Mabel's plan had worked. She had successfully cloned herself. Several times, just to play it safe. There was no fight among the clones. The plan was clear and there was no place for debacle :

One of the clones would replace her while she found a way to bring her brother back. The other clones would serve as "backup", in case the original clone wouldn't be able to fulfill her mission. Mabel would have until the end of summer to achieve her goal. The odds of a clone surviving past that were too low to take the chance. She couldn't bear the thought of her parents' reaction to potentially seeing what they believed to be their daughter melting before their very eyes if she ever entered in contact with water.

Mabel watched as her parents' car took off, with her first clone. The other clones were hidden for now, and would soon follow by taking the bus.
She then turned her attention to the backpack she had taken with her. Inside of it was a few clothes, her toothbrush and a blanket.

Mabel had removed her hairband to replace it with her brother's hat, and had taken off her sweater to tie it around her waist. It hadn't been simple thanks to her broken arm but at least she wouldn't have to walk around with an empty sleeve, and besides it was time to stop acting silly. For reals.

There was no going back to the Shack. It was probably for the best to leave Stan outside of this whole mess. She was determined, and nothing would stop her in her mission.

At least, that's what she thought in her first minutes of freedom. It wasn't long before she finally realised what she had just done and several questions struck.

Where would she go now?

What was she going to do?

Where would she sleep?

How would she eat? or drink?

She hadn't thought this through. At all.

« See that's when we'd need your overly complicated list, bro... » She thought to herself.

Mabel had to find somewhere to spend her nights. She didn't even have a tent. She had enough money on herself to buy one but then what about getting food?

It soon became all too clear that no, despite her best intention, she wouldn't be able to do any of this on her own. She was going to need help. But from who? She didn't want to drag Stan into her mission. Asking help from Wendy and Soos was too risky, they were too close to her great uncle. So the next best people left were Candy and Grenda. Surely they would want to help. Or at least, she knew she could persuade them to. It's not like there was much of a choice left anyway.

Once she made up her mind, Mabel didn't waste time and started making her way towards Grenda's house, wondering how she would explain the situation to her best friends...
It took her half an hour to get there. Her intuition had been right, the two girls were here and luckily, they had just returned from the Mystery Shack. They looked so sad...Mabel couldn't help but feel guilty, after all, from their point of view they had just lost two friends… She didn't want them to look so gloomy any longer, so she stepped out of her hiding spot :

- "Psst ! Girls !"

They turned around and gaped in suprise, both taken aback, a mix of joy and confusion filling their eyes. Then only confusion remained :

- "Mabel ?! ...But how ?" Candy asked.

- "Didn't you just leave with your family?!" Grenda added

- No I didn't. Well technically yes I did… I-I mean not me, no, but a clone of me, yes ! So… me but at the same time not me...

- ...What…?

As Candy and Grenda both stared at their friend even more confused than before, Mabel facepalmed as she realised she wasn't making any sense.

'Dipper could have done it' she thought to herself. Seeing that her friends still waited for an explanation, she took a deep breath, and finally explained everything to them. What had truly happened the night Dipper's body was stolen, showing them the note Bill had left, telling them about her theory, her plan. That she had sent a clone to take her place back home, and her current problem.

" ...And that's why I would need your help to stay in town. Grunkle Stan CAN'T know about this."

Both girls stayed silent at first. Soon, Candy was the first to speak up :

- Mabel...are you certain this..theory is even true? About Dipper?

- What do you mean?

- "It's just-...Don't take this the wrong way but… this note you're trusting… It was left by your brother's killer." Candy elaborated.

- "He probably just left it to make you suffer…" Grenda added.

Mabel fell silent as her friend made her point :

"Are you really going to risk everything for false hopes?"

Through clenched teeth, the young girl retorted :

- " Don't you dare say that! Dipper is still somewhere, I know it! I will find him ! After everything he gave up for me, I have to save him…"

Her sudden anger faded away, her voice pleading :

"Please...I'm begging you. Help me...I have no one else…"

They exchanged concerned looks, but eventually, gave in. As they each put one hand on their friend's shoulders, Candy and Grenda nodded :

- "...We'll help you, Mabel."

Her eyes lit with hope, as she hugged her friends.

- T-Thanks you...You have no idea how much it means to me...

Even though they both had doubt in her beliefs, it was probably better to stay around and watch over her than leaving her all alone in the forest in her current emotional state.
Grenda offered Mabel to stay over at her house, but Mabel refused, she didn't want to be more of a burden to her friends. So instead, they decided to set camp nearby her friend's house, just in case. They would help her to set her tent and bring her everything she'd need

Nervously, Mabel ended up admitting to her friends :

- " You know girls...I know that I-...That all of this sounds crazy… But even if I can't be certain that Dipper is still here… I have to try...For him. I'd never forgive myself for not trying...

Grenda didn't give an answer, unsure of what to say, but Candy did after a few minutes, thoughtfully :

- "If your theory is true, and that Dipper just doesn't know how to make himself visible to us… Maybe another ghost could teach him?

Mabel's eyes filled with hope as she raised her gaze to the black haired girl.

- "Oh my gosh...Candy you're a genius! We just need to find a ghost who'll help us to communicate with Dipper !"

- "Trying to talk to dead people? That sounds reasonable enough, I'm in!" Grenda approved.

- "Maybe we could hold some sort of séance to try to summon spirits?" Candy then suggested.

Mabel cringed when hearing the word "summon". It brought her back memories of Gideon summoning Bill. She didn't want to take any chance to accidentally summon her brother's killer. She shook her head, another possibility coming to her mind :

- "…Or we could just go and meet one of them."

- "...I'm not sure that's a good idea Mabel...Those who are roaming the Earth often are vengeful spirits." Candy objected.

"At least, that's what TV has taught me.." she added.

- "...But that would be a lot faster than preparing some séance !"

Mabel's tone let Candy and Grenda know that she had made up her mind. It wasn't open for debate. They both looked at each other, silently agreeing to respect her decision for now, not wanting to risk Mabel facing danger on her own. After a brief silence, Grenda asked :

- "So…Where can we even find a ghost around here?"

Mabel first thought of the elderly ghosts from the closed convenience store. As she was about to brought them up, Candy spoke first :

- "Actually, I remember reading about a haunted mansion not too far from here."

- "Really?"

- "Yes, it's a really old house that was burned down long ago, people say no one has dared enter the place ever since because it's haunted."

Mabel didn't hesitate, adjusting the hat on her head as she declared :

- "In that case, let's go meet a scary ghost, girls!"

Candy and Grenda nodded. The girls now had to prepare themselves, hoping to be successful in their search for this mysterious haunted house…

A/N : Hello, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'm so glad for all reviews and following this story brought and I hope you'll stick to this story until the end.

When I wrote this story, it soon became clear that I couldn't work the rest of the story without adding an OC, as it didn't make sense for some characters of the show to take a part in the story. This OC will soon arrive, so I hope you won't mind (I know lots of people don't like stories with OCs).
English isn't my native language so please forgive my grammar errors.

Until next time !