Little Red Riding: Part 2
After their confrontation with Wendy's friends at the cemetery, Dipper and Mabel decided to make their way over to Thompson's house.
He was the only one who wasn't present at the cemetery that also had involvement in what happened at the college the night Wendy was expelled. And apparently, he knew what happened the most. Considering the fact that Robbie, Tambry, Lee, and Nate all went out to hide from the police instead of looking out for one another, it sounded as though Thompson was the only one who cared enough to stay behind.
Of course, neither of them knew that exactly either. However, Dipper had a good idea that that was the case when he considered Thompson's crush on Wendy, which he had learned about at the Mystery Shack party the previous weekend. For years, he had been the punching bag of their friend group, but he cared enough to spend time getting into shape and cleaning himself up to appeal more to her. Despite this, his good-natured attempts still ended in failure to some extent, such as getting Wendy flowers that she was actually allergic too.
Dipper felt for Thompson, as he had his own share of shortcomings when it came to his former crush on Wendy. Though, the difference was those shortcomings came during the span of a single summer, whereas his spanned since the fifth grade. Now, he's past his first year of college and still can't catch a break. Looking back at how angry he had gotten when he thought Wendy had fallen for him, he couldn't say he didn't understand his frustration.
All this in mind, Dipper expected he would know the best about Wendy's situation and what had happened that night. The basic summary that Lee and Nate had given didn't seem to provide enough insight as to what really went on.
Sure, it was a prank gone wrong, but it still felt there was a piece of the puzzle missing. A detail left out that would explain more why this event was so difficult for Wendy to talk about. If it was as simple as a prank gone wrong, then why wouldn't she have just said so in the first place? What made it such a sensitive topic for her?
That was what he hoped Thompson would be able to tell. Though, Mabel didn't quite understand how he'd be any more help than the rest of Wendy's friends.
"You sure about this, Dipper?" she asked as they began to approach Thompson's front door. "I mean, not that I don't like Thompson or anything, but if he's anything like the way I remember him four years ago, I can't say I see how he might be able to help."
"Well, I have a good feeling that he will," Dipper assured her just as he stepped up to the door.
He knocked a few times and backed away as they awaited an answer. After a moment, they heard the sound of the door unlocking before it opened up. There, a middle-aged woman, presumably Thompson's mother, stood before them.
She analyzed them for a moment. "Friends of Thaliard?"
Dipper and Mabel glanced at one another for a moment. Dipper then looked back at the woman. "Uh...?"
"No, we're looking for Thompson," Mabel cleared up.
"Read the mailbox, sweetie," the woman told her, pointing out the mailbox with name 'Thompson' on it. "We're all Thompsons here."
Mabel stared at the mailbox for a moment. "Oh…"
"Anyway, I'm just gonna assume you two are here for Thaliard," she said before turning back inside. "THALLY! YOUR FRIENDS ARE HERE TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE NOT DEAD!"
"Tell them not today, mom!" Thompson's voice called back.
"NO! YOU NEED THE COMPANY!" she yelled back. "YOU HAVEN'T LEFT THAT ROOM OF YOURS ALL WEEK!"
"Mommmm!"
"I'M NOT GOING TO ARGUE, THALLY!"
"Ugggghhhh!"
Mrs. Thompson then turned back to the twins. "Come inside."
Dipper and Mabel quietly accepted her invite and stepped into the house, both of them processing the fact that Thompson's real name was Thaliard. Looking around the house, they saw that it appeared fairly normal, though there looked to be some dirty clothes laying around the floor and furniture, which immediately gave off the impression that the family generally wasn't that clean.
"Thally's in his room," Mrs. Thompson told the two as she walked out of the room, gesturing down a hallway she passed as she made her way into the kitchen. Dipper and Mabel looked at one another again before making their way down the hallway of notice.
As they walked down the hall, the scent of pizza began to strengthen. Eventually, they reached an open door at the end of the hall. Popping their heads inside, they were greeted by a dark and messy room.
The blinds were closed and the curtains were shut. Throughout the room, there were a bunch of dirty, unorganized clothes, as well as empty bags of finished snacks and empty pizza boxes. On the bed, Thompson himself laid in a dirty tank top and boxers.
He looked miserable; completely beaten and depressed. His stubble also clearly hadn't been shaved or cleaned up in a while, and it added to his messy appearance. For Dipper, at least, this was a shock to see because he looked completely cleaned up at the party over the weekend. Though, he still maintained his more muscular build, which was the only real surprise for Mabel, who was only just seeing him again for the first time compared to Dipper.
"Thompson?" Dipper asked as he walked over to him on his bed, also watching the floor so he doesn't accidentally step in a slice of pizza or something else. "Thompson, man? Are you alright?"
"Huh? You two?" Thompson questioned as he looked up at him and Mabel. They weren't who he expected when his mom said that his 'friends' came over.
"Thompson! Buddy!" Mabel tried to happily greet him, but find herself growing disgusted by his mess of a room, nearly stepping in his dirty underwear. Still, she tried to suppress those feelings in favor of trying to stay positive. "Long time no see! You're looking...great!"
"Yeah, good one," Thompson said with an eye roll. "What are you two doing here?"
"We...uh...came to check on you," Dipper made up as an excuse, though he felt it wasn't the nicest excuse to come up with given Thompson's actual state.
"Why would you two assume I needed to be checked up on?" he asked. "And why would you even check on me? I don't know you guys like that!"
"Thompson, Thompson, Thompson..." Mabel shook her head. "I think you underestimate the value of all of our short-term interactions from four years ago."
"W-what…?" Thompson asked, confused. Though, he wasn't mentally active enough to really want to think over what she was talking about and just laid back down in bed dejectedly. "You know what...nevermind."
"God, what happened to you, man?" Dipper asked, raising a concerned eyebrow. "You were at the party at the Shack on Saturday and you looked great. But now…"
"...you look like you've been eating ice cream and pizza all weekend and throwing it up all over yourself," Mabel continued, which was a description that Dipper couldn't really object to.
Thompson sighed. "It's been a tough being me this past week." He sat up in bed again. "Or maybe my whole life…"
"Did you get out of a bad break up?" Mabel suggested. "I mean, ice cream and pizza is usually the first thing I turn to when I'm heartbroken."
"No, but with what's coming up, I might as well be considered dumped," Thompson replied.
Dipper knew what he was talking about. "Wendy moving soon has got you down, huh?"
Thompson stared at him for a moment before looking down sadly. "Yeah, it's been rough."
"Wait a second…you're like this is because Wendy's leaving?" Mabel asked, raising an eyebrow.
Thompson's eyes bulged nervously. "Uh, yeah! She's been a great friend for years, so, of course, I'm upset about it! It sucks, yo!"
Dipper glanced over at Mabel for a second before stepping toward Thompson. "Look, man, you don't need to hide the fact that you like Wendy."
Mabel's eyes bulged in slight surprise as she found out about this. At the same time, Thompson began to grow red-faced as he was called out.
"W-what?!" he stuttered. "Me? Liking Wendy? That's crazy, man! She's been my friend since we were kids!"
"Dude, I already know about it," Dipper told him. "I've known about it ever since the party."
Thompson's eyes bulged as he made that claim. He knew the party was weird due to finding himself waking up from a supposed sugar rush, as called by Stan Pines. But even then, he had some hyper-realistic dreams from his time passed out. Only in those dreams did he ever tell Dipper about his feelings for Wendy, and that was in a confrontational stance with him. Despite the fact that it was called out as a dream, he could never get over how real it seemed. So Dipper saying that he knew about his feelings for Wendy since the party definitely set off an alarm in his head.
"H-how did you find out?" Thompson asked, eyes narrowing skeptically.
Dipper caught his skeptical glance and was only then reminded of the same circumstances behind what had happened at that party. In order to save face, he tried to think up the best excuse to prevent him from starting another potential fight over Wendy.
"Uh...I mean, it was just obvious!" Dipper nervously excused. "I saw the way you looked at her when you tried giving her those flowers! How nervous you were and stuff…"
With this explanation, Thompson retracted his skepticism and realized he made a good point. He rested his head on his hand as he sighed again, physically showing his acceptance to Dipper's call-out.
"You don't know how it feels when you've been in love with a girl for as long as I've been, only to watch that same girl jump in and out of relationships with other guys, including some that I knew," Thompson began to vent. "I can understand why she'd never look at me like that before. I was never the most muscular or...the most attractive guy she knew. That's why I decided to finally work on myself during high school. But to put so much effort into improving myself for as long as I did only to find out she'd be moving away in a few months...it really hit hard."
"Why didn't you just ask her out when you finished fixing yourself up then?" Mabel asked.
"She just got suspended from college!" Thompson reminded her somewhat frustratedly. "You think she wants to start going out with a guy when she's got that to deal with?" He slumped forward dejectedly. "Plus...it's not that easy…I've been the punching bag of the group since we were kids. Doing things I was dared to do just to keep everyone together. No matter how much I try to change, that'll always be a part of me. And that'll always be the side she'll see of me."
Dipper and Mabel had sympathy for Thompson, but they also felt guilty. Particularly Dipper, who remembered being one who used Thompson as a said punching bag in order to propel his own status in Wendy's friend group. After his earlier talk with them, however, he could only reflect on what a mistake that was. Trying to fit in with a bunch of jerks and picking on the one person who's actually a really nice guy at heart.
The goals of a twelve-year-old, Dipper guiltily thought. I used to pick on a man who's been picked on all his life just to fit in and look cool…
"To think I could've also been the one to save her from getting caught and expelled too…" Thompson said as he began to think about the incident at the school.
Dipper looked up at him. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know...I mean, do you guys even know the story?" Thompson asked.
"Ehhh," Mabel said, turning her hand neutrally.
"I mean, a general idea, I guess," Dipper added.
"We heard from Lee and Nate that she got caught on a fence?" Mabel questioned. "And that's how security got them."
"Ugh! I told them what happened, yet they can't even tell the story right!" Thompson said as he pulled on his hair angrily.
"Wait, so that wasn't true?" Dipper asked, starting to get a bit heated as well. "I knew something seemed off about that story! Wendy, of all people, wouldn't get stopped because she got caught on a fence! That just wouldn't happen to her!"
"Well, she did get caught on the fence…" Thompson clarified. "But I mean that she got caught by security. She didn't get stuck on the fence and then get caught."
"I don't see how that makes a big difference," Dipper admitted, somewhat confused on what Thompson was getting at.
"Because they didn't tell you what I really saw," Thompson told him as he focused on visualizing the event in his head. "I had just finished going over the fence. The open woods were right on the other side. And this was late at night too, so the woods were even darker. I remember everyone else had already run off ahead. I was about to follow, but I looked behind me and saw that Wendy was still climbing the fence, so I stayed back to try and make sure she made it. But then, she climbed to the top of the fence and just...froze."
"She...froze?" Dipper questioned, finding this explanation even odder than the idea that she simply got stuck.
"We talking scared frozen or literally turned to ice frozen?" Mabel asked, which garnered odd looks from the other two. "What? This is Gravity Falls! I gotta ask from both sides!"
"Scared frozen…" Thompson answered. "Her legs were hanging off of both sides of the fence and she just sat there completely still, looking off into the woods with this...almost terrified look on her face. Then, she asks me to look behind and tell her if I see what she sees. But, this is all in the middle of an intense escape, so I'm just confused at that point. I considered just running and pulling her leg down the other side so we could just keep running, but instead, I looked behind like she asked. And somewhere in the trees, I see some blue flash for like a second. It was really quick, but, I thought I saw someone...watching us before running off. At that point, I heard Wendy yelling, and when I turned back around, she was being pulled down from the fence by security, and there was nothing I could do to help at that point."
Dipper and Mabel processed this new explanation for a moment, seeing how it only deepened the way that Lee and Nate described the incident. Instead of getting stuck on the fence, Wendy saw something shocking enough for her to freeze on top of the fence. However, evidenced by Thompson's own eyes, apparently that something was someone.
"So, someone was watching you two in the woods?" Dipper asked.
"I don't know what they were doing exactly, but I do know that I saw someone," Thompson assured him.
"Could it have been one of the others? Like Robbie or Tambry or someone?" Mabel asked.
"All of them had already run off so far ahead, and even when I caught up with them, they said no one went back," Thompson claimed. "Not that I trust their word anymore, but I don't think it was any of them. Especially based on the look on Wendy's face. I don't mean she looked kinda freaked out. She looked totally shocked."
"Did you ever ask her what she saw?" Dipper asked.
"Yeah, I have. Many times. But she never wants to talk about it," Thompson replied.
"Maybe that's what makes Wendy so uncomfortable about telling us about what happened," Mabel told Dipper. "Thompson already knows what happened to get her expelled. He was there. But she didn't even want to tell him what she saw."
"Maybe…" Dipper nodded at the strong possibility as he turned back to Thompson. "When did all of this happen again?"
"April 23rd," Thompson replied.
"And you have no idea at all who this person might've been?"
"Not really," Thompson said as he tried to remember. "And again, it was dark so I could barely even see them either. It just looked like they were wearing white. They just disappeared after that though. Kind of like a ghost or something."
"A ghost?" Mabel asked, raising an eyebrow.
A sudden thought entered Dipper's mind. "Wait a second...the ghost that haunted the old Northwest mansion...I remember finding out sometime later that it might've been a Corduroy. Of course, that ghost was more blue than white, but a ghost's a ghost."
"What are you thinking?" Mabel asked.
"It's just a theory, but if it is a ghost as Thompson implies, then maybe Wendy might've seen something of an ancestor or family member that might've been familiar enough to shock her," Dipper suggested.
"Why would they haunt Wendy though?" Mabel asked further.
"I don't know...but as Thompson said, it seemed more like they were just being watched," Dipper reminded her. "Perhaps a Corduroy family spectator watching their future generation without the intention of being caught or something? Though, that does beg the question of why a ghost would even reveal itself like that…"
"Who knows, man?" Thompson asked as he glumly laid back in his bed. "Whether it's some dumb ghost or some weird town stalker or whatever, it isn't gonna change the fact that she's leaving. And it won't change the fact that I could've done something to stop it, but didn't."
Mabel looked on sympathetically at Thompson for a moment before walking up to him and placing a hand on his arm, rubbing it comfortingly as she smiled at him. "It's okay, Thompson. In the end, you're a good guy and an even greater friend. You shouldn't beat yourself over this."
"Yeah, man. She's right. You are a great guy," Dipper nodded in agreement. For a moment, he hesitated to say what he said next as he considered his own background. But he figured that he had to accept how true it was, for Thompson's sake and his own. "And you know, you've known Wendy for ages and you're one of the most considerate guys I know. If anyone deserves a shot with her, it's you."
Thompson's eyes glanced over at him for a moment. He simply replied with a thankful smile, feeling unable to come up with the right words to thank him otherwise. It got the point across though, as both twins smiled back at him.
He then sighed and looked away again. "I just hope she's okay. I know that even before getting expelled, she's had issues with her family; particularly her dad. Hopefully, she's not doing anything risky or crazy enough to get her into even more trouble."
"KEEP DRIVING, KID! WE'VE ALMOST LOST THEM!"
In the middle of an open town road, Wendy drove with Stan beside her as they were attempting to flee a pursuing police car. In Stan's hands was a large painting within its frame that they had presumably stolen. At the same time, the back seat of the car held a bunch of other objects and items thrown around that appeared to have also been obtained through illegal means.
Wendy skillfully drove around every corner they passed while maintaining her fast speed to assure the cops wouldn't catch up. Stan continuously looked back and forth between the view ahead and the rearview mirror. As he looked ahead again, he recognized the street they were about to pass and realized an opportunity for them to take.
"Turn right on this street coming up!" Stan commanded.
"Way ahead of you!" Wendy responded as she leaned in on the wheel, eyes focused ahead.
As they made contact with the discussed street, Wendy made a hard right as planned. As they turned, she put full force on the accelerator, picking up fast speed on the long, empty road. The pursuing police had been about ten seconds behind her prior and still hadn't pulled onto the same street yet, but she knew she had limited time before they would. So, after a moment of speedily driving down the street, she stomped on the brakes, which violently threw their bodies forward. Immediately after braking, Wendy put the car in reverse and quickly, but cautiously, backed the vehicle into a dark alleyway.
At the same time, the cop car came speeding around the corner onto the same street. However, Wendy and Stan had managed to back into the alley just in time for them not to be caught, leaving the police confused as they began to slowly drive down the street.
Soon, the car came to a stop in the middle of the street and Blubs and Durland promptly stood out and glanced around.
"DANG IT! WE LOST 'EM AGAIN!" Blubs shouted angrily, slamming his fist down on the top of the police cruiser.
"That's the eleventh time today!" Durland added.
"How do we keep letting this happen, Durly?!" Blubs asked as he put his hands over his tearful eyes out of frustration. "How we keep letting them get away? Are we getting too old for this sorta thing? Is this a job for us anymore? Maybe we should just give up…"
"Hey, hey! That's no way to talk!" Durland tried to reassure his partner as he walked over to him and moved his hands away from his face, looking at him in the eyes. "I know what'll cheer you up! How about we go out for comfort ice cream?"
The offer immediately seemed to perk Blubs up a bit, prompting him to smile as he put a hand on his shoulder. "You know me so well!"
The two cops excitedly ran back into their sides of the cruiser, slamming the doors shut as they sat down before speeding off straight down the road and past the alleyway where Wendy and Stan continued to lurk. There, they silently waited for a moment as they stared ahead, assuring that they were in the clear.
"Phew!" the two simultaneously sighed with relief as they slumped back in their car seats.
"We lost them…" Stan said as he panted exhaustedly.
"Yeah…" Wendy said as she also panted exhaustedly. "We got away…"
The two then let out one final deep breath as they finally settled down, letting a moment of silence overcome their previous panting.
"YEEEEAAAAHHHH!" the two suddenly shouted jubilantly at yet another victorious escape.
"WOO! THAT WAS AWESOME!" Wendy cheered.
"YOU DID IT AGAIN, KID!" Stan praised. "Eleventh time today!"
"And I can push through eleven more if I wanted to!" Wendy confidently added.
"Damn right!" Stan nodded in agreement as he turned the stolen painting in his hands around to look at it.
"Woo! I just can't believe we actually stole priceless art!" Wendy said as she glanced over at the painting.
"Priceless? What?" Stan asked, raising a confused eyebrow. "This ain't priceless! We robbed the local Gravity Falls Museum For Cheapskates. Everything there is worthless!"
"Wait, what?" Wendy questioned, having not been advised of this detail. Prior to the robbery, Stan had only told her that they were hitting a museum, with the type being left ambiguous. Still, this was the last thing she could've expected.
"Yeah, they had this nice painting that I knew about and wanted, so it's worth something to me," Stan explained. "We ain't making a dime off this though."
"Boring!" Wendy bluntly told him. "What's the point of going around stealing stuff if none of it is actually worth anything?"
"Hang on! We stole plenty of stuff that has value!" Stan reminded her as he dove a hand in the backseat, scavenging through some of the other items they had stolen through the day. "Like this antique quarter collection! Or this old, vintage watch-thing? Or Mayor Tyler's miniature Statue of Liberty made entirely of bottle caps!" His eyes bulged for a second as he looked back at the object in his hands. "Wait...why does he have this?"
"Man, if this is the type of criminal you used to be, I'm going to feel even sadder than I usually am for you," Wendy said as she shook her head disappointedly.
"Hang on. Are you trying to say I'm out of the game?" Stan asked, taking Wendy's words as an insult to his experience.
"You tried to steal a robot badger a few years ago, so yeah, I'm starting to wonder why I didn't see this coming," she admitted.
"Alright, kid...you want a real heist? Then, I'll give you a real heist!" Stan told her. "I'll show you the kind of work that Stan Pines REALLY used to get done back in the day!"
"So what're we hitting then?" Wendy asked, suddenly growing excited as she thought over their next score. "A bank? Are we going to do a local one for cash or clear an outside depository of all of their gold?"
"Yeesh, kid! Turn it down a notch, would ya?" Stan said while gesturing for her to calm down. "No, we're not doing a bank! You're not ready for that level yet! We need to do something simpler."
"Ughhh!" she groaned, unsatisfied.
"Hey, I said simpler. Not invaluable," Stan pointed out. "I know a place where we can score a good take."
"Where?"
Conveniently enough, Stan looked ahead through the windshield and spotted the location of interest right ahead of them outside of the alley. He pointed it out for Wendy to look at.
"The Gravity Falls Local Jewel Store…"
Wendy's eyebrows raised interestedly. "I'm listening…"
"Now, we could clear out the whole place of their jewels and make a good million or so. But, cleaning out that joint all on my own at my age while you're just in the car waiting for me will take too long," Stan explained to her. "However, that store has one thing worth more than the whole damn store: a rare, hand-crafted diamond necklace."
"Woah…" Wendy said in awe. "This town actually has something of value?"
"It's been in one little case in the back of the store for ages," Stan began to explain. "That's because it's too expensive for any of the normal townsfolk to afford. The only people that could ever afford it were the Northwests, but they were already loaded enough to have about fifty of those, so what did they care? Anyway, if we target that diamond, sell it, and split the take, you can consider most of your lifetime expenses paid."
"Maybe that'll even cover all of my college funds and student loans!" Wendy said cheerfully at the thought.
"Yeah, that is if you even decide to go through with finishing college when you're that loaded," Stan mentioned as he kicked back in his seat relaxingly.
His statement made Wendy think for a moment. "Wow...I really could drop out of college," she realized as she thought it over. "Then I could stay in Gravity Falls...but maybe that's taking things too far. I mean, you finished college, didn't you?"
"Kid, I never even finished high school."
Wendy's eyes bulged. "What?"
"My dad kicked me out during senior year, and at that point, I was already failing pretty much all of my classes," Stan explained. "With nothing to support myself, I just took to the streets on my own and started doing my own thing. Started a bunch of businesses all over the world, went to jail all over the world, but eventually, it all led me to where I am today."
"Wait, so your dad did kick you out?" Wendy brought up.
"My dad and I always had a complicated relationship," Stan shrugged at the thought, though felt a bit melancholy as he mentioned it. "Sometimes I loved him, but most of the time he made it really hard to do so."
"Huh…"
"Yeah, so that's that," Stan said as he looked forward and laid back in his seat again. "I mean, you know how it is. The stress from parents wanting you to go to college, wanting you to be successful, and so forth. But, while I might've benefitted from finishing school, I can't say that I'm not happy where I currently am. Life's not perfect, of course. But overall, if I were to die tomorrow, I'd say I'm pretty satisfied with where I ended up. A man of my own. Living in a future designed by himself instead of one his parents wanted him to design."
Wendy stared at him for a moment. "You're...really happy?"
Stan looked over at her and gave a slight nod. "As can be."
It felt somewhat odd for Wendy to suddenly find out that she related so heavily to Stan. Whilst it clearly sounded like he's had it far worse than she did, it still felt like they shared similar grievances in regard to their fathers. That while she did love her dad, she was at a point of time where it felt harder to do so.
And she did love him, but she couldn't help but let her recent frustrations with him break into her mind and ruin her perception of him. And thinking of those frustrations led to her thinking of her even older troubles that she's endured from him. All the other stressful times she's suffered because of him. It all just made her want to get away.
Perhaps, Stan's influence wasn't the best for her to be accepting when she's been in such a damaged and emotionally vulnerable state of mind as of late. But she didn't care. She had just helped him get away from the cops after their eleventh consecutive robbery that day. And while the robberies themselves hadn't yet been large-scale in any sense, it didn't mean she wasn't loving the thrill of being rebellious. To her, doing bad things and getting away with them felt like the old days. The pre-college days.
Except, this time, she was doing them with someone who she felt really understood her. Who would've thought that it would be her old, crumby boss from the Mystery Shack?
Not her. Not in a thousand years.
But, she had no issue with it. Regardless of his bad influence, Stan felt like a better father figure to her at that moment than her own dad had been over the past month. If he said they were hitting a jewel store, then she was down to hit a jewel store.
"So...what're we waiting for?" she asked with a ready smile. "Let's hit a jewel store!"
"Not right this second. We're still in broad daylight," Stan reminded her. "We may have been hitting small stores, museums, markets and such, but a jewel store is different. This is a job that can't have ANY mistakes. And our best shot at that is at night."
"Tonight then?" Wendy suggested.
Stan thought for a brief moment, contemplating whether it would give them enough planning time. He shrugged. "Sure. Why not? Until then, we plan and prepare…"
A little while after visiting Thompson, Dipper and Mabel had made their way through the woods and over to the Corduroy cabin. They made their way toward the front door, stepping onto the front porch as Dipper walked ahead of Mabel, who looked somewhat confused as she looked around.
"So, what're we doing at Wendy's house again?" she asked her brother.
"Well, if we're potentially dealing with a Corduroy ghost, I feel like maybe it'd be a good idea to investigate the Corduroy family history," Dipper replied as he walked right up to the door and knocked on it three times. "It could give some insight into who we might be dealing with. Maybe, Manly Dan could provide us with some info."
Mabel gave him a reluctant look. "Dipper, I was with you in the beginning when we were just asking Wendy's friends for answers on what had happened with her expulsion, but this is starting to look like we're snooping too far into Wendy's business."
"Mabel, Wendy could be getting haunted by a ghost!" Dipper justified as he turned back to her. "Whoever she might've seen that night obviously left her in a state of shock. If this involves any case of Gravity Falls weirdness, then we need to try and do something about it! For her sake!"
"Yeah, but, is this really a good time for us to be doing so?" Mabel asked, still feeling unsure by the idea. "With what she's going through right now in her life? Wouldn't you rather just wait until she properly tells us what's going on herself? Maybe she already has an answer for all of this."
Before Dipper could give her a reply, their attention drew back toward the front door, which was promptly heard being unlocked. The two looked up and saw as the door opened and Manly Dan stood before them. He glanced back and forth between the two with his usual stern expression, obviously recognizing them as friends of Wendy.
"Ah, Mr. Corduroy!" Dipper greeted. "Uh...how are you doing this fine summer afternoon?"
"My TV wasn't working so I punched a hole in it!" Dan responded with upfront anger toward his situation. His reply left Dipper unsure how to respond and resulted in him simply staring back at him silently.
"Our Grunkle once threw our TV out the window because he couldn't find the remote," Mabel replied casually, showing no intimidation to Manly Dan's outlandish reply.
"A man with class, I see," Dan nodded at her.
"Anyway…" Dipper intervened. "We came here because we were wondering if maybe we could learn a bit of your...background!"
Dan thought for a moment before looking over his shoulder at his house. He scanned it for a second before looking back at Dipper with a raised eyebrow. "It's my house."
Yet again, Dipper was caught off guard by Dan's reply and misinterpretation of what he said. "That's...not what I-"
"What Dipper is trying to say is that he wants you to talk about yourself! A lot!" Mabel cut off and cleared up for him.
"That's an incredibly odd and specific reason to come over to my house," Dan told the twins candidly. "However, I do like talking about myself…"
"Who doesn't?" Mabel asked with a smile.
"Come inside then!" Dan offered. "Also, don't mind the holes in the walls. There was a mosquito flying around earlier. I got it good though…"
He stood with a clenched fist and a vengeful look for a moment as he thought about the mosquito, to which Dipper and Mabel glanced over at one another in slight concern. However, eventually, Dan turned around and proceeded to walk back into the cabin, leaving the twins at the open front door.
"This is the guy who was lecturing Wendy about being responsible yesterday?" Dipper asked themselves once Dan was out of sight.
"You know...we can still back out of this like it's none of our business…" Mabel suggested. "...Wendy would never find out that we were snooping around in her and her family's personal lives…"
"We're not snooping, Mabel!" Dipper defended. "We're just...trying to get to the bottom of a mystery here."
"Doesn't solving mysteries usually mean having to snoop around in other people's business?" Mabel asked.
"We're not snooping! Stop saying that!" Dipper demanded. "And since when did you become the snooping police, anyway? You're the one always trying to play matchmaker when no one wants you to!"
"Hey, I'm an experienced matchmaker with a reputable background!" Mabel defended. "It's family drama that I know not to snoop in!"
"You literally sit our parents down and have mock therapy sessions with them every time they have an argument," Dipper reminded her.
"That's because it's OUR family drama," Mabel said. "It's other people's family drama that I don't like getting too deeply involved in."
"Look, trust me, Mabel. If you just work with me here, we might be able to find an answer for all of this by the end of the day," Dipper pleaded her. "At that point, we can either do something about it or move on with our lives. Hopefully, it's the latter."
He then proceeded to walk into the cabin himself, leaving his reluctant sister at the door. While she still wasn't sure about the idea of getting deeply involved in Wendy's family drama, she knew her brother was too determined about figuring things out. Whether she liked it or not, she had to stick by his side, especially in case she needed to pull him out should he cross a line.
About a half hour into their visit to the Corduroy residence, the twins found themselves sitting in the living room across from Manly Dan, who stood before them as he reenacted an old story about himself to the two. As he finished the story, he sat down in his own chair and grabbed his glass of root beer from the coffee table.
"And so let that be a lesson to you kids...NEVER play the knife game with an ax!" he told the twins before chugging down his root beer.
As he drank away, Dipper and Mabel sat in silence with mortified expressions as they processed Dan's story and reenactment. While it wasn't the type of story they had come for, it definitely gave a large amount of insight to his personal life. They couldn't say it was the type of insight they wanted, however.
"Anyway, yeah. That's the story," Dan said as he slammed his glass back down on the coffee table, smashing it to pieces. However, he gave no regard to his action. "I have a similar one involving losing a bet to a bear. But I'm not sure y'all are old enough to handle it." He thought for a moment. "Actually, how old are you two again?"
"Uh...why don't we just skip that story?" Dipper suggested.
"AW C'MON! It's one of my best!" Dan tried to assure him.
"J-just for now!" Dipper stuttered, somewhat intimidated as he didn't want to risk angering someone as emotionally unstable as Dan was. "I mean, you already told one big and...epic story. Why don't we just cut it back for a little bit and talk about some other things?"
"You came here to talk about ME and now you wanna talk about OTHER THINGS?!" Dan questioned, growing slightly irritated by Dipper's reasoning. "I don't get your deal, kid!"
"No!" Dipper shook his head frantically. "I mean, things like...like…"
"Woah! Look at that!" Mabel suddenly intervened as her eyes were drawn across the room. She quickly jumped up from her seat and ran over to a set of wooden display cabinets and shelves organized behind Manly Dan's chair. Among each of the shelves were sets of various photographs of different people. Looking from left to right on the shelves, the pictures appeared to become newer and less vintage, signifying how much more recent they were. "Are these pictures of your family, Mr. Corduroy?"
As his own attention turned toward the photo gallery, Dan gave a proud smile. "Yep! That's the Corduroy family gallery. Full of centuries of Corduroy family history."
"Yeah! That's something we could talk about!" Dipper nervously claimed as he walked up to the shelves himself, hoping that Dan's attention had been completely averted from their tense exchange a moment ago.
"All of these shelves are hand-crafted by Corduroy generations," Dan explained as he ran his hand along the wood of one of the shelves. "You'll find our ancestors to the left, and closer to the right, you'll find us."
Mabel stared at each of the pictures in awe, admiring the history and legacy of the Corduroys as she went along. The Corduroys were clearly built upon family, as there seemed to be just as many family portraits as there were individual portraits. Along with photos, there were also various different awards showcasing the achievements done by different members. From various lumberjacking trophies to awards won from toughness competitions, which seemed to imply how much the manliness factor played into the family.
As Mabel continued walking right, she eventually came across the second to last shelf, which showcased most of Manly Dan's photos and awards. However, among his shelves, she spotted Wendy's photos and achievements too.
"Hey! There's Wendy's diploma!" she pointed out as she spotted it. She then let out a gasp as she saw the picture right beside it. "And her graduation photo!"
She grabbed the framed photo and looked on at it. Wendy stood in the middle of her family members in her green cap and gown, holding her diploma out to the camera. Her face showed a joyful, yet relaxed smile, which was enough of a testament to her happiness. To the twins, it felt somewhat odd to see her that way though, as she looked happier in that one picture than they had seen her since they arrived in Gravity Falls earlier that month. She looked practically stress-free, which seemed likely if the circumstances were compared.
"Aw! She looks so happy here!" Mabel acknowledged as the three looked at the photo. "With her dad, and her brothers…" As she scanned the photo, her eyes fell upon an unfamiliar old woman who stood beside Wendy. "...but who's that? Is that...her mom?"
Dan's heart dropped as she made that observation. "What? No! That's not her mother! Are you insane?" he yelled as he swiped the photo away from her. "That's her aunt!"
His reaction made Mabel feel a bit guilty for her mistake. "I'm...sorry. I didn't know."
"You better be sor-" he began before cutting himself off, suddenly realizing what he was doing. He then let out a sigh from his own guilt. "No, it's fine…"
Dipper looked at Manly Dan and noticed him suddenly grow a sorrowful expression. "Mr. Corduroy, are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah…" Dan nodded sadly. "I just...it always gets to me when I'm reminded of Valora."
Dipper and Mabel glanced at one another for a moment before looking back at Manly Dan. "Valora?"
Dan sighed as he walked over to the shelf displaying his things and kneeled down to the bottom, where there was a drawer. He put his hand on the knob and pulled it open. From inside, he then pulled out a framed photo, handing it over to the twins. "My one and only wife- Valora Corduroy."
Mabel took the photo in her hands and held it out for her and Dipper to see. The picture displayed a portrait of a middle-aged woman with long, dark brown hair. She had jade eyes, a freckled face, and a perfectly white smile. Her outfit was as Corduroy as one could get, wearing a red flannel, ripped jeans, and brown boots. On top of her physical appearance, there was something about her expression that gave off a very relaxed vibe. One very reminiscent of the one Wendy typically used to give off four years ago.
"She's beautiful…" Mabel said in awe at Valora's alluring appearance.
"Yeah, she was…" Dan agreed gloomily.
Was.
"What...happened to her?" Dipper asked. "If you don't mind me asking…"
"Dipper…" Mabel nudged him with narrowed eyes.
"No, it's fine," Dan assured with a sigh. "Sometimes, it helps to talk about it. Help me come to terms with the what had happened even after all these years."
Dipper and Mabel looked a bit unsure for a moment but remained quiet as they tuned in for his story.
"Anyway, thirteen years ago, Valora and I were out camping with the kids. A common weekend activity of ours…"
13 Years Ago
In the middle of the open Gravity Falls woods in the late afternoon, the Corduroy family had a campsite settled. They had a basic tent setup, a camping table, and a work-in-progress fireplace being prepared in the middle.
Marcus and Kevin were running around in circles around the campsite, playing tag with one another and giggling loudly. Dan sat at the camping table, cradling a sleeping infant Gus in his arms. However, he was growing irritated by his other two boys' giggling and how it could possibly disrupt Gus's sleep.
"WOULD YOU BOYS KNOCK IT OFF?!" Dan shouted at Marcus and Kevin, who suddenly stopped at the booming voice of their father. "YOU'RE GOING TO WAKE YOUR LITTLE BROTHER UP!"
However, Dan's failure to realize his own volume ending up waking Gus himself, causing him to start crying crankily. Humored by their father's absentmindedness, Marcus and Kevin proceeded to laugh mockingly at their father, who just grew even more infuriated.
"BOOOOYYYS!" he yelled angrily at the two, who proceeded to run off.
"Our youngest boy, Gus, had just been born a few weeks before. And at that point in time, none of the kids had grown older than six. So, as a good husband and caring father, I put myself in charge of watching over the kids for most of the trip, whereas Valora would handle most of the labor that came with setting up a campsite."
Not too far outside of the campsite, Valora stood at a tree stump with an ax in hand. On top of the stump sat a log of wood, which she promptly chopped in half with the ax. With one clean swing down the middle, she divided the log into two pieces. She picked up both pieces and threw them into a sack, which was already filled will a bunch of other log pieces.
She wiped a balm of sweat from her forehead as she pocketed the ax. Then, she proceeded to pick up the large sack of wood pieces and carry it over her shoulder as she began to make her way back to the campsite; all while she had a smile on her face.
"And it was a great balance, because to Valora, nothing was ever too difficult. She was smart, brave, skillful, and courageous. She had the qualities of a great leader and an even greater mother."
As Valora returned to the campsite, she threw the sack of firewood down beside the fireplace. As she relaxed for a moment, she spotted her son, Marcus, making his way toward her with a bear trap in his hands.
"Hey, mom!" Marcus called for as he appeared to be struggling to open up the bear trap over his head. "How do I put this bear trap around my head like that one actor did in that one horror movie? I want to pull a prank on Kevin!"
Valora's eyes bulged uneasily. "Woah there!" she shouted as she ran over to him and snatched the bear trap from his hands. "Don't play this stuff, Marcus! I didn't spend nine months conceiving you just to watch you get yourself decapitated!"
Marcus looked down guiltily. "Sorry, mom…"
"Haha! You almost died!" laughed Kevin as he walked up beside his mother. Unhappy with his comment, however, Valora gave him a moderate smack on the back of his head. "Ow!"
"Be nice to your older brother, Kevin," she warned him.
"Haha!" Marcus laughed, amused by Kevin getting smacked. "You got hit by-"
Valora crossed her arms and gave Marcus a stern glare, which intimidated him enough to cut himself off.
"...I mean…" Marcus retracted before suddenly turning to Kevin and wrapping a brotherly arm around him, which was returned. The two then looked up at their mother with innocent smiles. "...love ya, bro!"
Valora gave a satisfied smile. "That's better," she nodded as she turned away and walked off. "Now stay that way or else neither of you are eating bear for dinner tonight."
Marcus and Kevin processed this warning with bulged eyes, neither of them wishing to miss out on having bear for dinner that night. However, neither of them could stand the idea of having to stick so closely together in order to not have to skip out. But, their craving for bear was stronger than their desire to be apart, and so the two boys simply groaned as they held their arms around one another.
"Valora loved all her kids. But, there was no denying the fact that she was closest with Wendy and it wasn't hard to see why. They were the only two girls living in a household predominant by us men, so they found a very different bond in one another."
Along the edge of the campsite, Wendy sat away from the rest of her family beside a tree. There, she held a pocket knife in her hands, which she dug into the bark of the tree, carving little images.
Valora made her way over to her and smiled. "There's my Little Red! I've been looking for you."
Wendy glanced up at her for a moment before turning back to her carvings. "Hi, mom."
"What are you doing all the way over here by yourself?" Valora asked her as she kneeled down next to her. She immediately made note of her carvings. "Oh, I see. What're you carving this time?"
"Nothing," Wendy claimed, not entirely wishing to talk about them.
"Oh, c'mon, you can tell me. Tell me! Tell me!" Valora chanted in a mock deep voice while throwing her fists up and down. However, as she looked on at her daughter, she noticed that she didn't appear particularly amused and actually seemed somewhat unnerved. Her playful attitude then turned into concern. "Sweetie, are you alright?"
Wendy sighed. "I didn't tell you or dad, but I had a bad dream last night."
"Really? About what?"
"I don't know," Wendy shrugged. "There was this little yellow triangle guy with a top hat and a funny voice."
Valora looked at the carvings and spotted a little triangle with arms and legs etched into the bark. She pointed at it. "And this is supposed to be him?"
Wendy gave a subtle nod. "He said he knew who I was and that I'm going to lose someone that I really care about soon. He also called me an ice bag. Whatever that means."
Valora smiled as she rubbed the top of her daughter's pigtails. "It just means you have a really active imagination."
"But mom, I'm serious," Wendy told her as she pushed her hand away. "It was really freaky. What if I really will lose someone I care about? Like dad, or the boys, or...you?"
"Wendy, sweetie, I promise you that it was just a bad dream," Valora assured her. "Yeah, sometimes they can be really scary, but that doesn't mean they'll actually happen. I'm not going anywhere. Neither is dad, or the boys. We're here by your side and always will be."
Wendy looked unsure for a moment as she looked back at her. "Will you always be by my side?"
"Wha-?" Valora questioned, caught slightly off guard by the question. "Of course! I'm your mother!"
"I know. It's just...I love dad, and Marcus, and Kevin, and Gus, but sometimes, they're a bit too crazy," Wendy admitted as she looked to the side, poking her finger around in the dirt. "Even Gus. And he's a baby!"
"You said it, kid…" Valora nodded tiredly, agreeing with her claim that the boys of their family aren't exactly the most normal.
"You're never too crazy," Wendy added. "Also, you're not a boy…so…"
Valora chuckled. "I get it. A girl needs her mother to get away from all the crazy boys in her family. Don't worry, girl. No matter how much the boys may drive me insane, they'll never drive me away from you. I'll always be by your side."
Wendy smiled as she looked back up at her mother. "Promise?"
Valora warmly smiled back at Wendy as she used her fingers to lightly brush some of her red hair off of her face. "Promise."
The two smiled at one another for a good moment before Marcus was seen running over toward the two.
"Hey, Wendy! You wanna play Needle in the Bearskin with Kevin and me?" Marcus offered as he pointed behind him, where there was a large bear pelt lying on the ground that suddenly started to move around from the inside.
"It stinks in here!" Kevin shouted from inside the skin.
"We're making a deal! The first person to find the needle gets extra bear meat from every sibling's plate for dinner!" Marcus explained.
Wendy was obviously interested in the deal, but she still looked up at her mother for her approval. Valora looked back down at her and smiled.
"Go get 'em, Little Red," she said as she rubbed the top of her daughter's head one more time.
Wendy smiled excitedly before turning back to Marcus. She cracked her knuckles as she gave him a daring expression. "Prepare to fork up your bear legs…"
She proceeded to run along with him over to the bearskin, leaving Valora behind to chuckle as she watched her kids enjoy themselves. At that moment, Dan walked over to her with Gus in hand, who he had managed to get back to sleep again.
"Ah, Needle in the Bearskin. What a classic," he remarked nostalgically. "I miss playing that with my dad."
"I'm sure, but now you have to take the handle the responsibility of being a dad," Valora replied.
"Hey, I'm doing a good job!" he claimed as he gestured over to Gus in his arms. "Look here! I finally got Gus to sleep! And as for the rest of the kids, I like to think I'm a great dad to them!"
"Yeah, but maybe not the most responsible," Valora admitted.
Dan raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Dan, I caught Marcus trying to put his head in a beartrap because of what he saw in a horror movie," Valora brought up to him, giving him a look of dissatisfaction.
"Oh, I know what movie he's referring to!" Dan proudly realized as he thought about it. "That's my boy! Already becoming a man of culture."
"What? No! Don't support this!" she told him disapprovingly. "Our kids shouldn't be trying to stick their heads in bear traps because of the influence of a horror movie! They can really hurt themselves! And on top of that, I found out that Wendy had a bad dream last night about some weird top hat triangle that said she's going to lose someone she cares about. Like, what kind of films are you showing these kids, Dan? This type of worry shouldn't come from a six-year-old!"
"Triangle?" Dan questioned, confused about what she was talking about. "I haven't shown her any movie about a triangle!"
"Well, whatever movies you have been showing her, they clearly aren't the types we should be exposing our kids to at their current age," she told him. "It's giving them crazy ideas and fears that they shouldn't be having."
"So, what? Let them face their fears then," he shrugged off.
"What?"
"To conquer a fear, you gotta face it, Valora," Dan explained to her. "It's better than keeping them sheltered up all the time so they can grow scared."
"I'm not saying we keep them sheltered. I'm saying we keep them safe," Valora clarified with narrowed eyes.
"They're Corduroys, Valora!" Dan reminded her irritatedly. "This type of thing is in their blood!"
"God, I hate it when you use that as an excuse," Valora said as she put an annoyed hand over her face for a moment. "They're not just your kids, Dan. They're our kids. And it's up to the both of us to protect and provide for them rather than always keeping them exposed to dangers that could potentially get them killed!"
"You see it as exposing them to danger. I see it as toughening them out!" Dan compared.
"They're children!"
"The earlier they're toughened out, the less afraid they'll be when they're older!" Dan argued. "Why do you think they love horror movies so much? Because they don't SCARE them!"
The tension of their argument was suddenly disrupted as Dan's voice had caused Gus to awaken and begin crying again. The two looked at him before looking back at one another. Valora then sighed as she reached out and took Gus from Dan's grasp. She patted him on the back and tried to get him to calm down before giving Dan a look.
"We aren't talking about this again…"
She proceeded to walk back toward the campsite with Gus, leaving Dan on his own. He looked on at her with an irritated look as she walked off, feeling himself growing tired of having the same discussion they've had multiple times before.
However, when he looked over to the side, he noticed that Marcus, Kevin, and Wendy had all stopped playing in the bear hide and were looking over at him. It seemed as though they had just seen the dispute that occurred between him and their mother and had paused their activity to listen to it. As soon as Dan had looked over at them, however, they all turned away and pretended to have been minding their own business.
Though, Dan knew that they had heard everything.
"We had a disagreement about how to raise our children. Not that it had been the first time. But it was the spout that our arguments usually come from. Despite my want to toughen the kids out at a young age, the one thing I never wanted them exposed to was their mom and dad fighting."
When it came to dinner that night, there was very little that went on. Everyone ate bear except for Gus, who was being personally fed by Valora. Dan would have offered to help after all the work she had put into preparing the fireplace, but she had refused to speak with him, which was a typical aftermath of their arguments.
Marcus and Kevin filled the silence on their own, talking about horror movies they had seen. Wendy, on the other hand, sat quietly due to the discomfort of knowing her parents weren't happy with one another at that moment. She didn't want to make it obvious and tried to avoid eye contact with both of her parents, only looking over at them when their attention was drawn elsewhere.
By the end of dinner, she would just sigh and hope things got better by the next morning.
"Valora and I were on silent terms with one another at that point, and the kids were the ones that filled it with noise. Nothing eventful happened as the night went on. Not until later that night when we were sleeping…"
BOOM!
"AH!" Dan exclaimed as he was suddenly awoken in his tent by a thunderous noise. As he sat up, he heard the sound of heavy rain coming from outside.
His attention was suddenly drawn beside him, where he was able to see through the darkness that his wife no longer laid beside him. He glanced around the tent for her, but only saw their kids.
"Valora?"
He then looked straight ahead and only then noticed that the tent had actually been opened and rain was pouring inside. In response, he jumped up out of his blankets and rushed to close the tent. At the same time, he began to wonder why the tent was even open in the first place.
That was when he made the potential connection between the tent and Valora's sudden absence.
But...why? He wondered to himself.
"Dad…?" Wendy asked as she sat up, half-awake.
"Wendy!" Dan said, somewhat startled by her awakening.
Wendy looked around and almost immediately noticed her mother's absence as well. "Where's mom?"
"I...uh…" Dan stuttered, not sure how to answer. "I don't know."
"W-what?"
"Listen to me, Wendy," Dan said as he grabbed his coat from the side and put it on. "I need you to stay here and look after your brothers. Don't you or any of them leave this tent. You hear me?"
Wendy hesitated. "But, dad, what's even hap-"
"You hear me?!"
"Yes!" she quickly replied.
"I'll be right back," Dan said as he zipped the tent open again and stepped out into the pouring rain. He quickly zipped the tent back up again, leaving his kids behind as he began searching for Valora.
"A storm had been going on and I was woken by the loudest thunder I had ever heard. I looked to the side and noticed that Valora was gone and the tent was open. I told Wendy to stay and watch her brothers while I quickly ran out of the tent to find their mother."
"VALORA!" Dan called out for as he walked through the dark woods. "VALORA, WHERE ARE YOU?!"
He searched every inch of the surrounding woods that he could. The constant rain and evening darkness made his search all the more difficult, however. The heavy rain made it hard to hear for any possible response, whereas the darkness made it hard to see almost anything.
Still, he continued to search. But, the longer he searched without finding a trace of her, the more hopeless he became.
"I spent hours looking around the forest; trudging through the muddy grass while calling her name. But I never got a response or found a trace of her. I had no idea where she had gone or if she was coming back. No idea if she was dead or alive. I didn't know anything."
"VALORAAA!" he cried out desperately.
After hours of searching, he felt too hopeless to go on and dropped to his knees weakly as his eyes welled up with desperate tears.
"And for the first time in my life…I felt weak."
Present
"In the morning, I searched the forest again, but I still found no trace of her," Dan continued. "Police searches and investigations were formed and they couldn't find anything either. There was no sign of any activity from her inside or outside of Gravity Falls. Eventually after months of searching, they just came to the conclusion that she had disappeared. It was either that or a bogus explanation like getting eaten by a bear."
"She just...disappeared?" Dipper asked, finding such an explanation hard to believe.
"But how is that possible?" Mabel asked.
"I don't know," Dan shrugged. "But none of it was easy to explain to the kids. They were all upset and confused, but Wendy was the most devastated."
"I can imagine…" Dipper said sympathetically.
"No, boy…you can't…" Dan tearfully denied as he shook his head. "As I said, Wendy was closest to her mother. And the more she grew, the more she reminded me of her. She took so much from Valora, it's uncanny. And it's why I'm harder on her. Because I can't risk losing Wendy the same way I lost Valora. For the most part, I'm proud of her and the woman she's become. But it's things like her stunt at college that test that. It reminds me that Valora was right about my parenting. That overexposing these kids to so much danger at a young age doesn't just toughen them out. It makes them feel invulnerable. It makes them think they can do anything and get away with anything."
He then leaned over to his shelf and grabbed a picture of Wendy from when she was a child. He looked down at it nostalgically as he held it in his hands.
"So now that I'm trying to teach her to be responsible, she hates it. Because it's not how I raised her," he continued explaining. "That was the part Valora played when she was around. I disrespected it...and it took me too long to see that. It took me too long to appreciate her for trying to keep our kids level-headed when I wouldn't."
While Dan looked at the picture of Wendy, the twins glanced at one another with their sympathetic looks for him. While the two still didn't know the exact fate of Wendy's mom, now that they knew the basic story of what had happened to her, it began to make sense why she was never a frequented topic around any of the family. It was particularly understandable to them now when thinking back to the previous day when Wendy coldly compared her father's overwhelming nature to that of her more collected mother.
And Dan's reaction to that moment began to make much more sense as well.
"I don't believe it."
"C'mon, Dipper…"
"Mabel, do you really think out of all the things that could've happened to Wendy's mom, it was getting eaten by a bear?" Dipper asked his sister.
"She went into the woods. Bears live in the woods. A bear found her and ate her," Mabel pieced together. "Adds up to me."
"You can't possibly believe that in a town as weird as Gravity Falls, getting eaten by a bear is the most probable thing?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow.
She sighed. "Look, Dipper, of course I don't believe that's what happened. I just...don't think this is something that calls for us anymore! First, you wanted to hunt down a possible ghost that could be haunting Wendy and now you want to solve the mystery of her disappearing mom?"
"Well, if Wendy's mom is dead, then there could be a chance that she's the ghost!" Dipper tried to reason.
"And what do you expect to do if you're right?" Mabel asked before pressing her face together mockingly. "'Hey, Wendy! I snooped in your family history and found out your mom is dead and has been stalking you as a ghost! Let's kiss!'"
Dipper's face flushed red for a second. "W-what?! No! That's not...UGH!"
"Can you two quiet down?" Evan told the two from his computer. "I'm reading through hundreds of tiny lines of code here, and you two bickering isn't making it any easier to get to what you're looking for."
Dipper glanced back at Mabel for a moment before looking back at Evan with an apologetic expression. "Sorry, Evan."
After the twins' visit to the Corduroy cabin, Dipper had decided that they make their way over to the Reeds residence for Evan's assistance. Since first meeting him from their day 'babysitting' him, they had yet to come to him for his hacking abilities. But upon remembering that Evan had such skills, Dipper figured he could use them in helping them learn more about Valora Corduroy and her disappearance. That is if there was anything else to learn about.
He recalled Evan being able to hack into government files for info on anomalies. But what was saying that he couldn't also do the same for people too?
"What are you even doing right now?" Mabel asked as she looked over at all the complicated-looking programs that Evan appeared to be working with on his screen.
"Something very illegal," he replied simply.
"Awesome!" she excitedly remarked.
"Not really," Evan denied as his focus remained on his screen. "I just broke through a government firewall. If I make any mistake that breaks my cover or exposes my location, I'll probably have about half an hour before the SWAT team is airlifted to my house."
"Geez, what kind of government firewall is that?" Dipper asked, unsettled by the extreme security measures.
"I'm trying to access a government network that holds private data and info on...well...everything, I guess," Evan explained.
"In the world?"
"Well, not this one," Evan replied. "This one is narrowed down locally to the Gravity Falls region. Every resident, every business, every landmark, and since its Gravity Falls, every monster sighting...all recorded in this system with as much private info as they can provide. Although, the monster sighting folder is actually the vaguest. All it has is classified photographs that were taken of supposed weirdness. But, they're all blurred and hard to identify. And they're not even edited. They're in their original condition. It's crazy. They can get all this detailed info on everything and everybody else in town, yet they can't even snap a decent photo of a gnome."
"So, it's worthless then?" Dipper asked.
"Not entirely," Evan admitted. "It did aid me a bit when I was first learning of the town's weirdness. And some of the photos present weird silhouettes I've never seen before. But overall, it's nothing too special. The real meat of these files is, again, all the personal info," he said as he pulled up a file explorer program within the government database. "It's creepy how detailed some of this stuff is. Especially for the residents."
"Well, it's a good thing we're not residents then," Mabel claimed with a relieved smile. "We're technically just visitors. We don't live here."
"Actually, you two are in here as well," Evan claimed as he located a file with the twins' names on it.
"Wait, what?!" Mabel questioned as she and Dipper ran up beside Evan to look at his screen.
"Seriously?!" Dipper asked as he began reading the contents of the file that Evan pulled up. "Dipper and Mabel Pines: Twins; Born August 31st, 1999; Age 16; Piedmont, California. What the hell?!"
"That's just basic info. You can find that sort of stuff on any personal record," Evan told the two as he scrolled down the file. "THIS is the creepy stuff."
"Occasionally likes to pour the milk before the cereal," Mabel read from her part of the file before letting out a shocked gasp. "How did they know?! I FEEL SO ASHAMED!"
"Worst Joke: the one about the mathematician that crossed the road," Dipper read from his part of the file.
Mabel snickered. "Yeah, I would call that your worst."
"Who the hell writes this stuff? This sounds like we're being stalked!" Dipper asked, finding the incredibly specific personal information in their file to be somewhat disturbing.
"I'm not sure. I heard a rumor that government officials get tips from a gnome or something," Evan suggested. "But those guys are idiots."
"I'll say," Mabel agreed with an annoyed look as she recalled her most recent encounter with the gnomes.
"Alright, well, back to the matter at hand," Dipper told him. "We need you to look up someone by the name of Valora Corduroy- a wife and mother in the Corduroy family that went missing about thirteen years ago."
Evan effortlessly typed in the name and found her file in seconds. "Found it. Valora Corduroy. Pretty much exactly as you described her. Mother of four, married to Dan Corduroy, went missing in 2003."
"Anything else you can find on her disappearance?" Dipper asked.
Evan scrolled around her file and clicked on various other files, quickly skimming through whatever he came across for any valuable details and information. "There're police reports from her investigation, but none of them come across any evidence on her whereabouts. Everything just kind of reaches a dead end by the end of the year, which means they probably stopped searching at that point. I'm not seeing very much other than that though."
Mabel turned to Dipper, who had his eyes focused on Evan's monitor as he scrolled through her info. "Dipper, c'mon. Maybe this is a sign that there's nothing for us here. If something weird happened, then there were no witnesses around in the forest to see what. I mean, maybe she got beamed to another dimension and became a badass, crime-fighting dimension-traveler! I mean, no police investigation could report come across evidence for that!"
Dipper still shook his head in denial as he turned back and began pacing around the room. "No...there has to be something. If this has all of her personal information and history, there has to be something else in there somewhere. A lead of some sort…"
Evan kept scrolling for a little bit until his eyes fell upon a bit of text that stood out to him. His eyes bulged in slight shock. "Hold on...I just found something really weird. A set of dates. According to this, Valora went missing on March 23rd, 2003. However, there's another date here that says she was last seen on May 23rd…"
"She was last seen after the day of her disappearance?" Dipper questioned.
"This is so weird," Evan said, growing unsettled as he searched the file more deeply. "From the same day, May 23rd, there's also the coordinates for her last known location. It's in the woods, but it's not anywhere near the same area as the section where she had supposedly gone missing."
"How credible even is all this info?" Mabel asked, somewhat skeptical of what she was hearing.
"From my experience, very," Evan assured her. "That's what I'm so weirded out by all of this right now. I'm not sure how any of this is possible. I mean, it just doesn't add up."
"Then we need to go and see this place for ourselves," Dipper claimed.
"What?!" Mabel asked, finding Dipper's sudden idea insane.
"What? We need to go and check those coordinates out. It might lead us to another clue," Dipper explained to her.
"Dipper, it's getting late and you wanna go deep into the woods to find evidence of the whereabouts of a woman who we don't even know is even alive?" Mabel asked.
Dipper thought over her question for a moment. "Yeah, pretty much," he casually nodded, which made her slump forward annoyedly. He then turned back to Evan and pointed at his screen. "Send me those coordinates, Evan."
The sun had already set and allowed for the evening darkness to take over by the time Dipper and Mabel began making their way through the woods. Dipper viewed the coordinates that Evan sent him on his phone, which he very rarely ever found himself using since getting it before the summer. Along with the coordinates, Evan sent highlighted info from Valora's file in case he needed to read up on it again to aid on their mystery.
Mabel followed closely behind Dipper, though her hesitations and objection to their involvement still remained. However, at that point, she had long since accepted there was no use convincing Dipper to drop the mystery, even if she was admittedly curious about what had happened to Wendy's mom herself.
Dipper glanced down at his phone again, looking at their location and comparing it to the coordinates he was sent. "Looks like we're coming up on those coordinates Evan sent.
Mabel looked around the surrounding trees and raised an eyebrow. "This place looks kind of familiar…"
"Yeah, I was beginning to think so too a little while back," Dipper agreed as he looked around as well. "I'm not sure what it is though."
"I still don't understand," Mabel began. "Evan said the police reports had no evidence about what happened to Wendy's mom. Yet, apparently, her last known location was found two months after her disappearance? Like, how did that never come up?"
"That's what I'm curious about too," Dipper agreed at the oddity. "How can they even track a last known location like that and make nothing of it?"
"That's why I'm unsure about any of this," she admitted. "I mean, Evan says the info is reliable, but I don't know. I feel like there's something off about all of this."
"Well, either way, we're pretty much here already," Dipper said as he suddenly stopped walking and stood in place, looking around at their surroundings before glancing down at his phone again. "The exact spot of the coordinates he sent. You see anything notable?"
"No. But, I'm definitely getting a sense of familiarity from this place," Mabel said as she began walking in a direction of the woods to get a better look around.
"Yeah, but I don't understand why. I mean, have we been in this part of the woods before?" Dipper wondered.
As Mabel wandered into a nearby area in the woods, she spotted something that caught her eye. As her skin suddenly went cold, she began to realize why the area they were in was so familiar. "Uh, Dipper? You might wanna look at this…"
Dipper quickly walked up next to his sister and looked ahead at what she pointed at. As he saw what she was referring to, he began to grow unnerved as well. In the direction they faced through the trees, they spotted a cabin in the middle of the woods. A cabin that they had already visited earlier that day.
"Hang on a second...that's the Corduroy cabin!" Dipper realized as he looked back down at his phone. "These coordinates are located directly in the woods surrounding their house!"
"That makes even less sense! How could this be her last known location if she was pretty much right next to her house?" Mabel asked him, growing more unsettled with each revelation.
Dipper began to glance through some of the info that Evan had sent them for any extra details that might help explain things. However, his eyes bulged once he came to a whole separate realization upon rereading something they had gone over earlier.
"Hold on, Mabel. I'm reading through some of the information Evan sent and I think there was a bit of miscommunication earlier when he said Valora was last seen on May 23rd," Dipper told her.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, we thought he meant May 23rd, 2003, about two months after the day she disappeared," he began before turning his phone toward her for her to see the highlighted info. "But what Evan actually meant was May 23rd, 2016!"
"Wait, what?!" Mabel's eyes widened, growing incredibly confused.
"Apparently, Valora was seen at this spot last month," Dipper explained as he stared at the date. "But, how the hell could anyone have made an observation like that? WHO could have made an observation like that?"
"Wait...Thompson said that the night they vandalized their professor's room was on April 23rd," Mabel remembered. "Valora disappeared March 23rd, 2003, and was last seen May 23rd, this year…"
"She disappeared on the 23rd and she was last spotted on the 23rd...and the 23rd was when Wendy got busted at her college...because she SAW someone…" Dipper connected.
Mabel's heart dropped once she realized something else. "Uh...Dipper?! What day is today?"
CLANK! CLANK!
U-shaped metallic bars had suddenly been shot out of nowhere, wrapping around each twin's throat with both ends of the bar piercing into the trees behind them, pinning them both. They both hung a few inches off the ground from necks, choking slightly as the bars tightly pressed against their throats. Instinctively, they placed their hands around the bars, trying to free themselves, but the bars were too far embedded into the tree that it wasn't possible, and they were simply left to desperately hang and struggle.
"Thursday...June...23rd…" Dipper replied to his sister through his choking.
At that moment, two bright lights suddenly flashed in front of them. As they looked up, they realized they came from the sides of a helmet being worn by a humanoid figure who began to approach them. Horrified, the twins froze in the midst of their struggle to escape the metallic bars choking them.
As the figure stepped in front of them, they were able to have a clearer vision of it. The person wore a type of matte white armor with a shape that defined feminine characteristics. The armor stretched out through the person's body; the joints marked with black lines. The helmet was also matte white while also having a large, blue, V-shaped visor and lights that stuck out from the sides.
'It just looked like they were wearing white…' Thompson's voice echoed in Dipper's head.
"No...way…" Dipper choked in utter disbelief as his mind began racing at the thought of who the figure really was.
The figure then pointed their right arm at the two, which triggered a futuristic laser cannon-like weapon to pop up and target them. Right after, the figure's helmet began to automatically disassemble into a bunch of nanobots, revealing her angry, scarred, freckled face and neck-length dark brown hair with a single white streak, prompting both twins to gasp in shock.
"So, you two wanna go ahead and tell me how the hell you know who I am and why you're looking for me right outside my family's house?" asked Valora Corduroy as she aimed her laser cannon at the two.
The twins stared at her with their mouths agape; having absolutely no idea how to respond or react. However, Mabel suddenly smiled as she looked over at Dipper.
"Ha! I was...right! She DID...turn into a badass!" Mabel managed to shout over to him in an accomplished tone through her choking. "Haha, we...are SO screwed!"
(Updated as of June 13th, 2020)
Dewey: Mom?
So, I'm going to assume some of you might have many questions after this one and some of you might be unsure how to feel about the direction things are going in. All I ask is that you trust me for a second and just wait to see how everything adds up and ties together next chapter because I do have an explanation for all of this. Whether it comes to the A-Plot or the somewhat mixed B-Plot, I promise that I'm not totally insane and actually know where I'm going with all of this. So, just hang in there. If your concerns are not addressed next chapter, then feel free to rag on me then.
That'll be all for this chapter. Until next time!
-Absolute Rift