that fits that qualification... Therefore he should be our grand-nephew. Right?"
Ford looked like he was resisting the urge to face-palm. "Stanley... why are you like this?"
It took all of two weeks for Stan to get to Ford's house. At least on Ford's end. He had been desperate. He had needed someone to help him. Someone who didn't have a whole lot of responsibilities. Because of that, Ford's parents were off of the list, along with Sherman, who was way too young to have to deal with stuff like this. No, Stanley was Ford's best bet. Ford wouldn't go into details (not in a million years), but Stan should be able to see that Ford needed his help.
Ford had spent his days next to his door, a crossbow in hand, waiting for Stan, or a Bill-possessed person. Ford hoped, hoped against hope, that he wouldn't get a combination. Having his last resort show up possessed would... seeing Stan with those sickly golden eyes... just... the idea shook him to his core. What was wrong with Ford? Oh, that was easy, he had made a deal with a demon.
Stanley had shone up during a snowstorm. Not a very strong one, but it was still snowing. The heat was off, and Ford was finally starting to feel the winter coldness. Ford brought his brother inside, made sure that they were alone, then took him to the portal room.
On the trip down the elevator, Stanley had tried to make some conversation. But Ford didn't feel like telling him about Backupsmore and Gravity Falls. All that mattered was the portal. All that mattered was Bill. Stan seemed a bit miffed at Ford's silence, but he still followed him into the main part of the basement. There the portal loomed large and menacing.
Ford explained a bit about the portal, then he broke the news about why he had called Stan there. But Stan's reaction was the exact opposite of what he was expecting.
Instead of doing what Ford asked, Stan accused him of not wanting to be around him. Basically saying that Ford hated him. Then, when Ford was trying to explain everything, Stan threatened to completely destroy the Journal. Burn up all of Ford's work. Destroy the last good thing Ford still had. Destroy Ford's past, present, and future.
They fought. Ford's mind went into total protection mode. He had to get the Journal. He couldn't keep it, but he couldn't have it destroyed either. He shoved his brother through the control room, into buttons, switches, peices of metal... Then it happened.
Stan was on the ground, right next to the door to the portal. Ford was nearly on top of him, tugging at the Journal like a small child with a toy. Stan was yelling at him about how Ford had ruined his life, so Ford retorted right back. "You ruined your own life!"
That's when everything went white. Ford first felt warmth in his left shoulder, then the searing hot metal made contact with his flesh. The smell of burning fabric and flesh filled the air in an instant. Ford's shoulder felt like it was on fire, and he let out a loud shout of pain. Bill would like this. Stan on the other hand... he instantly dropped his boot, which he had planted in Ford's chest.
"Stanford! Oh my g-" Stan cried, just as Ford's fist collided with his jaw. Stan stumbled backwards, falling to the ground through the door. He instantly scrambled to his feet, staring in shock and horror at his brother, who stumbled towards him.
"Some help you turned out to be..." Ford hissed, blinking profusely through his pain. He forced himself to move, even though every part of his body and mind was telling him to lie down on the floor and do nothing. "You care more about your own selfish desires than the universe." Ford looked at Stan's appalled face, then down at the Journal. "Well then you can keep your life!"
Ford shoved his hands into Stan's chest, pushing him backwards. It made his shoulder feel like someone was shoving scorpions inside of it, but he didn't care. He didn't care about anything right then. He just wanted Stanley gone. He just wished that Stanley had... wait... Stanley wasn't on the ground anymore.
Ford watched in horror as Stan's entire body was pulled into the portal's gravity. His mind instantly went blank, then he dashed forward, trying to grab onto some part of his brother's body. Stanley looked absolutely terrified, and he shouted, "Stanford! Ford! WHAT'S GOING ON?" Stan was flailing his arms, trying to get away from the looming triangle.
"Stanley!" Ford said, his fingers closing around air. He looked down and saw the yellow line on the floor. Everything was repeating itself. "Stanley, whatever you do, DON'T TRUST BILL!"
Stan looked at his brother like he was crazy, then he felt his shoulders make contact with the portal's vortex, and his body disappeared through it. Jacket, mullet, Journal, and all.
As soon as Stan was on the other side everything gave out. All the power readings went to zero, there was a huge flash of light, and Ford's knees gave way. He breathed in deeply, then looked up at his 'magnum opus', which was silent. Then the weight of what had just happened fell on Ford's shoulders. His left shoulder blade was screaming bloody murder at him, and his mind was so foggy from lack of sleep that it took him a moment to realize that he was alone.
"Wait." He whispered, forcing himself to stand up and move to the portal's stucture. "No." He looked up at the giant circle in the center, and he leaned against the base, his body too tired to hold his weight up. "No... I didn't... this is..." A horrible thought struck him. Stanley still had his Journal. Technically, this is what Ford wanted. Stanley had taken the Journal to the furthest place from Ford's house. This was the perfect imperfection.
"This is what I wanted..." Ford whispered. "This is what I wanted..." A wave of nausea swept over him, and his body flumped to the ground, too exhausted to maintain consciousness...
"Well, well, well, looks like at least one of my brothers actually got a social life." Stan walked over to the two kids and knelt down in front of the girl, whose eyes kept flicking to his right one. Stan smiled, showing his slightly yellowed teeth. "Hey, name's Stan, what's yours?" The girl held a hand out to him, still staring at his blinded eye. "Oh..." She said quietly, "I'm Mabel."
Stan shook her hand, then ruffled her hair with his free one. "Well Maple, it's nice to meet you. So, livin' with Ford. How's that been?" He dropped her hand and straightened, Mabel smiled up at him, then answered, "Oh it's been great! We've been learning nuclear physics!" She placed her hands on her hips, and Stan let out a great chuckle. "I have to say, I'm not surprised." He said, beaming down at her as well. "Once a weird science nerd, always a weird science nerd."
Mabel nodded at him, and glanced back at Ford, who watched the two of them quietly. "Are you really going to kill Grunkle Ford?" Stan shrugged at her question, then answered, "Maybe. I'll probably just rough him up and stuff. Maybe give him a matching scar." He pointed at the thickish line down he right side of his face, and Mabel winced. "Wow, you must be a hero." She said, and Stan laughed.
"In some worlds. Let's just say that my criminal record is much larger than most." He said, reaching out to ruffle her hair again, but deciding against it. "And who is this strapping young man?" He looked over at Dipper, who was staring at him like he was twenty feet tall.
"Oh, that's Dipper. He's my brother." Mabel answered, looking back at Dipper as well. "Dipper! Come meet Grunkle Stan!" Dipper nodded, then stepped towards his family.
"Are you the Author of the Journals?" was the first thing that Dipper said to Stan. Stan himself looked at the kid like he was crazy, then asked quietly, "Uh... Why would I be the Author?" Dipper swallowed, then said, "Well, the Author's been missing for thirty years, and you sort of grabbed that Journal like you recognize it... and you're..."
"Ford!" Stan snapped, spinning around and folding his arms at his brother. "Have you told him nothing?! Even I know you wrote the Journals!"
Stanford himself stared sadly at the ground. "No." he said quietly, "I haven't told Dipper... I didn't... I..." He looked back up at the boy, whose mouth opened wide. "I didn't tell you, because I knew that... that I'm not who you were expecting."
"What are you talking about?!" Mabel shouted, dashing past Stan and wrapping her arms around Ford's middle. "You're the Author of the Journals! Sure you drop cups and stuff all the time, and you have to have us write everything for you, but you're super awesome!" Mabel looked up into his face, and smiled at him. "Grunkle Ford, you're the Author of the Journals, that makes you the coolest guy ever!"
Ford smiled down at her sadly, then wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "Thank you Mabel," he said, then he glanced up at Dipper, who just stared at him. "Dipper... I'm sorry I didn't tell you..."
"I've been living with the Author..." Dipper whispered, grabbing the sides of his hat. "Oh my goodness. I've been living with the Author of the Journals this entire time!"
Stan looked between his family, then he said loudly, "Wait, dropping cups? Can't write? What is going on?!" Ford froze, then said, "Stanley... I'll explain that along with everything else... there's an actual reason. Soos, you'll want to write this down."
Ford told them about his life up until he shoved Stan through the portal. Then it was time for the most gruesome part of the tale. Ford looked the most uncomfortable right after he explained about the next few days after Stan got trapped in the Multiverse.
"So..." He said glancing between Stan and the kids. "I know you know him Stan, but do you children know about... Bill Cipher?" Dipper's eyes widened, and Mabel nodded seriously. "Yeah, the triangle guy," she said, and Ford nodded sadly. "I... I had made a deal with him before I knew about his true intentions..." Ford explained, and Dipper leaned forward, ready to soak in every word Ford said.
"In order to keep him out of my mind, permanently, I had to... I had to install a metal plate in my head." Ford said, glancing over at Stan, whose eyes widened. "I couldn't trust... well, doctors. So I used my printer to make a few more versions of me." He shifted nervously, then glanced at the floor. "The surgery went mostly okay... but then... there were complications."
The five occupants of the room were silent for a moment, then Stan said in a loud voice, "Of course there were complications! You're not a doctor! What were you thinking Ford?!" His twin winced, then said quietly, "I wasn't thinking Stanley. I was desperate." He looked at Dipper and Mabel, then continued, "Then I had to deal with everything else... I... I needed an alibi... You see, mom knew you'd be coming to my house..." He glanced at Stan, then said, "So I faced your death. I pretended there was an accident... That justified my head injury. I lost most of my fine motor skills. I struggled to do a bunch of basic tasks... I probably would have starved those first six months if it wasn't for mom."
Stan nodded, "So mom thinks I'm dead?" Ford nodded sadly, then said, "Everyone thinks you're dead Stan. I even thought you might be dead." He swallowed deeply then said, "I lost the motivation to do anything. I couldn't write. I definitely couldn't draw. I can barely, as Mabel said, hold a mug. After losing a third of the instructions..." He tightened his shoulders, then said, "I just couldn't... imagine ever getting you back. I didn't know how, or why, I would."
Ford's eyes met Dipper's, then he said quietly, "Until the kids. Watching the two of you this summer... I remembered how much I missed you Stan. I've barely slept for weeks... Just getting you back. And I hope you take me back."
"So... You've just been trying to get your brother back?" Dipper asked, staring at his uncle. "Grunkle Ford... I'm so sorry I didn't believe you."
Ford smiled at Dipper, he looked over at Stan, then said, "Don't worry Dipper, I wouldn't have believed me either. I am the person who said to 'Trust no one'. A ridiculous statement if I do say so myself." He smiled tiredly at Stan, then said, "I am a very different person from the one you saw last Stan."
"Well yeah." Stan said, still blinking hard, like he had been doing ever since Ford had told them about the metal plate. "This you probably wouldn't do open head surgery on yourself!" Ford stood frozen for a second, then facepalmed. "I'm never going to hear the end of that, am I?"
"Of course not!" Stan cried, throwing his hands up. "At least my head injury was awesome! I got attacked by space ninjas! You cut your head open on purpose!" Ford shrugged, "Well if you think about it, I was sort of attacked by a space..." Stan stared at his brother like he was insane, then said in a very frustrated tone, "Stanford! What am I going to do with you?"
Ford sat in silence in his house. His head was covered in fresh bandages, and his throat was begging for a drink. His mother was making tea, and he knew it wouldn't be long until his thirst was quenched. He looked out the window into the green woods surrounding his house. It felt so... agrivating, to want to do things so badly, but ultimately know that you can't.
Ford was exhausted most of the time. It had taken all of his strength to fake crashing Stan's car, and to get inside of it. His mind hadn't been at peak performance back then, and he had no idea what he'd been doing. His mother had been notified as soon as he was admitted into the hospital, and within four days she was in Gravity Falls, taking care of her 'baby'.
Ford was grateful for his mother's help. He didn't have the energy or motivation to talk to her. He didn't have the energy or motivation to do anything, but still he felt guilty just watching her walk through his house, taking care of his daily tasks. She would chatter to him, but the look of sadness in her eyes nearly killed him. All he could really focus on besides her was Stan. But he tried to push those thoughts out of his mind.
He could talk, but moving his head hurt, so he didn't do much of it. He watched silently as his mother reentered the room, a book in her hands.
She smiled at him, and he did his best to smile back. He attempted to stand up, so that she could sit on the best spot in his room, but she sent him a glare that could only mean 'if you move, I will destroy you', and he sat all the way back down.
"Stanford..." She said quietly, moving to sit next to him. "You don't have to be okay. You know that, right? It's okay to have emotions and feelings..." Her blue eyes bore into him, and he looked at her with his own heavy ones. "I'm... Fine... You brought me a book?" He lifted a finger and pointed it at the book, doing his best to ignore how shaky it was.
Caryn nodded, and placed the book on his lap. He looked down and saw that there were no words on the cover, and he glanced back up at his mother, before attempting to get the fingers of his left hand to grip the cover. Slowly, clumsily, he opened the book, and saw that the pages were blank. He began to slide the pad of his left pointer finger against the thick paper. Every single page was blank, and he said quietly, "Another journal."
His mother nodded, tenderly placing a hand on his right shoulder, pretending not to notice his wince of pain. "Yes, you won't be like this forever. The doctors say that your fine motor skills will be back in time. This is just so that you can track your progress..." She trailed off when Ford shot her a pained look, then he said quietly, "I don't deserve to have fine motor skills."
Caryn sucked in deeply, more of slight shock and sadness than fear, then she said, "There was nothing you could do about... about Stan... It's not your fault Ford." Ford's fingers tried to tighten around the book, but they seemed to lock halfway in their bend. "I know." He whispered, then he glanced at her and said, "I think I want to sleep now."
A nod from his mother told him that that was okay, and she helped him lie down without upsetting his head. She gave him a comforting smile, then left the room once he was all set.
Needless to say, but Ford didn't actually sleep that night.
Stan sat in the house, watching his brother and nephew talk about the Journals. Dipper was slightly upset with Ford for leaving Stan in the Multiverse for so long, but he was a bit biased towards the famous 'Author'. Mabel was off doing who knows what with her friends, and Stan was left... being bored. The not-his-nephew/rodent-guy had the day off, and the teenager who just hung out with Dipper and Mabel was off with her family for the weekend. So... boring nerd stuff.
Luckily, it was boring nerd stuff that Stan actually could talk about. Being in a strange place with only yourself, your wits, and a magic/science book left Stan a lot of time to read the Journal. He joked that he probably knew Journal number 1 better than Ford, and Ford had admitted that that was probably true.
"So we'll need to put Moonstones here, here, and here..." Ford said, tapping three areas on a blueprint of his house. Stan watched his brother's hands closely. Not for the same reason most people stared at them, but because even thirty years later, Ford's hands still shook a bit when they weren't resting. Stan felt half sorry for the guy.
"And... Oh, I always forget that last ingredient," Ford muttered, pulling out the second Journal from his pocket and flipping to a seemingly random page. "Ugh... Unicorn hair."
"Uh oh, don't tell Mabel." Dipper said, leaning over and looking at Ford's list. "That's not rare, is it?" Ford sighed, then said, "Well, no, and yes. It's a difficult thing to explain. I've dealt with Unicorns before, and if there was one word I could use to describe them it'd be..." He glanced at Stan, then was about to say something when his brother answered for him.
"Pig-headed, egotistical, mane-iacs," Stan said, walking over to the two of them, leaning over Ford's shoulder and reading the page. "Well, I'll get my guns, and we'll have all the Unicorn hair you need by sundown."
Ford was about to open his mouth to say something else when a small feminine voice called out, "Did I just hear 'unicorn'!? I want to see the Unicorn!"
"Just don't make it too bloody." Was Ford's response to Stan's statement. "And make sure she'd want it dead. I don't want you destroying her heart before all her hopes and dreams."
"There's something wrong with you." Dipper said, looking between his two uncles, who were getting the most terrifying grins in the world. Stan looked at Dipper, then said very seriously, "There's something wrong with all of us kid. There's somethin' wrong with us..."
Hello guys!
This is a deviation from what I normally do. This time instead of Ford stepping through the portal, it's Stan. I was sort of inspired by the Brain Trauma AU, but very lightly. Ford's hands get like shaky and everything, and it's sort of like he has arthritis. He hired Soos to write stuff for him, and other things that you have to hold stuff for. So Soos still fixes Mr. Pines' stuff.
He sort of doesn't do much until the kids come. Dipper and Mabel think he's cool, but Dipper has like, zero idea that he's the Author (just doesn't make that connection), mainly because Ford's just there to protect the portal and keep people safe from the abnormalities of the town. Dude, the more I write about this, the more I think it should be a fic. But I don't have time for that!
Anyway, thanks GreyJediFlower for favoriting this! And TFD and SonicCrazyGal for the reviews! I hope you and the rest of you guys have a great day!
-BrilliantLight