Dipper was crouched against a wall outside, his face buried in his still-gloved arms. His anger was giving way to humiliation now, and disappointment. He had wanted to impress Danny. Why had he been so angry?
He gritted his teeth as a tear fell into his lap. There was a bright flash of light, and suddenly he was back to normal.
"Dipper?"
Dipper jumped at the voice, looking up to see Mabel peeking around the corner. He turned his face away.
"Dipper… are you okay?" She said softly, coming to sit beside him.
Dipper couldn't meet her gaze. Instead he pressed his face harder into his arms, as if he could hide from her. But he knew she could still hear his ragged breaths.
"I understand, Dipper. I know why you did it. And I know why you argued. You don't have to say it." Her voice was soft and gentle, but Dipper could hear a bit of tension as well. He turned his face away from her as more tears blurred his vision.
"Dipper…" Mabel paused. Dipper heard her swallow, and he could tell there was a lump in her throat too. When she did speak, it was in a whisper. "What about me?"
"What?" Dipper said, caught off guard.
"What about me?" She repeated, her voice breaking. "What am I going to do?"
Dipper looked at her, a mixture of confusion and guilt on his face. Before he could come up with a reply, she was talking again.
"I mean, it's cool and all, but I feel like you're leaving me behind again. It's just like with Ford. You found some cool new adventure to have and you rushed into it without even thinking about me. I mean, we're twins! We're supposed to be together no matter what! You promised..." She glanced at him quickly before rushing on. "And I'm not sure this is a good idea anyway! You saw how Danny reacted. Dipper, I- I love you, but I really don't think you thought this through!"
Dipper watched his sister in dismay as tears started to roll down her face. He really hadn't given much thought to how Mabel would react, but now his face was burning with shame.
"Mabel…" he whispered croakily, "I'm sorry. I just…I just..."
"I know, Dipper." She cut off his stammering. "Like I said, I understand. I just… had to get it out. I care about you, Dipper. I don't want us to have to… to wonder about each other." She looked at him, brushing away the tears on her face and giving a shaky smile. "I'll be here with you, okay? Every step of the way."
Dipper nodded silently, still looking at Mabel. She was uncharacteristically silent for a while, simply sitting beside him while he hiccuped himself into silence.
"You have to talk to him, you know."
"I know."
"I mean really talk. Don't treat him like a little kid. You have to work this out together."
"Jazz, I already said I would talk to him. Just drop it, okay?"
"Danny…" Jazz sighed. It wasn't often that her brother came to her for help. She had let him rant, listening to his fury at Dipper. If she could get him to be honest to himself, this might just blow over. "Tell me something. Why are you so angry at Dipper?"
Danny looked at her incredulously. "Were you listening at all? He freaking gave himself-"
"I know," Jazz cut him off, "But why is that a bad thing?"
"It was stupid!" Danny said angrily. Jazz just looked at him with an expression that said she was waiting for a real answer.
"He- he's going to attract all sorts of trouble! I mean, the ghosts in the Ghost Zone will target him like they did to me. He's not trained, he can't fight. And I won't be able to look after him all the time!"
Jazz kept looking at him steadily. "Do you think he reminds you of yourself?"
"What? Of me?" Danny sputtered, looking back with a mixture of anger and fear.
"I don't think you want to admit it, but you see yourself in him," Jazz said. "He did something reckless and dangerous, but his intentions were good. Don't you think that's how you are?"
Danny seemed too flustered to form words. "He's- not- why would I- how could you-"
Jazz raised her eyebrows. Danny stopped stammering.
He sighed and sat down on Jazz's bed, his head in his hands. "I just don't want him to make the same mistakes, okay?" he said defensively. "I didn't know what I was getting into when it happened to me, but I would have thought he'd listened enough to know. My life was awful after the accident. He thinks it's going to be some fun adventure but he doesn't get it! It's so hard…"
"But Danny…" Jazz hesitated. "I thought you might be grateful to share your experience with someone."
"Grateful? I don't…" Danny looked pained.
"You don't want to share it?" Jazz said carefully. She knew that Danny had gained pride in his ghost powers. He was happy to be different from others. Maybe sometimes he even thought he was better.
"I don't… I don't know what I want, Jazz." Danny stared at his hands in his lap. "I'm… I'm scared."
"Think it over, okay little brother? I know you can handle this." She put a hand on Danny's shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.
Danny didn't smile back.