This story was originally posted on Ao3; if you use that site too, I'd recommend checking it out there, it has some illustrations. ...Not good ones, but still. Also, just to be clear, the first half of this opening chapter is basically just a novelization of a certain scene from Dipper & Mabel Vs The Future (you'll know it when you see it), I didn't write the dialogue.

"Only party chocolate can cheer me up now…"

Mabel rummaged through what she thought was her backpack, expecting to find some desperately-needed sugary treats. If there's one thing in this world she can count on right now - possibly the only thing - it's sugar. Sugar gave her life when she didn't have any. Sugar made sure she was happy for everyone - more than ever, she needed it.

Instead, all she found were reminders of a certain someone from the Shack she just ran from.

"Nerd books? Chewed-up pens?" she said, rummaging through her brother's knick-knacks. "Ugh, wrong backpack."

She finally let the backpack fall to the ground as she leaned up against the tree behind her. Great, now she can't even count on sugar being there for her. It was if the world wanted to let her know how much the future is going to suck.

"Not fair. I just wish summer could last forever…"

She'd managed to hold back tears for a minute or so, but now that she was out here, alone, facing the ruins of what was meant to be another happy day in Gravity Falls, she couldn't do it anymore. She pulled her collar up to hairline and disappeared into Sweater Town, flooding it with her squeaky sobs.

For what must have been the eighteen-millionth time since she'd run away, images of the future that lay ahead of her played out in her mind. Her friends drifting away. Stuck-up high school kids laughing at her, calling her a weirdo who still likes glitter and rainbows and kittens. Her beloved Grunkles never being happy with each other ever again, because Ford is stuck in the basement being a grumpy nerd and Stan is gonna get kicked to the curb for the crime of wasting 30 years bringing Ford back (she'd heard everything, she just hadn't said anything about it to Dipper because she naively hoped they'd get over it quickly). Soos and Wendy losing the Shack because the Shack wouldn't be the Shack anymore, which probably meant this would be the last summer she could spend here.

And what lay beyond even that? Growing into a gross, bitter adult after having every millilitre of happiness drained from her by high school? Having to pay taxes and listen to all the horrible grown-up stuff that happens on the news? Not even knowing what she wanted to do with her life? Dipper has everything figured out. Mabel? She'd be lucky if she could even figure out what the heck a mortgage is.

But worst of all, by far - Dipper wouldn't be there. She thought she could count on him to keep her grounded and somewhat sane, forever and always. Instead he runs off with a grumpy old nerd he's known for less than a month. Ugh. Maybe she's being stupid, she thinks. Dipper's already done nothing but make sacrifices for her this whole summer… maybe if she goes back to the Shack now, they can talk things out…

"That might be possible!" a raspy voice echoed across the woods. Mabel realized that it's barely been three seconds since she last spoke, despite all the thoughts that raced through her head.

"Sweater Town is not accepting incoming calls right now," was all Mabel could say, barely even caring what creepy forest monster said that.

"M-M-M-Mabel, it's me," the voice said again, getting closer.

Mabel's head emerged from Sweater Town. It was someone she knew? "What? Who said that?" she said to whoever it was. There was only one person she'd ever met who stammered this much, and it wasn't anyone from town...

"I-I-I can help!" the voice said yet again, accompanied by the sound of static, as a human-shaped blob of air walked up - the illusion of invisibility disappearing to reveal a familiar figure; a mostly-bald, stocky guy in a grey jumpsuit, eyes concealed by dark goggles.

"The time travel guy? What are you doing here?"

"You said you don't want summer to end, right? D-did-did I hear that right?" Blendin asked, sounding slightly less… anxious and panicky than usual. This was… weird.

"Yeah… why are you asking?"

"Look, maybe it's against the rules, but you once did a favour for me, so I thought I could help you out," Blendin said, confidently. Maybe getting his job back after Globnar provided some much needed therapy? "It's called a time bubble, and it prevents time from going forward. Summer in Gravity Falls can last as long as you want it to!"

Mabel wiped the tears from her eyes. She was definitely curious now; knowing Blendin, he probably doesn't even know what he's talking about, but…

"R-really? But how does it work?"

"I just need you to get a little gizmo for me from your uncle," he continued, holding up a techy wristwatch, displaying a glowing holographic image of… some sci-fi snowglobe thingy? "It's something small. He won't even know it's missing."

"Huh…" Mabel went, now even more curious as to where this was going. She still wasn't sure what was even going on; Blendin hadn't even answered her question. Maybe he needed to build the time bubble? That snowglobe thing does look like a bubble.

"Maybe Dipper has something like that in his nerd bag," she said, rummaging through his stuff again - and sure enough, there it was. Much bigger and grimier than the hologram had made it look, and it had this starry, swirling pattern inside it, like that cosmic glitter stuff she always sees in 70s-themed furniture stores, except it was swirling around on its own. She lifted it up, noting how heavy it was. ...This probably wasn't a snowglobe, was it?

"Huh. That's... odd. This it?"

"Yes, that's it! Just hand it over and I'll do my thing. Unless you're ready to leave Gravity Falls…" Blendin said, smiling, his brow perking up in anticipation.

Mabel stopped to think. She'd gotten this far out of sheer curiosity, but did she really want to freeze time? She thought back to everything that had happened over the summer. Letting Sev'ral Timez go free. Sacrificing her sock opera to save her brother from Bill. Almost getting Grunkle Stan arrested for tax fraud by forcing Truth-Telling Teeth into his mouth. She knows she shouldn't mess around with Weird stuff to solve her problems, and she shouldn't treat her friends and family like playthings, but… maybe they'd be fine with it? If she explained herself? It's not like Dipper hasn't done something like this before; he'd summoned a bunch of zombies to prove to those government guys he was legit, he'd understand.

Heck, maybe it'd do them some good. The Grunkles could do with the extra time to work things out. She could do with more time to figure out her future with Dipper, and so could he. It's not like summer would literally have to last forever. Just a bit longer. Maybe a couple days. A month, at most. Then she'd be ready. They'd all be ready.

She made up her mind. "...Just a little more summer…" she said, as she prepared to hand it to him.

As Blendin reached out to grab it, however, she could see his ear twitch - there was a noise approaching. Another noise. The sound of heavy footsteps and even heavier breath, ruffling among the leaves.

"Wh-what's that noise?" he asked, turning.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

Then, almost out of nowhere, a huge, pink blur of a person leapt in from the bushes and slammed a fist right into Blendin's face. With a sickening 'crack', Blendin spun on his feet and fell to the ground face-first, scattering bits of pine needles and acorns everywhere.

It happened so fast and so suddenly, a startled Mabel instinctively pushed herself back against the tree, clutching the techno-snowglobe close to her chest. She stared at Blendin's form on the ground - he was still alive, but apparently unconscious, only his finger twitching. She swore she could see droplets of blood fly from the poor guy's nose…

"YES!" the mysterious attacker jubilantly yelled. "IN YOUR ONE-EYED FACE, YOU EVIL NACHO!"

Mabel turned to face the new figure. A tall woman dressed in mostly pink, with short brown hair, well-built muscles, and a good deal of chubby padding on top of that. One of her arms was covered in tattoos. She was exhausted - sweat poured down her face, and she almost keeled over trying to catch her breath.

Before Mabel could say anything to her, the new figure turned to her first. "Ah! Mabel, listen to me… that… that snowglobe thingy, it's… it's… ugh, my chest…" she stopped to clutch her chest, "note to self… never… run… again…"

Mabel's eyes widened in alarm. "Whuh… how do you know my name? What the heck just happened?!"

The woman finally managed to stand up straight, holding up her strong palms. "Listen. That snowglobe thingy is, like… a tear in dimensions! The time-travel guy was possessed by the triangle guy, and he was trying to trick you into handin' it over! He was gonna break it and use it to come into this world and start the apocalypse and trap m- you in a big ol' bubble where summer never ends 'cause it's all gross and fake-happy and you'll get brainwashed and invent a dumb 90s mascot version of your brother who spouts catchphrases that makes me wanna break his neck and while that's goin' on everyone else is gettin' turned to stone and bein' made into gearsticks and forced to live off rat meat an' Toby Determined thinks he can rock a punk-hawk and it's all your fault!"

The woman rattled all that off so quickly, Mabel swore her eyes were spinning; she barely understood anything past 'the time-travel guy was possessed by the triangle guy'.

"Wait, what?! WHAT?! I… I was about to… to…"

"AUGH, forget it!" the woman snapped, "look, just get back to the Shack and give that stupid rift to your brother!"

As she said this, she reached down to Blendin's - or Bill-endin's, if she was telling the truth - unconscious body, ripping his Time Tape from his belt. She threw it violently on the ground and stomped on it with a cherry-pink boot, crumpling it into a useless hunk of sparking metal, a slightly worrying look of glee on her round, rosy-cheeked face. Then she removed what looked like some heavy electrical cables from her pockets and tied Billendin's hands and feet together, restraining him.

"WOAH, WOAH, time-out! No pun intended!" Mabel cut in, feeling tears forming at her eyes again. "I-I have so many questions, like who even are you, how do you know all this stuff, but… b-but are you saying I was… I was about to cause an apocalypse just to get one more day of summer?!"

"YES! That's exactly what I'm sayin'!" the woman snapped again, walking in closer. Mabel tensed up. "Look, if you're not gonna give that rift back to your bro-bro, then I will!"

She reached in and tried to snatch the snowglobe thingy - or 'rift' - away from her. Mabel tried to scoot back, but with a tree behind her it was doomed from the start.

"WHAT?! NO WAY!" she screamed, tears streaming from her eyes once more - at this point, mostly at just how screwed up this day had gotten. "Ya think I'd just hand it to you after you told me it could cause the end of the world?! How dumb do you think I am?!" she accused, trying with all her strength to pull the rift away from the taller woman. Of course, it was a futile effort - the woman had at least two feet on her and was built like a sumo wrestler, but she had to try.

"I KNOW how dumb you are, you dummy dumb-dumb dumbo!"

"YOU'RE the dummy dumb-dumb dumbo!"

"AUGH, for once in your life, just listen to the grown-ups!"

"You don't even know me! WHO EVEN ARE YOU?!"

"I'M YOU, YOU SELFISH IDIOT!"

"Wha-?!"

Mabel's whole body went limp with shock and confusion, but the message didn't reach her fingers in time. The woman's strength went too far and she pulled the rift towards her chest, launching the now half-comatose Mabel off in the opposite direction, into the clearing.

She almost did a flip in mid-air and landed on her head. She heard another sickening 'crack', this time much closer to her ears. There was a pain, but it was short and sharp, and as she crumpled to the ground, it was replaced with a dull, throbbing sensation that made it difficult to think.

She was barely able to turn over and look up at the woman with bleary, tear-filled eyes. She felt a liquid trickle down from the top of her head. Reaching up to catch some of it, it began flowing over her fingers. It was red.

"Ugh… is… is that my blood…?"

The woman, still holding the rift close to her, gasped, her mouth open in shock and panic.

"O-oh my God, oh my God, I-I'm so sorry, th-that wasn't supposed to happen!" she spluttered out. She carefully put the rift away in Dipper's bag and zipped it up, hauling it onto her back, before running over to Mabel. "Just… j-just stay calm, okay? I-I'll get you to a hospital!"

Feeling woozy, Mabel's vision soon became unclear, darkened by sporadic blotches of blackness. Slipping in and out of consciousness, she could feel the woman who claimed to be her gently cradling her and carrying her away to a vehicle of some kind. Through muffled ears, she could hear her talking to someone… another adult, a big guy with what seemed like a question mark on his shirt.

"Uh… S-Soos?" Mabel managed to say, but whatever Soos said, she didn't hear it. He seemed worried and a little angry at the woman carrying her, but… wasn't trying to stop her. She could barely see what was going on - Soos took Dipper's bag and walked away, while Mabel and… Mabel?... got in the… car? Truck?

She felt a soothing chill against her skull; someone had rested an ice pack against it. It felt nice. Soothing. Soothing… maybe she should have just stuck her head in the ice box instead of running away…

She fell unconscious.