Author's Note.

First all, Merry Christmas!

And, sorry for the delay. I spent a given weekend improving the third (and the last) chapter. In the previous version I prepared for this, I felt that the conclusion wasn't as balanced as I intended; not a complete "peaches and creams" ending, but also stay away from the bad conclusion. Like, more natural and realistic progress of emotion while ending with a realistically happy note. From what I felt, the previous one was more bitter than I intended and somewhat out of character.

CHAPTER 3

July 20th, 2022

Toronto. Ontario. Canada

Kristine Points has been a good sister to Jason. She was good enough to have time with him regularly. While they had separated homes of their own, they spent lots of time talking on the phone, there even was a routine dinner day every month. Even when she was away from Toronto, where lots of flash-animated Toons are making debuts for several animated TV series (Kristine and Jason were flash Toons, too), Kristine has done a good job enough to enjoy a sort of normal life that Dipper and Mabel could only dream of.

Despite she had some notable facial features of Mabel Pines, her personality was rather opposite. While her voice tended to sound cheerful and the conversation may sound that way at times, Kristine was thoughtful and rational at everything. In reality, she was the person who preferred breathable button-down shirts with a pocket or two instead of oversized sweaters with cheerful symbols in vivid colors as everyday attire. It reflected what she wore in the restaurant as well; she looked like a grown-up Mabel Pines in with a bob haircut barely tipping the top of her shoulder. Kristine was closer to who Dipper Pines was in reality than Mabel Pines. In addition, just like Dipper from the show enjoyed watching bad movies, she even loved watching movies and TV series when she was young.

Becoming a method actress was Kristine's childhood dream. It was so close to being one back in 2010, the year when she was entering her preteen period. Disney Channel contracted House of Cool studio, the company that had both Kristine and Jason as feasible actors for Dipper and Mabel Pines when the pilot was planned to be produced in Toronto. When she was playing Mabel Pines for pilots of Gravity Falls, all of the single sugary lines on screen were full-fledged method acting. Although Alex Hirsch, the director of Gravity Falls, recalled his unaired pilot featuring Points was a mess, but overall performance was good enough to convince executives to make it into the full-fledged series. People who saw the completed pilot episode weren't disappointed by the twins. Both Jason and Kristine were quite natural at playing the main characters of the game-changing TV show - Kristine even showed some confidence, too.

Unfortunately, when Gravity Falls was greenlit as a full-fledged TV series with a larger budget, the production was moved somewhere else. Even worse, Disney Channel decided to have another audition for finding actors. That was how the 'actual' Dipper and Mabel, the twin siblings from Piedmont who had surprisingly remarkable resemblances with both Points and concept arts from Alex's animation team, were cast as their characters to play. And as history says, Gravity Falls with double Pines was a big hit amongst people across the world. It's no wonder Sweet Pete considered his own bootlegged incarnation of Gravity Falls, which caused the abduction of Dipper Pines by Bjornson the Cheesemonger in the year 2022, before the show's 10th anniversary.

It was a big tragedy for both of Points twins; not only they had to see Californian Pines 'stealing' their dream and opportunity of their life without feasible actions against them, but also being strikingly alike with them began to affect their life. Some classmates from school began making fun of them with Dipper and Mabel's traits on TV. Desperate efforts such as changing hairstyle and usual attires were followed (Kristine vowed that she will never wear any sweaters or have long hair for life, at all), but it barely helped Jason and Kristine when they were young enough to be extremely similar to Dipper and Mabel. They had to endure all those stressful pressures until they began to age physically, transferring to schools in a different area of Toronto, which was far away from their previous school as much as possible. That was something Dipper and Mabel didn't go through at that time, until the end of the year 2016, meaning at least people who lived in other areas could probably less likely to align or compare Points with Pines.

Even though Jason didn't hold grudges toward Dipper and Mabel anymore, Kristine couldn't let it go that easily. She was the first one of twins who dreamed of having her shows or movies one day, and she suggested Jason become one with her. That was how sincere Kristine was about her dream. She tried not to care about Pines, so she could prevent deep-rooted anger toward them from eating away herself slowly before reaching the detrimental level. When she found out that Jason was beginning to get develop an interest in Dipper and Mabel, since he wasn't happy to learn that Dipper and Mabel had to resign from his celebrity career because of unexpected physical problems (Jason didn't think either Dipper or Mabel expected or knew that they took roles from somebody else), Kristine simply told Jason that he was 'a good person if a bit too forgiving,' mildly implying that she still couldn't tolerant them for 'stealing' the lifetime dream of theirs.

In this situation, Jason's decision to ask Dipper and Mabel for help wouldn't improve Kristine's problems better; especially when he mentioned that at dinner.

"You talked about me to Pines twins?!"

"Uh...yes," Jason answered. "They know how painful it is to lose the dream suddenly, so I thought they would understand your pain too..."

Kristine sighed. After the short, but awkward and painful seconds, she finally responded. "I love you, Jason. You are a good brother. I know you wanted to help me." She groaned loudly, with her patience becoming thinner until she eventually snapped. "But seriously? Asking for help from guys who stole our dream?! Why should it be those who stole our dream of a lifetime to have a show of our own?!" Then, a strong and loud punch on the table followed.

Everybody in the restaurant paused and stared at a tall, flash-animated young woman in a linen shirt quietly. Even customers at the farthest table from her – two chipmunks; one had a red nose with wearing a red Hawaiian shirt – stopped watching the first episode of Ugly Sonic: Uglier Crimes on TV to see where they heard of the noise.

Kristine sighed as soon as she noticed the consequences of her outburst. She knew her words would ruin the whole point of the monthly dinner night. Also, this one was special because they hadn't held an offline visit for months. They tended to have a dinner night through video chat instead; Kristine needed a Ph.D. to become a therapist; a career she thought can probably help both her and others' mental health by knowing better about human minds. She also remembered the last time she and Jason had a dinner meeting offline when her sudden rage was triggered by her grunge and ruined the whole night. When meeting her brother offline was a rare opportunity that was only allowed during her summer vacation, she was shameful of the outburst from the last offline meeting.

She focused on calming herself down to keep her explosive emotion from erupting further. It took a silent moment until she carefully opened her mouth.

"I don't blame you for what you tried, Jason. Even about being a fan of them (you're better at forgiving people, so I get it). But you really don't have to get them involved with me at all, you know." A big hint of disappointment flashed on her face. Her insight knew that everything came from her twin brother's good cause, but the pain was still the pain despite the intention to help her out.

"I..." Jason said, just like he expected that. "I, I... really sorry."

"I see," Kristine answered, but she didn't seem to get any better. At the same time, she decided to learn what happened between them. "tell me about it. I want to know about the detail,"

"Dipper said he felt sorry for us," Jason explained, recalling his newfound mentor's advice. "He thinks he's being punished for stealing our dream. For him, his fame and glory are a burden. The 'normal life' was a luxury he even couldn't dare to afford. Not only he and Mabel were bullied in school because of that, but he was also kidnapped for days and still can't afford the privacy. That's what he thinks as a punishment."

Kristine wasn't convinced that much, as Jason expected. However, she was rational enough to hold herself even with these consequences. Instead, she decided to ask her brother about the source.

"Jason," asked Kristine. "you said you received a letter from one of Pines twins, right? Let me see by myself."

With Jason's hand reaching into his small messenger bag, he took out a physical letter with an envelope for international mail.

"I... I hope it can help."

Then, an envelope was gently given to Kristine's hands. She took the letter out of it and began to read it, keeping a keen eye while reading it. Jason nervously observed her reading style wordlessly.

Dear Kristine Points,

I am genuinely sorry for what I have done. I heard of what you have had to deal with for years from your dedicated brother Jason. I made you miserable by stealing your lifetime dream from your childhood, and I learned that you are still suffering from the consequence. I'll take all responsibility for my fault.

If you want me to pay the price of stealing your lifetime dream years ago, don't worry. I'm living a miserable life after the show was over, and I'm willing to take it as a punishment. My life can't afford decent privacy after the celebrity years I stole from you were over, and I couldn't even afford any job for years because of my permanent health condition. That burdens my twin sister who currently lives with me as well, making an ordinary life an unaffordable luxury for both of us.

I promised Jason that I'll try my best to get things right, and I'm willing to correct things as much as possible. Even if there is nothing I can do, I hope everything is going to be okay in the end. You don't deserve to suffer like that. You are a good sister now, you were a promising actor back then, and your childhood dream deserved to become true. I hope there is a way to make everything right.

Sincerely,

Dipper Pines.

From Piedmont, California.

Kristine considered the letter wordlessly. She suspected the letter to some degree, thinking about how much it could be a made-up story. Even though the part of her didn't want to be involved with the Pines twins, the letter didn't sound like an excuse that much. In this letter, at least, she saw Dipper was desperately trying to be selfless and eager to get things right as much as possible. There could be some made-ups or exaggeration within details, but she couldn't prove it either.

Then, she felt some subtle, uneven extra textures through her flash-based fingers. She flipped the letter in case of finding out potential excuses or insults. The result, however, surprised her. Lots of unfinished opening paragraphs were scored out roughly, and these doubtlessly came from an attempt to write an apology letter with lots of thoughts.

I heard of what you have been for years-

I had a conversation with your brother Jason and-

I'm truly sorry to hear that-

After reading a bunch of them silently, she stopped reading when she found out something.

I hope there is a way to make everything right

It was the same sentence she read from the finished letter. It seemed closer to scrawl instead of more refined handwriting from the final edition and was obviously written with a different pen, but it was doubtlessly the same. Then, she noticed that he didn't score out this one. When other unfinished sentences and words (such as 'arrgh!') were roughly scored out with hints of frustration, he saved this particular one from the editing process. Why did he keep it?

Maybe, at least he wanted to get things right for real.

And if that sincerely came from his inner heart, that's what Kristine thought she should admit. No matter how many negative and irreversible effects he and his twin sister made on them, there was at least a hint of regret about the consequence. Considering that he even promised Jason that he will try his best to correct everything as much as possible, rejecting the apology wouldn't help anyone. Keep holding her grunge wouldn't help both Jason and her. Her experiences that ruined the monthly dinner night more than once were proof, and she saw mental images of those incidents while thinking about the letter.

Finally, she decided to give him –and Dipper- an answer.

"I accept the apology."

A simple and casual answer from Kristine surprised her younger brother, who thought she was the last person who would accept anything aligned with Pines siblings. With his jaw dropped, he was silent for a moment until he asked to confirm her reply.

"You really mean it?"

"Yes. I mean it."

While Jason knew she never told a lie –only diplomatic answers, or just not all of her opinions- to him, he wasn't too convinced. Kristine was the one who despised Dipper and Mabel for a decade, and she struggled to hide the hatred in front of him. Probably, it was better to say she tried not to disappoint him despite her seemingly everlasting inner wounds from Californian Pines. Is that what people call the power of writing? Power of inner mind? He felt he needed to ask again.

"Bu-uh...how? I can't still believe it. Can you explain, Kristine? Please?"

"Simple; he means it, so I mean it. Can't find any excuses or blames from here. Just trying to say he wants to fix everything." Then, she flipped the letter to show him a mass of scribbles on the back, pointing to an easily distinguishable sentence with her finger. "Especially when he didn't cross out this sentence, I can't say he's lying. At this point, keeping my grunge towards him and her sister would be...unreasonable. I should be reasonable when it's affecting our relationship.

"Also, they eventually got what they deserved." Kristine said more casually, "The price of stealing someone's dream and putting them to misery for years. Suffered even longer than we had and finally apologized to us. They said they desperately wanted the normal, non-celebrity life, isn't it? I guess we probably win over them. At least for now." Her words sounded more sarcastic than forgiving, but neither annoyance nor hidden anger towards Pines within her frowned face was no more present in the surface level.

Jason wasn't a fan of her answer, but his sister seemed like she won't be intolerable of even seeing or hearing them as much as she used to be. She found out why to tolerate Mystery Twins in her sight thanks to Jason and those "canon" twins. They were paying the price of 'stealing someone's childhood dream' and 'pushing them into one of the most miserable childhoods.' And at least one of them realize their 'fault' and was somehow willing to apologize, attempting to make sure he wants to correct everything. If what Jason understood was right, Kristine found out it was meaningless to keep her old grunge alive within her mind.

Suddenly, as if the world was trying to prove Kristine's renewed attitude towards Dipper and Mabel Pines, the news about Somewhere in The Woods, Dipper's debut novel was beginning to show on TV. At the same time, they could hear a couple of chipmunks recalling the time when they rescued their long-time friend who shared his name with a type of cheese as well as an author of the same novel being broadcasted currently on TV.

She felt something uncomfortable. These were still more than annoying to be with her. An old grunge wouldn't go that easily, even though she noticed keeping them inside is utterly meaningless at this point and she decided to make a change. At the same time, she could mentally hear the loud noise she made moments ago; a noise she made that ruined the exceptionally valuable time when her pursuit of a Ph.D. blocked the most opportunity to afford more time with him. If Jason leads one of those to apologize to her with no hint of faking in the apology letter, she noted herself that she should give him a credit for his effort - and probably even to Californian Pines.

Even better, if she wanted some revenge on them in the future, it sounded like she found a way to demonstrate it without causing problems with her precious twin brother. She could show them that they were enjoying 'a normal life' that didn't include unwanted news press, paparazzi, and burdening fame that attracts multiple attempts of crime. She may have a similar issue when she eventually gets a Ph.D. and becomes a psychiatrist, as she should encounter customers to consult years later, but she understood that she still can enjoy the given time with Jason; Enjoy what you have while it lasts.

She decided to pretend that these reminders of two 'thieves' weren't a thing at all, focusing on enjoying the precious dinner time with Jason. Having a hot slice of the most delicious cheese-crust pizza in Toronto that Jason ordered would help, apparently.

Let's see if Pines can have a 'normal life' at the end, Kristine thought with a slight tone of a mental grin.

We already have one.

And we won't lose it.

THE END

Author's Note.

Making the sequel with a larger ambition was hard to accomplish. There were lots of details to make sure they were alright, and lots of challenges I dared to try seemed harder than I expected. I have had lots of difficulties during the whole progress and made lots of revisions to make things right as much as possible. This final chapter was no exception.

Milky Boy Blue helped me quite a lot when I was dealing with the final chapter, such as advice about how to write convincing and realistic letters. This drastically changed the final chapter and provided more reasons for Kristine (AKA Pilot Mabel) to estimate how sincere the apology letter she received was. A physical, handwritten letter delivered through international mail (with plenty of traces to correct) is more persuasive than yet another e-mail, right?

While I currently have an idea or two about this particular AU, I want to try something else that's more akin to canon materials in the future. Can't say any of them would come quickly, but I'm sure that there are some handful numbers of ideas I want to deal with someday.

See you later when that time comes!