"Settle down!"

All eyes went to Ford, everyone's mouths instantly clamping shut. Another meeting was in session, and Mabel was hoping it wouldn't go as bad as the other one went. Even though that's probably how it's going to go, Mabel thought.

"I'm assuming you all remember what this meeting is about?" Ford's question was met with nods of confirmation, and he gave a small nod of his own. "Well, continuing off from the previous one, I propose we take a vote. We have two choices as of right now, and before we decide on one, I want it to be absolutely clear to everyone what each choice means. I have a feeling Mabel would like to explain the first choice."

Mabel was admittedly surprised at his words, but nonetheless she stood up from her seat. "The first choice," she started, trying to sound more confident than she felt, "is to try and save my brother. I know that– that sounds selfish, considering that you all have lost family members as well..." She trailed off, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. It was true, she knew a good number of people here had lost family just as she had, and here she was trying to convince them that her brother was more important. Dammit, she thought, why are you only thinking of this now? "But... if you all remember the Zodiac," she continued, watching as everyone's gaze became slightly more attentive; Ford had told everyone about the Zodiac long ago, even the ones who weren't a part of it, "then you know that, if we got him back, we could complete the Zodiac, stop Bill, end this apocalypse, and save everyone else! It could be that easy!"

Some people's gazes had dropped to the floor, seemingly contemplating what she'd said. The temptation of getting their family and friends back was strong, and Mabel knew that, having felt that same temptations herself. Maybe she could convince them after all...

"Any questions on that choice before we move onto the next?" Ford asked. A few hands went up, and Mabel steeled herself in preparation to defend her own choice.

Here we go...

"Are you sure the Zodiac could even work again?" someone called, and Mabel didn't know who it was, but whoever it was, a few other people had muttered in what could only have been a way to say that they wanted to know the same.

"No, no I'm not sure," Mabel admitted, her gaze dropping the stare at the floor, "but we'll never know unless we try."

Almost everyone seemed at least somewhat satisfied with her answer, so she readied herself for another question she hoped she could answer.

"Yes, I have a question. Toby Determined of the Gravity Falls Gossi-"

"We already know, Toby, can you just get on with it?" Mabel groaned, rubbing her temples.

"Oh, fine. Do you have a plan for how you're going to get your brother back?"

Mabel opened her mouth to respond, but the words died in her throat before they even had a chance to be spoken. Because she realized...

...she didn't have a plan.

She had no idea how she could get Dipper back. Unicorn hair was probably a bust, and if not that, then what were their options? She'd come up with something everntually, sure, but what are the odds it would work anyways? For a good moment she stammered, trying to think of any answer that might pacify them for now, but she didn't come across one. After a minute, she cleared her throat, her voice shaking.

"Uh, no, Toby. I-I don't. But I know that I'll come up with s-something."

Now that, that she knew wasn't enough of an answer. The muttering started again, this time in a way that made her want the ground to open up and swallow her so she could just disappear forever and be done with everything.

"That's enough for that choice," Ford said quickly, and Mabel gave a breath of relief, sinking back into her chair. "The next and last choice is to spend time trying to come up with another way to stop Bill, and end the apocalypse before we do anything else. That way, we can spend time trying to get everyone out without worrying about how much time we're going to have left, and so we can think more about it, instead of having to think about stopping Bill and getting our family back at the same time. We can work towards each one seperately, and in more thought-out and planned ways."

Mabel zoned out as Ford continued to explain that choice and answer a few more questions. She couldn't help but wonder if Ford was right. There must be another way to stop Bill, and if they did that first, it might be easier to save everyone else... Why does everything have to be this complicated? she thought, burying her face in her hands with a groan. And either way they went, either trying to get her twin back or trying to put a stop towards Weirdmageddon, they'd have to think of some way to accomplish that goal. And at the moment, she couldn't think of anything that could work for either...

Sometimes she thought it was unfair for a fifteen-year old to have to think of stuff like this; she'd take calculus over apocalypses and demons any day.

It's hard to imagine not wanting to go home to California now... Mabel thought. I'd give anything to go home now... Of course, it wasn't like Bill would let that happen. They weren't necessarily stuck, the barrier didn't work on them, but if they tried to get to close they'd most certainly be killed on the spot. Which kind of made her wonder why he didn't just do that any time they stepped foot outside...

"I think it's time for a vote, do we all understand each choice?" Ford asked, dragging Mabel back out of her thoughts. His question was met with more confirmation, a mixture of nods and yeses. "Alright, let's begin..."

How?

How?

HOW?!

It.

Was.

A.

Tie.

Part of Mabel couldn't believe it, after all, back at the other meeting, it hadn't seemed like many people were on her side. But now? It was a tie, even with all the people in CSO. Still trying to wrap her mind around this information, she forced herself out of her surprise to listen to what was happening around her once more.

Ford looked baffled as to how this could've happened, and Mabel couldn't say she blamed him. It was odd to have the results exactly even with one another, but it's not the strangest thing that's happened, considering what she'd seen in her life already. "What do we do if it's tied, then?" someone asked.

"I..." Ford trailed off before he'd said hardly anything, one brow lifted as if contemplating something. "I don't know."

An unnatural silence descended onto the room. Good question, though, what do we do if there's a tie? Mabel mused. Both? Come to think of it...

Before she could open her mouth to say anything, Stan had broken the silence.

"Are you sure we couldn't just try the Zodiac again?"

Ford removed his glasses from his face, rubbing his eyelids with a sigh. "No, Stanley, we can't. Not... not without Dipper."

Stan winced, but continued nonetheless. "Yeah, look, I get that, but are you sure it wouldn't still work with... with that demon instead?"

Mabel's gaze wavered between her two great-uncles, watching as Ford opened his mouth to retort, but no words came out. A contemplative expression dawned his face, and once again the room went silent, but for a lesser period of time compared to the last silence.

"I mean, it couldn't hurt to try, right?" Stan pressed.

"It could absolutely hurt to try considering that's literally a demon," Ford muttered (Mabel was surprised she caught it), "But..."

He sighed again, placing his glasses once more on the bridge of his nose. "I suppose we could give it a try."

They had decided on trying the Zodiac once more. It wouldn't do anything, given how far they were from Bill, but all they needed to know was if it would work. If anyone started glowing blue, they would know if it worked, and they'd break the circle before it could get to far into the process and reset "timer". They'd figure it out from there...

But that was only if it did work. Either way, they weren't going to try it for another two days or so.

After the meeting disbanded, Mabel waited for everyone else to leave. She still needed to talk to Stan about the clones.

I still can't believe it... clones of Dipper have just been here for two or three years and we never noticed? She supposed it wasn't too far-fetched for something in Gravity Falls, but it was still kind of hard to believe.

Coincidentally, Stan was last to exit the room, and they both opened their mouths at the same time.

"Can I talk to you in private?" both asked in almost perfect unison, both of their eyes widening as the other said exactly what they had.

They both nodded, going back into the room they were just in, except this time there were only two people. Both pulled out a chair of their own side-by-side, Mabel sitting the wrong way with her arms folded over the back of the chair. For a moment they were silent, each trying to see which one of them would speak first.

Just like last time, Stan was the one to break the silence.

"I want you to be honest with me," he started, slowly, piquing Mabel's interest, "are you mad at Ford?"

She thought that was a random question at first, and an absurd one at that, and she opened her mouth to contradict it until she realized that she was mad at Ford. It took her a moment of thinking until she finally figured out why, though.

"Yeah, yeah I guess I am..." Before she could elaborate, Stan had begun speaking again.

"It's because of the whole deal-with-the-apocalypse-or-save-your-brother-situation, isn't it? That, and the way he doesn't seem to care about him, right?"

Mabel could only nod, words not exactly working for her at the moment. Stan sighed, scratching the side of his head as if trying to come up with what to say. Mabel leaned forwards, taking great care so as to not tip the chair forwards; she didn't fancy crashing onto the floor (it was made of metal, after all.)

"Okay, I'm not Ford, even if I did spend thirty years pretending to be him," he added with a small cough, his gaze flickering away from Mabel's for a moment, "but I'm pretty sure I know what's going through his head right now."

Mabel nodded, but she wasn't sure whether she knew where this conversation was headed.

"I want you to think for a second," Stan told her, and his voice was soft, so unlike the gruff one she was used to. "What is Dipper like?"

That question took her by surprise, and she tried to push away the feeling of sadness that was already starting to form once more. She didn't need to say anything, though, Stan could see in her eyes that she was thinking about him now. He's smart, brave, caring, and he's the best twin I could've been born with, she thought, a million other things racing in her head, too, most of which were still about the brother she wished she had back already.

"Alright," Stan murmured, after having given her a moment of silence to think. "Now, what... what is that demon like?"

For a brief, split-second, Mabel thought he was referring to Bill, but she knew what he actually meant.

Not the demon outside who started this hellish apocalypse, but the one here who had taken her brother's place without a trace of him left.

The one she swore to get rid of, no matter what it took.

And, even though she hadn't known that demon for long, she knew enough to think, that demon is twisted, mindless, and sadistic.

Now, the more she thought about it, that demon was everything Dipper wasn't...

"Ford doesn't like to think of that demon as Dipper," Stan sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and refusing to make eye contact with Mabel. "He likes to think of Dipper as Dipper. Not as a demon that's basically just doing a terrible job of pretending to be him, but as your brother. I think he's got a point there, and I–"

"I know I shouldn't think of that demon as Dipper," Mabel interrupted, her eyelids now shut, leaning forwards dangerously despite her common sense telling her not to, "but I guess after two years of wanting him back so badly I'd be willing to believe that that's him, just for a second..."

"I get that, it's kinda hard not to," Stan said, "but just don't let yourself think of them as the same person. When you think of Dipper, think of Dipper. And I promise you, we'll get him back, alright?"

The last time someone made a promise like that, it was broken, Mabel thought, but somehow she took comfort in Stan's words. She nodded, but there was still one more thing she was itching to know, something that might as well be tearing at her from the inside.

"Why doesn't Ford want to get him back, though?"

Blunt, but she didn't know how else to put it. Stan didn't respond for a bit.

"Ford's never been good with emotions, you know. I know he wants to, but looking at it from his perspective, Bill's been terrorizing him for decades, and now this goddamn apocalypse has been going on for two years. I think it's fair that he wants it to stop. Can't say I'm thinking much differently. I think he just doesn't want to rush into finding a cure, too. Ford's never liked making mistakes, but this time if we made any mistakes with that, we might end up making it worse."

Mabel didn't know what to say to that.

So for a while, she didn't say anything, choosing to instead look at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the room.

It was a valid point, she had to admit. They might just make everything worse if they rushed into anything.

But, well, that wasn't going to stop her from trying to get him back anyways.

"Anyways, what were you going to say?"

She finally snapped out of her daze, only just recalling what it was that she'd wanted to tell Stan. But... now that she thought about it...

"Actually... nevermind. I can deal with this on my own."

"Please, I can deal with this on my own."

"Just let us help you–"

"No! Look, I swear, I-I'm getting better..."

"Really? Is that a sign that you're getting better?"

"I... Can you just leave me alone? Just for a second?"

"Fine... but... you... you know we just want to help, right?"

"I... I know..."

"Dipper..."

'Sup.

I have returned.

I think this might be the longest chapter I've written that's not a one-shot. So... new high-score I guess?

Also, sorry, no bolded letters, again. Doing that is kind of time-consuming, and right now I just want to get this posted and work on the next chapter.

Now, either next chapter or the one after that (or possibly both?), well... Let me just tell you, I've been planning it out for what seems like ages. Something that I think might just change your view on this entire situation. Or not, maybe you predicted it...

Either way, it'll be fun to write, and hopefully fun to read.

Hope to see you all again soon. Have a good day/night.