PHASE 1

"You're safe," they tried to tell Dipper. "Your life jacket will keep you afloat. Just look at your sister! See how much fun she's having!"

It was a tiny stream of sunlight that penetrated the blinds and shone directly into Mabel's eyes that finally stirred her awake. A deathly silence still hung in the air as Mabel lifted her cheek from the chair's armrest and wiped a stream of saliva from her chin. Then the panic kicked in.

"Dipper?" she shouted, snapping fully awake instantly. The space where her brother had occupied next to her was empty.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Mabel couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when she heard her brother's voice in the room over.

"I'm sorry," Dipper said, appearing back in the living room with a box of crackers, "I wasn't sure when you'd wake up so I went ahead and started preparing."

"Preparing? We're just heading into town, right?" Mabel asked, tilting her head to the side, "You're not planning some thousand-mile-journey, are you Dipster?"

"Well…ye s and no," Dipper said, shrugging to one side. Mabel's face fell, but Dipper quickly corrected himself. "No, we're probably not going to travel 1000 miles, but yes, if we don't find anything in town…or even if we do find anything in town, we're likely gonna be heading out of Gravity Falls today."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, what if everybody comes back? Where will we even go anyway?"

Dipper shrugged and handed her the crackers he was holding, "I dunno, but if worst comes to worse, the least we can do is be ready. Start packing once you're done."

Dipper turned back into the kitchen, and Mabel's eye turned to the front door, where she noticed there was already a fair amount of baggage waiting beside it.

"Packing what? Are we gonna carry that much stuff around?" she called, not looking away.

"Of course not," Dipper said peeking out from the kitchen, in his hand was a single key, "We're gonna drive."

"-And, that should be the last of it," Dipper said, slamming the back door of Stan's car shut.

"Road trip! Road trip! Road trip!" Mabel cheered.

"Alright," Dipper dusted off his hands and opened the passenger door. "M'lady," he said with a bow, motioning for her to get inside. "Usually we're not supposed to sit up front….let alone drive, but I think this counts as an exception," he said with a smirk.

"Rule breaking! Rule breaking! Rule breaking!" Mabel climbed into the seat and Dipper took his seat in the driver's side.

"You sure you don't want me to drive?" Mabel suggested teasingly when Dipper hesitated to turn the key in the ignition.

"That's the last thing I want," Dipper said with a smile, and he started the car.

The drive back into town was slow, and despite how carefully he moved, Dipper still swerved jerkily back onto his side of the road when he began to drift off of it.

"Ugh, I think I feel those crackers coming back up," Mabel groaned, putting a hand to her mouth.

"We're here, don't worry," Dipper assured her, looking a little green himself. He did his best to pull neatly into a parallel parking space, but ended up with half the vehicle still sticking out in the street when Mabel threatened to investigate without him while he finished parking.

"You know, parking like that is really dangerous," he grumbled, following Mabel into the library.

"Chillax, bro," Mabel said, patting his shoulder in mock comfort, "If anyone gives you a ticket, I promise I'll pay it." She proceeded to pull a newspaper off the rack, and the twins examined it.

"Well, it's a July paper," Dipper observed, pointing to the date in the corner. "That presumably means everyone disappeared on this day."

"And it's certainly hot enough to be July, woof," Mabel added, wiping her brow on her sweater.

"That's about all I can gather, that's relevant, though," Dipper muttered, turning through the pages. "There's nothing about any disappearances or anything, just regular articles and stuff."

"Dangit, well at least this wasn't entirely useless," Mabel said.

"How do you mean-" Dipper looked up to see his sister had made a little boat out of the front page and rolled his eyes. "Wait!" he shouted, looking back down at the page in his hands.

"What is it?"

"There's a fair going on just a few miles west of here."

"Oh!" Mabel looked over his shoulder, "What kind of rides do they have?

"I…don't know, but! If this paper's current, there's bound to be people there, maybe that's where everyone went!"

"You mean to say Grunkle Stan packed up and went to a fair without us?" Mabel asked sarcastically.

"Well, no," Dipper admitted, "But it's our best shot. If nothing else, we have a direction to head in now."

"Hey Dipper, how many paper boats do you think I can make before we make it out of town?"

"How much paper do you have?"

"A lot"

Dipper glanced over at his sister, who might as well have been swimming in a small pool of newspaper in the passenger seat. "Well, we're pretty close to the border, my estimate is 10."

"What if I do 11?"

"No more than ten, my money's on 10."

"His money's on 10!" Mabel shouted in an announcer voice. "Will Mabel be able to exceed her brother's expectations and build the navy this town so dearly deserves? Let's find out!" Mabel's fingers worked quickly on the papers, and Dipper had a moment of peace while he drove.

"One!" Mabel shouted, throwing the perfectly folded little boat into the backseat.

"There she goes folks, one down, nine to go!" Dipper said, mimicking her announcer voice and checking the intersection as he crossed it.

"Two!"

"The suspense is killing me!"

"Th- aah no! My fold is stuck!"

"Looks like Dipper may win this one!" Dipper taunted.

"Not today! That's three!" Mabel threw the finished boat back.

So it continued until the "Now Leaving Gravity Falls" sign appeared in the horizion.

"The finish line is in sight!" Dipper shouted.

"Nine!" Mabel yelled, not even stopping to throw the boat into the backseat.

"It's gonna be close!" Dipper stepped harder on the gas and the car flew down the road.

"Ten! I've got this, ten!"

"One more and she's got it!"

Mabel's hands worked like lightning but the sign drew quickly closer. Mabel and Dipper both started yelling at the top of their lungs as Mabel made the last fold and the car sped past the sign.

The next thing Dipper knew was that he had fallen asleep. Then the next thing was that he was driving. After whipping his head up with a scream, Dipper slammed on the brakes as the road disappeared in front of him and a sheer cliff rose to meet him. Mabel screamed and Dipper swerved the steering wheel. The car whipped around and barely dodged a tree before it came to a stop at the foot of the cliff. Both of the twins continued screaming after the vehicle came to a stop.

"What happened?" Mabel yelled. "What happened?"

"I-I must have fallen asleep I must have-" Dipper sputtered, his hands glued to the wheel and sweat dripping down his face. He stopped when he realized where he was.

"We're still in town."

Mabel glanced over her shoulder and she too realized that rocky gorge and the thick forests were all too familiar.

"But we just…I saw the sign! We were almost out! We were on the other side of Gravity Falls!" She paused and faced her brother, waiting for a reply. "Dipper?"

Dipper turned to her, his eyes wide in terror and his breaths coming in heavy.

Mabel turned to look out the windshield, and an eleventh paper boat fell out of her hands.