"Dipper, do you really think this is the best idea?" Mabel asked, "I mean, don't you remember what happened last time you dealt with ghosts? Are you sure you want to bring out the lamby lamby dance?"

Mabel's dorky smile cut through the tension in the air and Dipper's face reddened. He pushed his sister in the shoulder.

"I thought we'd agree to never bring that up again," he muttered, "Besides, mom and dad never let us go anywhere near Oregon since you started blabbering about all of our crazy adventures. This is the closest urban legend I could find in the area."

Mabel grumbled lightly to herself. She had been so excited to tell their parents everything that had happened to them. Of course, like most adults, they didn't believe a word she said but just played along. Mabel had been able to tell and tried even harder to convince them that everything she was saying was true, but that only led to them becoming increasingly weary of a certain town a few hours to the north…

Since neither Dipper or Mabel were old enough to drive, they had to start looking for anything out of the ordinary in the surrounding area to appease their insatiable urge to deal with the paranormal.

Which led them to the lake they were currently at. It felt wrong sneaking out and taking the bus, but neither of the twins could help themselves.

A light fog had descended upon the area, but it thickened over the lake, gently rolling above the calm water. It seemed to glow in the moonlight. It was unnerving to Dipper, but his sister's aloofness kept his anxious thoughts from running rampant.

"What's that?" Mabel asked as a hazy outline of a person was illuminated in the fog. Before Dipper could stop her, she ran towards it.

"Mabel!" he cried, but she was already halfway there. Dipper sprinted after her.

"It's alright, it's just a statue," she said once he caught up with her, "Although it is a little creepy. Why do you think she's wearing a mask?"

The statue was of a woman in an old-fashioned dress with two kids. It had obviously not been looked after since it had been moved to the Golden Gate Park.

"It's not a mask," Dipper replied, breaking out his journal and studying the notes he'd written down when he was doing his research, "The bronze on half her face has just turned white over the years. Some people say it's a natural process, but others are convinced that it's supernatural."

"Well, what do you think it is?" Mabel asked.

"I'm not sure," Dipper replied, chewing on his pen, "I don't think it's linked to the Ghost of Stow Lake since the first sighting was in 1908 and the statue wasn't made until 1914 – and wasn't even in the park until 1940.

"Some people say that the ghost took residence in the statue, but others say that they see her over the lake."

Mabel nodded seriously before busting out a miniature Ouija board from her backpack.

"This way we can ask her why she's haunting the lake!" she exclaimed proudly.

"We don't need a Ouija board," Dipper said, facepalming, "I told you that all you had to say was, 'White lady, white lady, I have your baby. White lady, white lady, I have your baby. White lady, white lady, I have your baby,' and then she'd appear."

Mabel's eyes widened as Dipper realized what he'd just done. The thick fog over the lake started to pour out over the land, revealing a girl in a translucent white dress. Even from a distance, Dipper could see the panic in her white eyes.

She moved her head frantically side to side as she made her way over to the young teenagers, looking for the baby that had drowned in the lake that she had come out of. Her hair floated around her as if she was still underwater and exaggerated her jerky movements.

She stopped just short of coming over the land and stared pleadingly at Dipper and Mabel. Her feet hovered a few inches above the water.

"Have you seen my baby?" she asked. The desperation in her voice broke Dipper's heart and he could see the pained look on Mabel's face as well. There were tear stains running down the sides of her face.

"We're here to put your soul to rest," Dipper said as calmly as he could.

She repeated her question again.

"We're trying to help you," Mabel tried.

The ghost ignored her and repeated her question, with even more franticness in her voice than before. Dipper and Mabel looked at one another and came up with another plan. Twintuition, their parents had called it. It was almost as if they could read each other's minds. Dipper stepped forward.

"I'm very sorry, but we do not have your baby."

The mother frowned before dropping her head. She started to murmur to herself, too quietly for Dipper to make out. Just when he was about to ask her what was happening, her head snapped back up, but her eyes had changed from a milky white to fiery red – and by fiery red, he meant that her pupils were literally ablaze.

She lunged at Dipper and he dove to the side. He landed on a gnarly tree trunk that hit him right in his ribcage, knocking the breath out of him.

"Hey!" Mabel yelled, waving her arms all over the place, "I don't have your baby either, crazy lady! Leave my brother alone!"

The ghost turned and snarled, but the frantic pleading look in her eyes never disappeared. Dipper could only imagine what it must've been like to lose your baby. It was enough for both of them to become one with the lake.

"Tell me you've got a plan, Dipper!" Mabel yelled as she weaved through the trees. The ghost phased through the any solid objects and was slowly gaining ground on his sister. He had to think fast, or she would be a goner.

"Working on it!" He yelled back.

Okay, what did he have? Not much, unfortunately. All of his magical trinkets had been left back at Gravity Falls. So, that meant the only way out was to use his brain.

Dipper thought back to his previous experiences with ghosts. Ma and Pa from the convenience store had been his first encounter. While powerful, they had no desire to harm anyone. Well, anyone who wasn't a disrespectful teenager. They had helped him when Bill tried to take over the world last summer. He owed those two his life.

The only other ghost Dipper had faced was the one that had haunted the Northwest family, and that one had been a category ten. Wielding both immense fury and power, he was unstoppable. He and Mabel only survived because his demands were met and the gates to the Northwest Mansion were opened, allowing the common folk to enjoy the party.

From everything he had seen about the Ghost of Stow lake, she was somewhere in between a category four and five. She wasn't based off any painting, so silver mirrors wouldn't work, and Stanford's journals didn't have much on how to stop soul sucker ghosts. Even if it did, it's not like he had any of the necessary tools on him anyway. That left one option.

"We have to get out of here, Mabel!" He screamed.

Dipper sprinted towards the exit as fast as he could, but the thickening fog made it impossible to see more than five feet in front of him. Before he knew it, he was lost.

Why did he think it was a good idea to do this so unprepared? He should've known better. All to scratch his itch to investigate things that didn't make sense.

"Mabel!" Dipper shouted, "Mabel! Where are you!"

His answer came when Mabel suddenly appeared to his left and ran into him. They crashed to the ground together. Dipper's body hit the packed dirt trail, but Mabel's head landed on a rock

"Ugh…" Mabel groaned.

Dipper ran his hand over his sister's head and gasped when his fingers came back red. He shook her slightly but his only response was another groan.

"This isn't good, this isn't good," Dipper repeated to himself. He knew that moving her was very risky and should only be done if absolutely necessary.

Saving her from an angry ghost seemed like a good enough reason to Dipper.

He struggled to get his sister's arm around his shoulders. Their parents had allowed her to take up martial arts and all the additional muscle made her even heavier. He failed to notice the fog to his left glow as the ghost approached them.

"Have you seen my baby?" She asked again as she lunged. Dipper twisted so that her claws dug into his side instead of Mabel. He winced, but was able to stay on his feet.

This had been a bad idea, but Dipper had been so stubborn. He'd wanted to relive his days at Gravity Falls so bad that he'd put his sister in terrible danger.

The ghost attacked Dipper again, and this time he fell to the ground. He tossed Mabel away from him on his way down and prayed that she would be left alone; that the ghost would already think her dead.

The ghost jumped on Dipper before he could get up. Her soggy wet hands crawled up his chest until they squeezed across his neck. Dipper's eyes bulged as he tried to pry her hands off, but his motions soon grew weak. His face had gone numb and he hadn't been able to get any air into his longs in so long.

Right as his vision started to black out, the pressure suddenly eased up. Dipper turned to his side and dry heaved as feeling returned to his body. When he'd finally gotten himself under control, he warily glanced at the ghost.

She was floating a few feet away from him with her head cocked to the side. It was almost as if she was listening to something. Since the first time she'd appeared over the lake, the wild look in her eyes disappeared.

Dipper watched as the faint light that had emanated from with the ghost's body grew dimmer as her feet slowly sunk until they were resting on the ground.

"My baby," She said, quietly, "I guess I'll never find her. My poor daughter."

Dipper screamed girlishly as her body melted into slime. In seconds, the supernatural slime had sunk into the earth and disappeared.

Dipper tucked his knees into his chest by his sister and stared at the spot where the frightened ghost once stood

What just happened?

Dipper was still lost in his thoughts when Mabel woke up. She sat up slowly and rubbed her head.

"Did we win?" she asked.

Dipper took a minute to respond before responding.

"She's gone."

Mabel jumped up to give her brother a high five, but ended up on her knees clutching her head.

"You hit the ground pretty hard," Dipper said hoarsely. He got up and extended his hand to Mabel, who took her time getting up this time, "Come on, let's go home."

The buses had long since stopped running to the bus stop they had originally been dropped off at – another problem that had been caused by Dipper rushing into a situation unprepared. Luckily, there was a stop a mile down the road that was 24/7.

"So," Mabel said when they got on the bus, "How did you defeat her? Did you find her baby – or did you punch her face in – or, did you show her the lamby lamby dance and she was so moved by your performance that she decided to let us go?"

"I… I didn't defeat her. She had me in her hands, Mabel, I could feel my body going numb. And then she just disappeared."

"So she's still out there?"

"No," Dipper replied, "Something happened to her, something that not even she was expecting. I think… well, I'm not sure what I think.

"I'll need to call Great Uncle Ford and see if he's ever experienced anything like it."

"If you can reach him. You know hard it is to get a hold of either of them since they left to go hunt monsters in the Bermuda triangle." Mabel yawned and leaned into Dipper. He watched her fall asleep.

Dipper sighed. Back at Gravity Falls, Stanford had offered to take him up as his apprentice. He'd turned it down so that he wouldn't be separated from Mabel, but it was times like this that almost made him wish that he'd accepted.

Almost.

He looked down at his sister and smiled softly. There was no way he could've left her. No way he could leave her. They were twins, but it ran deeper than that – they were best friends. And he would always be there to protect her.

(Line Break)

Dipper looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror the next morning. Last nights adventure had really done a number on him. The bruises around his neck were much darker than the last time he saw them. They were definitely dark enough for his parents to notice, and that was a conversation he would much rather avoid.

There were also tiny specks of red in his eyes, but there was nothing he could do about that. At least they were less noticeable and if he could avoid prolonged eye contact with his parents then he should be able to get away from it.

Looking back down at his neck, Dipper thought about inconspicuous ways to cover it up. He could have Mabel put make up on it, but then there was a good chance that it would end up even more colorful than before. And sparkly.

He could… Stay in his room all day?

No, that wouldn't work either. His family tended to eat their meals together. What about a scarf? Probably not. He wasn't even sure if he even owned one and it was still too hot outside to causally wear one without anyone saying anything.

Dipper jumped when someone knocked on the bathroom door.

"Hurry up Dip," Mabel whined, "I need to use the bathroom and you've been in there foreverrrr!"

She gasped when he opened the door.

"Do you have any ideas how to fix this?" He said, gesturing to the bruises. Mabel thought for a few seconds before pulling him into her room. She went straight into her closet and fumbled through her vibrant wardrobe.

"Here," Mabel said, pushing a bunch of clothes into his hands, "Put these on."

Dipper looked at her in disbelief.

"You've gotta be joking me."

(Line Break)

"Come on out and let me see!" Mabel teased.

Dipper's face flushed when he saw her megawatt smile get even bigger as he opened the door. He couldn't believe this was happening.

"You look amazing!" She squealed, "Now it's my turn!"

In a few moments, Mabel was wearing gray cargo pants, a red short sleeve, and a navy blue vest. It was like looking in a gender swapped mirror. Mabel's ingenious idea was to completely swap outfits for a day… Which meant that he was currently in Mabel's clothes.

In all honesty, her neon pink sweater was starting to hurt his eyes, but the thick turtle neck covered most of his neck and it was exactly the wacky type of thing that Mabel would do that it shouldn't be too far fetched for their parents to say anything about it.

"Kids!" Their mother called, "Breakfast is ready!"

Mabel bounded down the stairs waving her arms wildly. Dipper looked in the mirror, readjusted the turtleneck one more time, then followed his sister.

"Oh my!" said their mother when she saw her two kids, "Mabel, what did you do to your brother?" She tried her best to look sympathetic for Dipper, but he could see the smile on her face. He couldn't believe it was working!

"I was just curious how it felt to be Dipper," Mabel gushed, "And I just know he's been curious what it's like to be as happy and carefree as me – so I decided to switch things up for a day!"

"Did Dipper agree to this?" She asked with one eyebrow raised.

"It took a lot less convincing than the time I gave him a makeover," Mabel replied.

Their father was in the next room over watching TV. Dipper could just barely make out the news report – something about Elon Musk. He was a lot less jubilant about the outfit swap then their mother had been.

"What is this?" He pointed at Dipper, "Leave the poor kid alone, Mabel. You can go up and change, Dip."

"Uhhh, it's fine dad," Dipper protested, "If it makes Mabel happy then I don't really mind."

"Don't be ridiculous, go and change." The tone in his voice made it clear that his decision was final.

Mabel gave Dipper a nervous glance. The more they tried to protest, the more suspicious their parents would get.

"Mabel's wearing my last set of clean clothes," Dipper tried, "I don't want to wear those clothes until they've gone through the wash."

"Well then maybe you can wear any of the other outfits that are in your closet. You don't have to wear the same outfit every single day, you know," said their mother, "Who knows, you may even like wearing a different colored shirt."

"Really, it's fine," Dipper tried one more time, "I don't mind."

Their dad's eye's narrowed. He was raised in a very traditional household and the idea of a crossdressing son was not something he was okay with. He grabbed the sweater around Dipper and started to pull it off, only to gasp when he saw the bruises around his son's neck.

His eyes widened and he let go of Dipper, who scrambled over to Mabel

"What do you think you're doing?!" Cried their mother. Their father ignored her and looked straight at Dipper.

"Where did you get those bruises?" He charged on before Dipper had a chance to defend himself, "Have you been sneaking out of the house? Is Mabel in on this?

"You two have been acting strangely ever since we sent you to your great uncle's house for the summer. I want some answers and I want them now!"

Their mother came over to inspect Dipper's neck and gasped. She couldn't believe that someone had hurt her little baby – and that they were hiding it from her! That never used to happen, but ever since they came back from Gravity Falls, it was like they'd formed their own secret club. Whenever she would ask them what they had done all summer, they would always tell her the most outlandish stories. They were always very creative, like that story about Mabel accidentally dating a bunch of gnomes, but at night she would wonder about what had actually happened.

And why they never told her.

Mabel took a protective stance in front of Dipper.

"Dipper and I went ghost hunting. It got violent and he saved my life," Mabel explained, but once again, neither of her parents believed.

"Stop lying to me!" Yelled their father, "Just tell me the truth!"

"I am!" Mabel cried. There were tears in her eyes, why couldn't they see that she wasn't making anything up. She always told her parents the truth, "Tell them, Dipper,"

She turned to her brother for support, but his eyes were glued to the television behind their father. Mabel didn't understand at first, but then a picture was displayed and she gasped.

"Breaking News: A gas leak in Echo Creek, California caused a taco shop to explode. Experts say that the natural gas is the cause for the phenomenon in the sky. More on this unusual occurance at nine."

Dipper locked eyes with Mabel. They knew exactly what that was. The picture was a giant portal in the sky – one that looked exactly like the one that had been in Gruncle Stans basement when he brought his brother back.

"Oh no…" Dipper muttured.

"What? It's just a gas leak?" said their mother. She didn't understand. She didn't understand anything.

"We need to tell Ford, Mabel," Dipper said, all thoughts of the argument going on gone from his mind. They weren't gone from his dad's head, though, and he stepped in front of Dipper.

"It's like being parents don't mean anything to you two! We raised you and we deserve respect," He yelled, "Neither of you are going anywhere until you start making some sense!"

Mabel looked like she'd been slapped. Their parents never yelled at her like that before. Tears started to form around her eyes, but her parents didn't relent.

Suddenly, the whole house shook.

"Earthquake!" Dipper yelled, but he had a feeling it wasn't as simple as that. while their parents went to hide under the table, Dipper grabbed Mabel's hand and dragged her outside. They didn't know what was happening, but they knew something was happening. They got outside just in time for a concussive blast to throw them back against their house.

Dipper groaned and sat up. The force of his back hitting the wall had knocked the air out of him. That was the second time he'd struggled to breathe in the last twenty-four hours and he hoped it wasn't becoming a trend.

What he saw next took his breath away.

Alrighty!

I am back and ready to get this story rolling! I've spent a TON of time figuring out exactly where I wanted this story to go and how I wanted it to end. I have a lot of really cool events planned and I want to dive into a few topics that I've never dove into before. That being said, if there's anything you'd like to see or if there was anything that didn't feel right, then please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Just a quick thing about my writing process. In my last story, I made sure every chapter was at least three thousand words long and that I tried my best to update once a week. Those are both going out the window for this story. Instead of word count, I will have a story I want to tell and won't publish the chapter until that story is complete. It could be anywhere from a thousand words to over five thousand words. And when the word count varies, so will the publish date. I'm not going to try and adhere to any sort of schedule. With my last story, there were times when I was forcing myself to write half the chapter in under a day, and there were times when I just got in the groove and finished the chapter two or three days before I was scheduled to publish it. When I'm happy with a chapter in this story, I will upload it (that doesn't mean you can't bug me if I'm taking to long to update).

Hopefully that made sense,

Cheers!