Mabel didn't know how long she had been running before she finally collapsed against the tree. She ignored the bark scraping against her back as she slid down. She tucked her head inside her sweater and wrapped her arms around herself, her body shaking. Her tears dampened the cloth but she didn't care.
How could Dipper have done that to her? How could he have gone through with Grunkle Ford's apprenticeship without taking her feelings into consideration? Didn't he care about her? Did he not understand how much their relationship meant to her?
Apparently not.
She raised an arm and wiped at her tears through her sweater. Her nose grew stuffy and she sniffled. The tears kept coming and she didn't bother holding them back. She didn't care who came and saw her in this condition. A part of her wished Dipper would witness this. Maybe then he'll feel bad about ignoring her feelings. Maybe he'll change his mind about Grunkle Ford's apprenticeship and come home with her.
Dipper was the only constant in her life right now. She needed him to be with her. She needed to be with him. She wished that he could see this.
...if only Grunkle Ford had never been rescued.
Normally such a dark thought would give Mabel pause. But at the moment, she felt nothing.
This was all Grunkle Ford's fault. If he hadn't shown up and messed things up, Dipper wouldn't be trying to abandon her. If Grunkle Ford had just stayed in that forsaken dimension, she and Dipper would be free growing up together like they were always meant to. Grunkle Ford took Dipper away from her. He was going to drive a wedge between them. He was going to force them to go through what Grunkle Stan had.
Why did Grunkle Stan even want to save him? Grunkle Ford abandoned him when he needed him the most. Grunkle Ford refused to even thank his brother for being rescued. He was ungrateful and spat venom at Grunkle Stan. If she had known what would have happened, she would have pounded that big red button.
But none of that mattered anymore. Dipper already made up his mind. He was going to leave her. Mabel choked back a sob and curled tighter into herself.
"I-I..." Mabel cried. "I wish summer could last forever..."
The last thing Mabel expected to hear was a response.
"Th-That might be possible!"
Mabel growled and tugged her sweater tighter around herself. "Go away. No visits to Sweater Town."
The voice came again. "Mabel! I-It's me!"
Mabel reluctantly pulled her head out of her sweater and looked around. That voice sounded a little familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She looked to try to find the source of the voice, but she couldn't see anyone. "Wh-Who's there?"
A shape emerged in front of her. Pudgy, round, donning a grey suit that flashed various types of imagery. The eyes were covered by small goggles and what little hair remained on the head was neat and tidy. Mabel gasped as he approached her.
"The time travel guy...?" Mabel whispered. For a moment, the name escaped her. "...Blendin Blandin...?"
"I-I can help!" Blendin Blandin said as he messed with the holowatch attached to his wrist. He walked towards Mabel until he was a few feet away. He gave her a reassuring smile, almost as if he could read her thoughts.
Mabel shrank back against the tree. "Wh-What are you doing here?"
Blendin Blandin's smile broadened slightly. "Y-You said you w-wanted summer to last forever. D-Did I hear right?"
Mabel hesitated, her head still spinning at the thought of this time traveler being here, right now. Was the universe finally giving her a break? Swallowing hard, Mabel said, "Y-Yeah... Why are you asking...?"
"I sh-shouldn't be here. Th-This is against th-the rules." Blendin Blandin reached out and touched Mabel's shoulder comfortingly. "But you did me a favor. I-I want to do a favor for you."
"...you're willing to put yourself in trouble..." Mabel let out a sob. She rubbed her wet eyes as tears stung at her cheeks. "...just to help me?"
"That's what friends are for, right?" Blendin Blandin told her.
Mabel couldn't help but smile at this. It was nice to have someone take her feelings into account. A shame it was from some time travel dude and not from her brother. Mabel's stomach churned with bile as her smile faltered.
Blendin Blandin continued, "There's this thing called a Time Bubble. It prevents time for anything within it from going forward. Time remains frozen even as everything else outside moves on. You can keep time in place for as long as you want to. You can make summer in Gravity Falls last forever."
Mabel gasped, warm fluttering pounding in her chest. Some of the sadness melted away, replaced with a hope she didn't think she'd feel right now. This had to be some kind of sick joke, right? The universe was just playing tricks on her, wasn't it?
...but what if it wasn't? This was her one chance to make set things right. She could fix things. She could keep everything as they should.
Grunkle Ford couldn't interfere if time were frozen.
Dipper couldn't leave her if time refused to move forward.
No horrible teen years if she never became a teenager.
She and Dipper and all their friends could have fun in Gravity Falls forever. There would be no reason to say goodbye. The adventures would never end. Every day would be a party. No more school. No more worrying about grown up stuff. Nothing but making memories together for as long as she wanted.
She didn't think she could... No, she wouldn't miss out on this chance. She sprung to her feet and grabbed Blendin Blandin's sleeve. "What do I need to do?" Her voice was hushed and hurried.
Blendin Blandin pulled away from her grasp and turned a dial on his holowatch. A hologram of what looked like a snow globe filled with a constantly morphing dark mass appeared before her. "You just need to get me a gizmo from your uncle. Something small; he won't even know it's missing."
Mabel stared at the hologram, almost entranced by how the dark clouds moved. Somehow, this was going to help her right Grunkle Ford's wrongs. Her legs burned with the desire to race back to the shack, but then she remembered she had Dipper's bag with her. She couldn't remember how she got their bags mixed up, but that didn't matter right now. She knew there was little chance of Dipper actually having this thing, but she refused to give up hope. Not when she's so close to...
...oh, there it is.
Mabel pulled out the object in question. The surface of it felt cold, like it had been sitting in a freezer for too long. The shifting dark mass, decorated by star-like lights, looked more ominous than in the hologram. She found it difficult to move her gaze away from it. It was like the object was pulling her in a trance. She quickly shut her eyes and shook her head. For a moment, she thought she could feel time slowing around her. It was working.
"That's i-it! G-Give it here!" Blendin Blandin motioned for the object. "J-Just hand it to me and I-I'll work my m-magic!"
Mabel looked at the snow globe one more time before raising it up towards the time traveler. It was slipped out of her hands and Blendin Blandin cradled it in his hands...
...only to immediately drop it.
"Oops!"
Mabel's eyes widened and her mouth hung open in a gasp. What was Blendin Blandin doing?
Blendin Blandin's foot came crashing down against the object. The force cracked it wide open, the shattering hurting Mabel's ears. The black goo flashed several colors as it seeped into the ground. Blendin Blandin stomped onto it again, some of the goop ending up on his shoe.
Mabel couldn't stop herself from staring at the now ruined object, her whole body trembling. That was her only chance to... Why did Blendin Blandin do this? Why did he...
A cold laughter echoed around her.
No, this wasn't Blendin Blandin. It was...
As Mabel turned her head up to look, Blendin Blandin had removed his goggles. Horrifyingly familiar eyes stared back at her. Slit pupils and an ugly yellow shined at her like flashlights. Blendin Blandin then let out a gurgle and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as that wretched triangle squeezed out of him. The time traveler's body collapsed in a heap on the ground like garbage to be thrown away. Even without a mouth, Bill Cipher managed to give Mabel a shit-eating grin.
"I can't believe you fell for that, Shooting Star! I thought I would have had to try harder to get that Rift! Good thing I settled on you instead of your brother, eh? Your kind are always such an easy target!" Bill cackled as he began to float up. "Thank you so much for your help! I'll be sure to remember your contribution after I liberate your dimension!"
Mabel stared in horror at what was transpiring. Her breath quickened, her heart raced against her chest. How could she have let herself be fooled like that? How could she have been so naive? Of course this had been too good to be true. She was such an idiot.
A cold chill ran down her spine as she realized what this meant. Bill Cipher was going to go after her brother, wasn't he? Bill Cipher was going to tear Gravity Falls apart. Summer was never going to end because it was no longer going to exist. The psychotic dream demon was going to ruin everything for her.
Mabel narrowed her eyes, baring her teeth. Her whole body burned as if she were set on fire. It crawled all over her skin and her vision momentarily tinted red. Her heart twisted inside of her and her breaths grew ragged. The dream demon continued to laugh at her, which only fueled the white hot blaze surging inside of Mabel's body.
She wasn't going to let another jerk ruin her summer.
Mabel lunged forward and grabbed onto Bill Cipher's arm. He yelped in surprise and glared at her. He started to yank his arm back, but Mabel just tightened her grip. She ground her teeth together almost to the point of breaking them. Bill Cipher clawed at her hand, creating red lines along her skin.
"You big..." Mabel slammed Bill Cipher into the ground with as much force as she could muster. "MEANIE!" As the demon tried to slash at her face, Mabel grabbed his other hand and forced it down, pinning him beneath her.
Bill Cipher's eyes flashed red. "If you don't let go of me, Shooting Star, I will... OW! MY EYE!"
Mabel had punched him in the middle of his eye. Bill Cipher screeched and thrashed in Mabel's grasp. Mabel said nothing as she glared down at Bill Cipher with eyes dripping with fat tears. In the midst of everything, she became vaguely aware of tingling along her legs and crawling up her body. She paid it no mind, her gaze remaining fixated on Bill Cipher.
"You little brat! You're lucky my eye didn't pop! Do you have any idea how long it takes to regenerate it?!" Bill Cipher screamed at her, his eye morphing into a set of jaws lined with sharp teeth. Mabel moved to one side to dodge the attack. "You're seriously starting to piss me off, Shooting Star! Let me go or I'll be sure to finish the job with Pine Tree!"
Mabel stiffened at this, her eyes going wide.
Clearly realizing he struck a nerve, Bill Cipher sneered, "That's right. You saw my note, didn't you? I wasn't lying. If you don't release me, I'll be sure to give Pine Tree the farewell he deserves. Hey, how long do you think it'll take the townsfolk to put him back together?"
Mabel could feel her body shaking harder, the burning sensation spreading along her skin, her heart clenching and twisting. For the second time, her vision went crimson and she felt the urge to snap the demon in half like a corn chip. There was a brief moment where she wondered what a demonic corn chip would taste like.
There was no way she was going to allow this...this creature get anywhere near her brother ever again.
No one was going to steal her brother away. Not her parents. Not Grunkle Ford. Not the end of summer.
And especially not a creepy triangle demon.
"Oh ain't this too bad!" Bill Cipher laughed. "This has been fun, but I'm afraid it's time to end this little game! I sure hope Pine Tree is ready! Because I'm..." Suddenly Bill Cipher froze. An uncharacteristic look of fear started to inch its away on his face. "Shooting Star, your eyes! What's with your eyes?!"
Mabel let out a snarl as she moved her head in closer. She was about to say something when the reflection in Bill Cipher's eye caused her to pause.
Her eyes... They were pink.
An electrifying pink.
The pink danced along her eyes, sparking and popping like electricity from a cut wire.
Bill Cipher looked down and his eye flashed with horror. Mabel remained frozen in shock as the same electric pink began to engulf Bill Cipher. Pink replaced yellow, crawling up his body like an infestation.
"Th-The Rift...! Y-You absorbed th..."
Is that what happened?
The confidence that Bill Cipher once boasted was gone in an instant. Panic laced his voice as he cried out, "L-Let me go Shoo... I mean Mabel! I'll give you anything you want! I can make summer last forever! Just please don...!"
Bill Cipher never got a chance to finish that sentence. The pink had completely overtaken his body, freezing him in place. The look of horror remained plastered over his mouthless face. All Mabel could do was stare in shock at what had just happened.
Silence enveloped everything around her. Even the birds had stopped chirping. Wind rustled through the trees, bending and arching the branches, leaves soundlessly bouncing through the air and along the ground. The only sound came in the form of Mabel's heavy breathing, her head spinning and her body twitching.
Realization slammed into her like a truck.
She had done this. Mabel Pines had done this.
What did Bill Cipher say? Something about her absorbing the Rift? She did recall the goop splattering in multiple places. Had some of it gotten on her? That would explain the tingling sensation earlier.
What did the Rift do? Why did Bill Cipher want it so badly?
...did it even matter anymore?
...what else could she do...?
A smile inched its way across her face. Her tears dried up as her eyes filled with glee, her mouth twisting in a broad grin. She could feel the power coursing through her body. It chased away her sadness, all of the negativity, leaving in its wake only one thing: Happiness.
She felt...happy. Happier than she's ever been before.
Was this a fraction of what the Rift could do? What else was it capable of doing?
Her grin broadening, Mabel moved to wrap her arms around Bill Cipher. As if matching the wave of her thoughts, pink energy surged forth from her hands and encompassed the yellow demon. There was a pop and when she looked down, Bill Cipher remained frozen within the sphere she had made for him. She couldn't help but laugh at the irony. An interdimensional demon feared by many, being trapped in a cute little ball at the hands of the 'weird one'.
It was such a shame that no one else could feel this nice, to feel what it was like to have all fears and doubts shoved away and locked in a closet where it belonged. Everyone deserved this kind of happiness. Everyone deserved to be free of pain and worry, to live life like how they wanted without anything going wrong, without anyone getting in the way.
A thought sparked in Mabel's head. Whoever said she had to be the only one to experience this feeling? There were so many poor souls in Gravity Falls who benefit from this. How often have the people of Gravity Falls been hurt?
And then there was her family. She could fix the rift between her Grunkles. She could get them to finally be happy together, to let bygones be bygones and be brothers again. And Dipper...
He's always wanted to be with Wendy, right?
Mabel giggled as she held the pink sphere in her hands. "You know what, Bill Cipher? You ARE going to make summer in Gravity Falls last forever! You're going to help me put an end to the misery of change! You're going to help me create a paradise where everyone will be happy all the time! A place where no one will ever want to leave!" Mabel stroked a hand along the sphere. "...and no one ever will..."
Mabel placed her hand on the bottom of the sphere and pulled downward, forming a staff. Gripping it tightly, she tapped it against the ground. Pink energy swirled around her, concentrating around her neck and head. A cape flowed outwards from her back and a crown dawned on her head. Mabel gripped her staff with both hands as she smirked towards Gravity Falls.
"And I will be its queen!"
Mabel raised her staff and slammed it into the ground. Bouts of pink electricity snaked out and spread along the ground. Mabel watched with a broad smile as the pink raced towards Gravity Falls, engulfing everything in its path.