"Thank you! Come again! Don't worry about the flies in the creamsicle! Bugs are supposed to be full of protein so they're probably good for you!"

Dipper retched a bit at the thought of the ice cream bar he'd just seen get eaten. The young boy had powered through it with reckless abandon – and based on the surprised look he had while getting dragged out the door, Mabel's goodbye was the first indication of something being amiss. "Uh, I don't think he knew."

Mabel spun unsteadily on the stool, broadcasting her indomitable cheer with a few giggles. "Who cares. We got their money."

His face dropped with surprise. "Wow. You're becoming more like Stan every day, you know that?"

"I do, and I'm not sure how okay I am with it."

"Heh." For a moment he busied himself with arranging hats on the shelves. "Man. I think I might feel sorry for Winnie and Sue."

Mabel stopped spinning and latched onto the counter with both hands. "Huh? Oh yeah! They're like Bruce Willis in that movie. But prettier!"

"Riiiiight. You think they were lying to us about those hospital ghosts? They seemed bothered about it." Deep in thought, he wandered over to the register. "Really bothered." A burgeoning grin from his sister made him blink. "What?"

She hopped off the stool and walked around. "I know that look, Dip. You wanna dig up what happened. Let's do it! I mean, they were nice enough to save our lives, not to mention go buy us breakfast. Giving them some answers about the place is the least we could do."

"Yeah. Yeah!" He stuffed a sudden cloud of dread into the back of his mind and tried to ignore it. "Where would we start?"

Another tremendous smile split Mabel's face. "I bet Google knows!"

"Pfff—you know what, though, that's not a bad idea. Let's head to the library." Pain in his legs stopped him after a few steps. "Ow. Ow. Agh! Forget walking. Let's grab the cart. My calves are dead."

Noon had turned the air into invisible soup. Within seconds of exposure, both of them were sweating. Thick clouds to the west promised relief – but they were too dark to just be holding rain. Around the side of the house was the golf cart, parked under a window with Soos examining something in the rear. Upon noticing the Pines he raised up and waved with a wrench in his hand. "'Sup, dudes? You guys look like you're on a mission."

"Yes! A Mystery Twins investigation is happening right now!" Mabel confirmed, her words soaked in drama. Nature reinforced her mock seriousness with a puff of wind to lift her hair majestically. "Please tell me that's not broken. We need it to be awesome."

"Nah, just puttin' in a new battery." He wiped his brow with a satisfied sigh. "What's going on this time? UFOs? Bigfoot? Did Gideon bust outta the big house?"

Dipper's face screwed up with the last option. "Don't even joke. We're just doing some, uh, historical research for those new girls."

Soos nodded sagely, staring off into the distance at something neither of the Pines could determine – even by looking themselves. "Oho! The other mysterious twins of Gravity Falls. I've heard things about them. Mysterious things."

Figuring this was another example of the town applying harmless speculation to something, the Pines shared a smile. "Oh yeah? Like what?" Dipper asked, folding his arms.

Suddenly it was the handyman who was melodramatic. "They say that Winnie chick paid for their house with... gooooooold."

His wiggly-fingered, bug-eyed embellishment had little effect. Dipper shook his head. "Dude, you've seen their car. That thing cost more than this house. People that rich probably have precious metals lying around in closets or something."

"And ponies! And butlers. Butler ponies!" Reality quashed Mabel's glee. "Aw, but we didn't see any. Maybe they haven't hired one yet." She eyed Soos expectantly. "Is that all you got? Come on, man. Hit us with the good stuff!"

Soos gave her a shrug and went back to work on the cart, which only entailed shutting the engine cover. "Nope, I'm empty. Wendy says you need a week or so for solid gossip to happen. Like a plant that grows and bears delicious rumor fruit."

Dipper's face went blank as he slipped behind the wheel. "Rumor fruit. Um. Sure. You wanna come along?"

"Alas, no. My healing powers are needed on the roof." He took on a heroic pose, but the wind offered him no assistance. "Worry not, shingles. Soos hears your call."

Mabel gave him a hearty pat on the back before she joined her brother in the cart. "Go get 'em! We'll probably be back before Stan notices we're gone." Her face also went blank. "Uh, wait, that could be days. Just... we'll be home before dinnertime." They returned his wave as Dipper started to drive. "By the way, if the library falls on us I will punch you directly in the face."

"Heh, sorry." Despite his laugh and smile, something visibly gnawed at his soul. His eyes remained straight ahead.

And she jumped it on it the moment she noticed. "Whoa. What's up?" A flurry of pokes was thrown at him – anything to make that expression vanish. "You're freaking me out man!"

"Stop, stop!" he complained, lightly smacking her hand away. "I'm... oh, what's the point of lying. The journal entry about the hospital is bothering me." His next glance revealed Mabel with her hands in her lap and a pleasant smile; this was her classic 'I'm really listening' pose. "You know how most of the entries are really detailed? This one just wasn't. All it had was something terrible happening, the place closing, then vague secondhand reports about ghosts. I don't get it."

Her head cocked. "I wonder why?"

"You got me. I hope we figure out something, though. They deserve an answer."

Imitating him, she grabbed onto the dashboard and glared ahead. "Time to get serious." A few beats passed before she burst out laughing. "I'm sorry bro, I can't do it for more than like eight seconds straight."

With a smile, he rolled his eyes. "I'll handle the serious."

The newest of the public buildings in town, the Gravity Falls Public Library was a jumbled collection of architectural styles. It featured a few sparsely placed columns out front holding up a roof line that was flat as a board and looked totally out of place. As Dipper parked the cart, the sun retreated behind a wall of menacing gray. "Looks like we might be in here for a while," he noted, eyes on the sky as they went up the steps. Something about the atmosphere was tense, but he chalked it up to the approaching weather.

His sister's expression lacked enthusiasm until a thought perked her up. "Bleh. Hey... you think they have books about knitting?"

"I don't know, maybe. Go see. I'll be at the computers." He watched for a moment as she darted off, excited noises trailing her steps. With Mabel gone his worry began to bloom. The sum of what he knew – despite its paucity – made a cold knot form in his stomach. A heavy dose of willpower was necessary to get him over to the computer area and make him sit. "Why am I so nervous? It's just a Google search." Anxious fingers began to poke at the keyboard. "Let's see... 'Gravity Falls General Hospital'."

The results page was topped by stories about the collapse. He expected that, scrolled down, and clicked on through the results. Four pages were yesterday's news. "Gotta be something here. Gotta be... gotta—huh?" One link caught his eye; comprised simply of a date, it stood out like a sore thumb against everything else. "6/18/1963?" Curious, he clicked it and landed on a clearly unfinished website. The font and sparse graphics screamed late 1990s – in fact, the whole thing looked like something Soos would have built. Besides the date, again listed at the top, were the words 'never forget', a lot of pictures of the hospital in a much newer-looking condition, and a black ribbon at the bottom of the page. All of his focus went to deciphering it. "What the heck is-" A sharp jab to the ribs nearly made him faint. "-aaaaaaaahh! What the—Mabel!" he growled, glowering at her as she snickered. "You scared the heck out of me!"

"Hee hee, sorry bro. I can't resist a soft target." She thumbed over to the entrance. "Can we go back and get the truck? I found like four hundred books about sewing and those babies are all coming home with me."

Irritated with the way she had shattered his concentration, he waved at the monitor. "No! No. Look at this."

"What?" Her face screwed up as she processed it. "And you tell me I'm bad at the internet. What is this thing?"

"It's some kind of memorial. All I really got out of it is a date – June 18, 1963. That wasn't even in the journal."

"Wow. It's all black and creepy." Her eyes lit up. "Hey, I saw a bunch of newspapers in a room while I was looking for fun stuff to knock over. I wonder how far back they go."

"Let's find out. Lead the way." Dipper gave chase as she weaved through the shelves. He knew instantly when they had arrived. The air had a different odor. "Wow. This smells like our aunt's house."

"I know, right? What is it with old people and newspapers?" Mabel walked over to one rack and carefully examined a copy of the Gravity Falls Dispatch. "I got April 12, 1993."

Dipper went to the one on her left and did the same. "This one's from November 17, 1996. I think we need to go the other way."

Every new rack took them farther back in time, until near the rear of the room they finally found themselves in the 1960s. The light from the single large window on the wall above them receded until the fluorescent tubes in the ceiling were brighter. Distant rumbles filtered through the ceiling. "Ooo! I'm in 1964!" Mabel blurted out suddenly.

He came over to help her rifle through the sheets. "December 1963... almost there." His hands flew about with surprising haste. "August, July... June! What day was the 18th?"

She yielded to his fervor, stepping back with a yawn. "Are you serious? I don't even know what today is."

"Oh. I've been there a few times this week." Wide-eyed, he shuffled on. "The 19th! So that means..." However, the next date he saw was the 17th. Confused, he flipped back and forth a few times. "Uh. It's not here."

"Whaaaa?" Mabel stared at the papers, headed cocked with confusion. "Where is it?"

"No clue, but I don't like it. Come on, maybe the lady at the desk knows something." Dipper was in front this time as they made the trip back. The librarian behind the desk, a youngish woman with long walnut hair and glasses, regarded them with a smile as they approached. "Excuse me, miss? We're looking for a copy of the Gravity Falls Dispatch from June 18th, 1963 but we can't find it on the rack. Was there an edition printed for that day?"

Ghostly changes to her expression occurred, but only Mabel noticed them as they happened. She gave her brother a much gentler nudge as the librarian answered, still smiling, "Yes, but we don't have that date in the archives. I'm sorry." And that was it, besides an equally wooden "Can I help you with anything else?" tacked on a few seconds later.

"Uh, no," Dipper denied, picking up the odd vibes from his sister. "Thanks anyway." He knew something was wrong when she followed him back outside with no resistance. "Now you're freaking me out. What's going on?"

"She knows, bro." Thunder ripped through the air, bouncing off every wall and window on the block, but Mabel stayed her ground. "This is starting to bother me too. What did we miss?"

Terrified by the noise, he only answered her after rising from his defensive, crouched position. "Again, no clue. We need some other source of information. Who do we know that would be old enough to remember 1963?"

"Hrm. Grunkle Stan for sure. Lazy Susan?" She nodded at his skeptical look. "Yeah, never mind. Uh, who else?" Her eyes went up and down the sidewalk until, suddenly, they came to rest on Old Man McGucket. "Hey!" she pointed. "He's super old!"

"Huh?" Dipper rubbed his eyes and groaned after seeing him. "That's not really what I had in mind." It was too late; Mabel was already hopping down the steps in pursuit. "Hey! Wait!"

"Wait a second, old guy!" she yelled after him. "You remember the 60s, right? You've gotta be at least that old."

With a stilted cackle and wave, he turned around. "Are you kiddin'? I'm so old they built this town around me!"

"Perfect! What does June 18th, 1963 mean to you?"

It was like popping a balloon. McGucket wilted with a long, low groan and turned his back to walk away without another word. He was so slumped over his knuckles almost dragged on the concrete.

"Whoa," Dipper murmured, walking over to her. "What was that about?"

For once, she looked just as serious as he did. "Something is effed up, Dipper." The abrupt splattering of a few fat raindrops on the street broke their reverie. "Uh oh. Let's pick this up where it's dry. How fast does the cart go again?"

He looked at the distant trees as they swayed firmly in the wind. "There's no point in trying to drive back now, we'll get soaked regardless." Instead, they hunkered down in the relative safety of the library's covered front entrance to wait. "Hey, you got any quarters? There's a payphone."

"Nope—wait." She patted her skirt pockets. "I do! Winnie gave me her change when we went to McDonald's this morning!"

"Oh." He followed her over to the payphone. "How was the ride, by the way? You never said."

"Loud!" Mabel struggled a bit with inserting quarters and dialing the Mystery Shack. "Hello!" she chirped the moment it picked up, interrupting Wendy's attempt to greet her. "Wow. Did you really just answer the phone?"

"Hey! I do some stuff around here, man." The redhead's anger was purely facetious. "What's up? Where'd you guys go this time?"

Mabel shot a glance at Dipper, then looked back at the rainfall. "Oh, nowhere, we're just at the library. Is Grunkle Stan around?"

"Nah, he took a tour group in about five minutes ago. You got the cart? I couldn't find it earlier."

"Yep. Frack. Guess we'll have to go chase a bus and come back for the cart later." With a tiny, curious 'hmm' she added a question. "Say, does June 18th, 1963 mean anything to you?"

"Uh. No." Wendy's tone betrayed otherwise; after a few seconds she seemed to admit its obviousness with a sigh, but kept up the charade. "Nope. Not a thing."

As much as Mabel wanted to explode with a furious 'really?!', she kept her cool for Dipper's sake – and for Wendy's. "I'm suspicious," she replied, adding just a touch of venom.

"Why? I got nothing, man. That was like, fifty years ago."

She put her free hand on her hip and glared daggers. "Fffffffine. Tell Stan we'll be back as soon as it stops raining."

"Okay. See ya."

Dipper watched her hang up and waited for the other half of the conversation to be divulged. He already knew who it was based on Mabel's surprise. "Wendy, right? What just happened?"

"She knows something too. And if she knows, everybody knows." They blankly stared into the downpour for a moment. "Now if only somebody would talk."

"Fat chance of that. You know what they say about small towns." A building on the far end of the street attracted his attention, but it only managed to put a scowl on his face after he realized what it was. "Oh boy. There's the Dusk 2 Dawn."

"Huh, yeah." Mabel stared at it for ages before a light bulb went off. "Heeey... I bet I know someone who'd talk to us."

Dipper's eyes nearly shot out of his head. "Wh—no. Mabel. No. No no no. I am not going back in there!" he countered, hands motioning wildly. "No! What if they possess you again? What if they make me-"

"Welllllllll, who wants a lamby lamby lamby?" she sung, hardly able to manage words due to the giggles. "Come on, bro, it's just a dance. Small price to pay for info."

He crossed his arms and tried to dismiss the embarrassed blush clinging to his cheeks. "I don't care. The only way I'd go in there again is with help. Maybe if Soos were here. Or Grenda. Or Winnie and Sue."

"Yes, if only we were with you!"

The Pines yelped with surprise and whirled to find the identical twins leaning against the wall on the other end of the covered area. Sue was the one who had broken their silence. Both women were dressed in workout clothes – knee-length pants, sneakers, and tank tops that differed in color depending on who wore them. Winnie's outfit was mostly black and blue, while Sue's was mostly red and silver. Gym bags were at their feet. Their hair was wet – from sweat or rain, it was difficult to tell. "Sorry," the red-eyed woman added. "We didn't want to interrupt."

"Oh..." Mabel wheezed, a hand on her chest. "Geez, Dip, is this what I've been doing to you all these years?"

"Yeah. Not much fun, is it." He lead her over to them. "How'd you end up out here?"

Winnie cast a sideways look at her twin. "Exercise. We warmed up with a run, and after we got finished we decided to run back home. We saw you up here and decided to say hello."

Dipper cocked his head in surprise. "Running? In a thunderstorm?"

Sue chuckled a little and flexed for good measure. "As if the weather's ever stopped us before. Did you need something?"

Mabel covered Dipper's mouth with her hand to stop him from saying no. "Yeah! We wanna go to the Dusk 2 Dawn to talk to the ghosts about what happened at the hospital 'cause Dipper wanted to know why so he could tell you guys but everybody's being super weird about the whole thing," she explained in one breath, lightly struggling with her brother all the way through to keep him quiet.

Winnie lead her sister toward the steps so they could see the place in question. "Oh. Didn't Wendy say to stay away?"

"Yes! Yes she did!" Dipper yelled, pulling away from Mabel's interference. "Don't pay her any mind! We'll handle this some other way!"

"I want to know," Sue murmured to her twin, eyes locked on the decrepit building.

That was all Winnie needed to hear. "We're in," she said over her shoulder to the Pines. "Hop on our backs. We'll get there faster."

"Are you insane?!" Dipper yelled. Sue hefted him up and gave him no choice to grab on. "I cannot believe this is actually happening."

"Woo! Hi ho, Winnie, away!" Mabel yelled jokingly from her new perch – but then the twins took off down the steps. "Okay uh, wow, you're actually really fast."

She was understating things a little. They tore down the sidewalk at breakneck speed, barreling toward the fence ahead. As with the hospital, razor wire running along the top presented an issue – at least to Dipper. "Oh, great, more barbed wire—whoa! Sue! What the heck?!" The identical twins scaled the fence like spiders, curling and bending over the prickly protection with admirable grace. They dropped down the other side and jogged to the entrance, where the Pines dismounted. Winnie tried the doors and found them unlocked.

"You guys considered trying out for the Olympics?" Mabel asked, grinning wildly as she squeezed water out of her sweater.

"Mmm." Winnie's mind was on other things as she examined the interior. "Where are the ghosts?"

"Dang it, if you're here to rob us I swear..." an angry voice boomed. The spirit of Pa Duskerton swooped down from the ceiling and hovered over them with a disgusted look. "Oh, it's the girly boy. Come to dance for us some more?" He laughed heartily until his wife flew up to float with him. "No. Really. Why are you bothering us again? The blasted weather is bad enough." He glared at the identical twins. "And who are these teenagers?"

"Excuse me, but we're twenty-two!" Sue retorted, eyes full of disdain – at least until she smiled. "Thanks for the compliment, though."

"Okay okay okay." Dipper moved to the front of the pack in order to take charge. "Listen, we're sorry to bother you, but-"

"They're dripping all over my floor!" Ma Duskerton interjected, crossing her arms.

"-yes! Yes we are and I promise we'll mop up... uh, ourselves in a minute. We just need to..." Dipper's eyes hardened. "6/18/1963. Something happened. We want to know what. Uh... please. Also please don't make me dance and/or commandeer my sister's body again, if you wouldn't mind."

The Duskertons were in no mood to do either, based on their suddenly gloomy demeanor. They drifted to the floor in a light embrace. "Oh. Oh my," the old lady groaned. "It looks like even death can't separate us from that awful day." Her face screwed up as she eyed Winnie and Sue. "Speaking of... you smell like death, dears."

Winnie's reply was as blunt as a sledgehammer. "Forget about us. You were saying?"

"That was the day old Dr. Seifert was brought up on murder charges," Pa Duskerton explained. "Two hundred some-odd babies died by his hand at the General Hospital. Been doin' it for nearly two decades, or so the district attorney said. He told the town council time after time it was the Northwest factory polluting the river. Causing birth defects. That slime! Who knows how many kids he really killed. Thank goodness they locked him up."

His wife nodded sadly. "Oh yes. A hundred and six consecutive life terms, but it was too late. The 18th of June, my dears, was the day Gravity Falls died."

Stunned silence ruled the air for several moments, broken only in spurts by thunder and the striking of rain on the roof. "I... wow," Mabel finally sniffled, on the precipice of bursting into tears.

Out of respect, Dipper shed his hat and stared at the floor. "How could they hide something like this for so long?"

Ma Duskerton had the answer. "Hurt too much to talk about. It's a bitter struggle to make pain like that fade. Every time it gets brought up again your hard work is ruined. Folks try to forget. They hope, eventually, the questions will stop getting asked. Just about all they can do," she concluded, giving the young twins a ghostly pat on the shoulder. The older pair, standing behind them, received a quizzical expression. Winnie seemed more resigned than anything. Sue's face was hidden by her hand. "You two must be new. I'm sorry you had to hear this."

"So am I," the blue-eyed woman muttered. "Sister?"

Sue had managed to hide her reaction until her voice gave it away – she was weeping behind her fingers. "Give me a minute."

A deeper silence fell; it had stopped raining. "I think I wanna go home," Mabel decided. "I feel like I just got stomped on. Man." She still had enough sense to give Winnie and Sue a hug. Dipper did the same. "We're so sorry. We were... we were only trying to help."

"We're not mad at you," Sue assured, though her tone didn't inspire much confidence. As she hugged Mabel, tears streamed down her cheeks. They watched as the Pines looked out the front door. "Do you need some help getting back?"

"Allow me." Pa Duskerton hovered over and snapped his fingers. The next gust of wind caused the front gate outside to swing open. "Just lock up when you leave."

"Sure. Thanks." Dipper donned his hat again and opened the door for Mabel. He hesitated when Winnie and Sue didn't follow. "You guys coming?"

Winnie shook her head. "In a minute. You two get home before the weather gets worse."

"All right. See you."

He floated away from the entrance after the kids had gone and regarded Winnie with a curious glance. "You didn't look very surprised, young lady."

"I'm afraid it's something we're used to." Her eyes darted over as Sue drew in a sharp breath. "Are you stuck like the ghosts in the hospital?"

The spirits embraced again and smiled. "Oh no, no," he said. "This store was our pride and joy. We like it here."

"Oh. That's kind of reassuring." Sue wiped her eyes once more and tried to put on a smile. "We apologize for barging in. Thanks for explaining things. We knew they were children but... but not what happened." Her face dropped again. "Sister, how could we repay them?"

"Hmm." Winnie gazed at the disastrous state of the store's interior. "I have an idea."

She picked up on it right away, her eyes emitting a faint glow. "Okay." Both twins leveraged their gift to bring order to the shelves. Items flew about their heads as they walked from aisle to aisle, organizing and replacing and arranging at an inhuman pace. The whole shop was cleaned up in less than five minutes.

"How did you-" Pa Duskerton was silenced by amazement. "I thought only the departed could do that."

"Death is our life," Sue replied with a melancholy smirk. "I don't feel very good either. Let's go home." Winnie nodded and followed her sister to the door.

"Come back anytime!" Ma Duskerton said with a wave, just like she had thousands of times in life. "And welcome to Gravity Falls."

Once free of the store, they hopped the fence, grabbed their bags from the library and ran off through the drizzle. Sue didn't utter a word – she didn't have to. Winnie knew what was tumbling around in her head. Only when they were home and separated from the world did the red-eyed woman finally explode. "Children!" she yelled, motioning with clenched fists. "Babies!"

"I know."

"Why would someone do... I can't..." She fell on the couch and hid her face again. "Are we like that man?"

Winnie was by her side in a flash. "We're not even close."

"But we did—we did terrible things, sister. It's all coming back to me again."

The hug got tighter. "It's not coming back. It never leaves." Sue pulled away from her and stood up. "Sister?"

"I'm angry." So angry, in fact, the emotion seemed to be rippling through her muscles. "I'm going to go vent. You can keep the car. I'll just walk."

"All right. The cave?"

Sue nodded once as they went to the door. "Yes. Maybe you're right about punching stuff and putting my fists through the rock will help." The thought of having to fight more of the cave's residents drew a scowl. "I hope the lizards leave me alone. I don't want to accidentally kill another one."

"Try running away this time." Winnie hugged her again and sent her on her way. "I'll see you later." Being left alone with her own thoughts was a revolting proposition, but one she would accept if it would help Sue feel better. The rainfall grew louder as she ruminated on the couch. "The hospital and the store felt the same. Some were stuck, but some stay behind. And they have our powers. But why do we feel that same something at the Mystery Shack... and in that hole?" Linking these sensations made her slightly uncomfortable; there was simply no denying their similarity, however. Her mind frothed with questions. "Forget the vacation. I need answers."