It was a beautiful morning in Gravity Falls. The perfect weather to be outside for a walk in the forest or something. But this is the Mystery Shack, when does that happen?
Stan and Soos were inside playing a game of cards.
"Alright Soos," said Stan, "You have played poker before? Cause I've made millions with this game in casinos. Then lost all of them to some goons in the mafia. Long story short, I'm banned for life from Reno."
"I sure do Mr. Pines," said Soos, "Now, when do I say goldfish? When you have five aces, or after checkmate?"
"You have no idea how to play this, do you," said Stan.
Before Soos could reply, a loud boom rocked the Mystery Shack.
"Dude, what was that," said Soos.
"Probably those two nerds downstairs." replied Stan, "I swear, if Ford causes another nuclear meltdown, I'm sure those government agents will come back!"
At that moment, Dipper and Ford came running into the living room.
"We heard a loud bang, is everything alright?" yelled Dipper.
"Just to assure you, that was not me or Dipper's fault," said Ford.
"It sounded like it came from upstairs, dude," said Soos.
"Probably just Mabel doing arts and crafts again. I'd check, but the attic is so far away, and I don't want Soos to see my cards," said Stan.
"Come on Grunkle Ford!" yelled Dipper as he started racing off for the stairs.
"Wait up, Dipper. Oh, and by the way, how did those kids not get killed under your watch last year?" said Ford to Stan. He just shrugged.
Dipper and Ford raced upstairs and knocked on the attic door.
"Mabel? Is everything okay?" said Dipper.
"Don't come in yet!" yelled Mabel.
Ford did not like the sound of that.
"Stand back Dipper," he said, as he pulled out an automatic screwdriver from his coat.
Dipper watched as Ford unscrewed the hinges in seconds and the door fell down. The two entered inside, to be confronted by one unusual sight indeed.
They saw Mabel holding a wet cloth in her hands, trying to clean a burning sticky substance off of her bed. Multiple areas of the room were covered with it, and there was a small burn mark in the centre of the room.
"Mabel, what the heck happened?!" yelled Dipper.
"Well, you see..."
"Don't touch that, Mabel!" yelled Ford, interrupting her, "We have no idea what it could be."
He pushed Mabel aside and began to study the substance.
"Fascinating. It's solidifying from a clear transparent liquid into a translucent solid. Where did this come from," he asked.
"Actually my..."
"No wait, don't tell me...a fire breathing glob beast creature showed up, spit this substance at you, burned the floor and flew off. Maybe it's still out there. We better go looking for it. Suit up, Dipper," said Ford.
"But Grunkle Ford," said Mabel, "It was not a fire breathing glob beast."
Ford paused and looked over to her.
"My glue gun exploded. I was trying to do some arts and crafts when my glue gun started making some weird noises. The next thing I knew, it exploded and hot glue fell everywhere," she said, pointing to the burned remains of her glue gun.
Ford facepalmed, "of course."
"You okay, Mabel," said Dipper.
"I'm fine, but look at my glue gun, it's ruined," she replied.
"Don't worry, Mabel, we'll buy you a new one," said Dipper.
"No way. I've had this glue gun since grade one. I still remember buying it. All the other glue guns were being mean and stuff to it, and I saved it from them," said Mabel, talking about how she found this glue gun laying at the bottom of a shelf full of glue guns.
"Can't you fix it Grunkle Ford," she said, showing the gun to him.
Ford looked at it for a few seconds, and gave Mabel the difficult news, "I'm sorry Mabel, your glue gun is beyond repair, even for me. But I promise you I'll buy you a new one that's even better then this one was."
Ford had rarely been there for Mabel in her most difficult of times, and even almost caused her to lose Dipper. Now that she was back for another summer, he wanted to seize every opportunity he had to redeem himself in her eyes. He knew that while Mabel had forgiven him, deep down even she still had some level of skepticism left, and he wanted her to know he loved her just as much as he did her brother.
Mabel looked up at him, "Really Grunkle Ford?" she replied.
"I promise sweetie," he said.
Ford immediately sees Mabel's eyes light up with the life and joy he she was best known for. She immediately jumps onto her bed and stares at the two boys with the eyes of a military general.
"Alright you two," she said, "If we're gonna do this, we're not going to any ordinary art and crafts store. We need to go to the best of the best!"
"Uh, Dipper, what does that mean," asked Ford.
"Trust me Grunkle Ford, just go with Mabel's logic. You won't regret it," he replied giggling.
Mabel dug into a shoe box under her bed and pulled out a pair of coupons. "Specifically, this place," she said showing them to Ford.
The next thing they know (after cleaning the attic up), the three of them were on the open road, and soon after a long one and a half hour drive (and stopping for some burgers at a rest stop diner), they arrive at their destination, "Steven's Miraculous Arts and Crafts Store!" The Super Factory Outlet that was only in Oregon. Also known as Mabel's REAL dream world.
"The huge butterfly logo at the front gives this place such a magical vibe, doesn't it?" said Mabel, "I bought all the yarn I make my sweaters with from these guys. But I've never been to their mega factory store."
"Uh yeah," Dipper and Ford say simultaneously.
"Why did you rope me into this," whispered Ford to Dipper.
"Well, Grunkle Stan was too caught up in his card game, and you promised her, remember," reminded Dipper.
"Well, I thought this place would be a small little convince store, not a mini mall of America that got married to Disney Land," Ford replied, breaking the 4th wall in the process.
"Come on you two, we have a mission to accomplish!" yelled Mabel, as she ran into the store.
Dipper and Ford raced after her, and were immediately awe struck at the inside of the place. There were rows upon rows of shelves full of arts and crafts materials, a small library of bookshelves, a mini kids park, and even an espresso bar.
"Is this an arts and crafts store, or did someone make MabelLand a reality?" said Dipper.
"What's Mabelland," asked Ford.
"I'll explain it to you later," said Dipper.
"Oh, that's not possible," said Mabel, "That place was fake. This though...this is the real deal. Now anyways, I gotta find that glue gun, but I need some other things too. Reason why I brought these coupons."
"Alright Mabel," said Ford, "How about we split up so we cover more ground. You tell me and Dipper what else you need, and we'll get it, while you go looking for your new glue gun."
"Sure thing, Grunkle Ford," said Mabel as she handed him a list.
"Come on, Dipper, we got to...uh...really?" Ford said to himself.
"We got...scratch and...uh...scratch and sniff stickers to find! Come on," he said as he raced off.
"I think the smell of acrylic paint and glue is getting to his head," said Dipper. "Give me a call when you find your glue gun, okay."
"Copy that bro bro," said Mabel. The two twins then headed off to buy their respective supplies.
Whoever Steven was, he sure had a love of arts and crafts, at a level only Mabel could rival. The store was huge, and filled with anything an artist could want. Paper, other types of paper, fake paper, big paint brushes, small brushes, very small brushes, paint brushes made of cola bottles, even paintings of kitchen sinks.
But even an arts and crafts expert like Mabel was in a place that was pushing her limits. It was like finding a needle in a hay stack. But in her case, a hot glue gun in one of, if not the largest arts and crafts stores in the country.
Mabel soon spotted an employee.
"Uh, excuse me ma'am? Do you know where the hot glue guns are?" she said.
"Oh, yes, of course, dear. They're past the lawnmower paintings aisle, and the not Christmas related snow globes aisle. You can't miss them," she said.
"Um, thanks," said Mabel, as she followed the employee's directions. Oddly enough, the paintings of lawnmowers did not confuse her as much as the paintings of empty toilet paper rolls did.
Soon she was in the snow globe aisle. Mabel used to love snow globes. Every Christmas she would buy one for her teachers. She figured chocolate was not an option given she might eat them before she could get them to her teachers. But now, snow globes were not something she was too fond of.
She had told Dipper, Stan and even Ford about it. They had told her it was not her fault, that she did not know, but the guilt still haunted her. Like a scar that would never leave her, the memory was forever locked in her mind.
Walking through this aisle made her nervous, but she knew that what she wanted was just in the next aisle and all she had to do was make it there without...
Then it happened. Mabel was so caught up in her thoughts, that she did not notice a mini display of snow globes in her way. She bumped straight into them. The force of the impact was so strong that one of the snow globes fell.
Mabel watched it go, paralyzed in fear, as the memories of it all flood back into her faster then a tsunami wave. She watched as it impacted the ground...but the snow globe does not break. It was a plastic one.
But it was enough to traumatize her. Another shopper see's Mabel hitting the display and approached her.
"Are you okay, dear," she said.
Mabel looked up at her, but she did not see the face of a lady there to help, she saw him. Those demonic, sadistic and twisted yellow eyes...Bill's eyes.
"No, stay back, not again. No, please no," Mabel yelled as she ran off. The lady is left standing confused. What had just happened?
On the other side of the store, Dipper and Ford were having a coffee break at the espresso bar.
Dipper as usual, bought some hot chocolate instead of coffee.
"How do drink that stuff, Grunkle Ford?" he asked, "I've never understood why people like coffee so much?"
Ford chuckled, "I still remember when my father introduced me to coffee. I think I was about your age then. I hated it as much as you do. But I tried it again a while later, and long story short, I found it to be the best method of staying up to prepare for exams. It even helped Stanley pass his courses with passing marks. Coffee even helped me when I first came to Gravity Falls, but I'm sure you read about that in my journals, didn't you?"
Dipper smiled, "Yeah. But I think I'll stick to not liking coffee for now," he replied.
Afterwords, the two split up. They had failed to find the sticker aisle and refused to ask for help. Given Mabel had not called them yet, they figured they still had time to find them. And with over half the store still to explore, they had some ground to cover. Thankfully Ford had brought walkie-talkies.
"Breaker, breaker, this is Big Dipper to Six fingers, come in ten-fold old buddy?" said Dipper over the radio.
"You know I hate CB radio lingo, Dipper," said Ford, "Anyways have you found anything yet?"
"Negative Six Fingers, but I'll keep looking," replied Dipper.
"You're not gonna stop are you?" said Ford.
However, his conversation was interrupted when he heard the faint sounds of sobbing. A very familiar sobbing at that. Ford followed the noise to the far end of the store, in an area no one was in...the coloured tissue paper aisle.
He then spotted her...Mabel.
There she was, sitting on the floor with her sweater pulled over her face, rocking back and forth...sobbing. The sight hurt Ford, especially given no one else was there to help her.
"Dipper, are you there?" he said.
"Just for once use the trucker lingo, please," he yelled.
"Uh, fine, Big Dipper, this is Six Fingers, I've found Mabel and I think you should get to the tissue paper aisle quickly. She's crying," replied Ford.
"ten four Six fingers, I'll...wait, what did you say?" asked Dipper.
"Mabel's crying. In the tissue paper aisle," said Ford.
"Oh no! I'm on my way Grunkle Ford! Try and talk to her till I get there, please," said Dipper as he signed out.
Ford walked up to Mabel and sat down next to her.
"Hey, Mabel, sweetie," he said in a soft tone, "Is everything okay?"
Mabel peaked out of her sweater. Upon seeing him, she collapsed into his arms and started crying even more.
"Woah, Mabel," said Ford, "What happened. Are you sure you're okay?"
He was not used to dealing with stuff like this. His approach to issues would often be materialistic or giving into demands. He loved both Dipper and Mabel and had the knowledge to help them, but he was not an expert when it came to emotions. He did not know how to deal with tears.
"I...I did it again. I almost did it again, he almost..."
"Again? Who almost did what, Mabel?" asked Ford.
"The...the rift...Bill," she said through her sobs, "I...I dropped it! I...it fell. I...I...it was all my fault!"
Ford realized then what Mabel was saying. He knew very well what had happened. He often threw pity at himself for putting that stupid rift into a snow globe like containment unit. One of the most innocent objects and one that Mabel loved, had been ruined for her by him unintentionally.
Ford also knew that this was not the Mystery Shack. Stan had told him about all the times Mabel had accidentally broken snow globes in the shack.
"She must have broken a trip to Hawaii's worth of them," Stan had said.
But Stan had it in is heart to forgive. He knew Mabel never broke them on purpose and he had dealt with more kids breaking them in a single day then he did with Mabel over the whole summer. But here, they'd be looking for whoever broke it, and someone would have to pay for the damages. Ford needed to know.
"Mabel," he asks, "Did it break? Did you break a snow globe?
Mabel shook her head. "I thought I did, but it didn't smash into pieces. I walked straight into it. I...I was not even paying attention. A lady tried to ask me what was wrong, but, I...I saw, those eyes and, I ran! I ran and hid again! Why? Why am I so afraid? why am I such a mess, Grunkle Ford?" asked Mabel as she started to cry again.
Ford felt awful. Mabel was broken, and it was because of his mistakes in the past. She still carried the mental scars of Weirdmageddon. Scars that he knew would not easily heal. He knew for a fact that Stan still had nightmares and he did too. He could only imagine what Dipper and Mabel must have endured over the last year back in California. Dipper was pretty tight lipped about it, but he knew deep down that both the twins were going through hard times.
He did not know if it would work, but he had to try. He looked at Mabel. She looked back at him.
"Mabel, listen to me sweetie. It was not your fault! You only knew what you knew. I think even Stanley would have fallen for that trick if it was him," he said.
"But...but don't you hate me for giving him the rift?" she said, wiping away some of her tears.
"My hatred for Bill grew even more when you told me you gave him the rift. That monster who I once thought of as a friend hurt you more then he ever did me. He broke your trust. He tricked you, and in a way I could never punish him enough for. He got what he deserved, Mabel. He's dead. Bill will never harm you, me, Dipper, Stan or anyone else you love and care for again. And life is back to normal, we're all alive, everyone we know is alive, and we're all okay. We beat Bill, Mabel."
Mabel stopped crying. Ford's sweater was covered in her tears. But he continued.
"In the end the only person who deserves to be hated is me. I never told you about the rift, I sent you on a quest to fight unicorns who I knew may hurt you, and worst of all, I tried to separate you and Dipper the same way me and Stan were. And it made you suffer. Suffer to the point you made this huge mistake. The blame is on me Mabel, not you. Please promise me you'll never hate yourself for that. You're a sweet, innocent and amazing girl, full of happiness and life. I would never be able for forgive myself if thanks to me, you stopped being like that."
Mabel began to feel better, but she still felt a bit bad. But Ford continued.
"You have something that I never did. A heart big enough for everyone. You never held a grudge on me after Weirdmageddon, you never tried to shun me out of things like I have often done with you. You welcomed me in with an open heart, you gave me a second chance, and I can never repay you enough for that. Mabel Pines, you are amazing, and anyone who tries to say otherwise or make you suffer for your mistakes...well, they deserve a fate as bad as Bill got," Ford said as he finished his sentence.
Mabel looked at him for a moment. Before Ford could say anything, he is caught into a strong embrace by her. Even he is surprised at how tight she can hug.
"I could never be mad at you, Grunkle Ford," said Mabel, "I don't blame you for what happened. You were doing what you thought was right. Why would I hate you for that? You're an amazing person, a bit crusty sometimes, but I mean, Grunkle Stan would never let me paint his notebooks pink."
Ford smiled. He and Mabel were going to be just fine. Then he realizes it, "Wait you did what to my notebooks?"
Mabel laughed, "I was joking silly," she said as she gave him a playful punch.
Ford started to laugh too, it was pretty funny to be fair.
"So, you feel better, Mabel? I'm sure there's a glue gun somewhere here waiting for you," he said.
"I do. Thanks, Grunkle Ford," said Mabel.
"Anytime, pumpkin," he said.
"Hey, Mabel I thought you were in Sweater Town, not Hug Ville with Grunkle Ford" said a familiar voice.
They both look up to see Dipper standing there with a shopping bag in hand.
"Well, not anymore. Grunkle Ford helped me feel better. Anyways what's in the back, Dipper," asked Mabel.
"Oh, nothing much. I just found these for you," replied Dipper, as he pulled out a packet of scratch and sniff stickers.
"Oh, you're the best, bro bro," Mabel said as she gave Dipper a hug. She looked over to Ford and smiled. He knew what this meant, he then joined in on the hug.
"Alright, alright. Now can we find that glue gun and leave this place already?" asked Dipper, "I think that acrylic paint smell is burning my nose."
"Are you sure it's the paint? I mean it still smells better then you. Dipping Sauce," said Mabel as she ran off.
Dipper chased after her as Ford raced after the twins, struggling to keep up.
Eventually the trio at last reached the glue gun aisle and find Mabel a new one. She even comes up with a name for it.
"I think I'll call him, Milo," she said. Dipper and Ford smile awkwardly.
On the way back, they have to walk past the snow globe aisle again. Although nervous, with her brother and great uncle by her side this time, Mabel did not feel afraid anymore. She felt as if she had finally conquered her fear of snow globes. Bill Cipher, even in death could not hurt her anymore. She had finally beaten him.
At the counter, there was one more surprise waiting for the three of them.
Mabel presented her coupons to the cashier.
"I'm sorry dear, but these coupons expired a year ago," said the cashier.
Dipper and Ford look over to Mabel, "Oh, haha," she replied, "I thought coupons don't expire. I probably should have checked that."
Dipper laughed, "Oh Mabel. Well I mean it could be worse...like when you forgot your homework at school and tried to say I ate it. I mean I don't look like a dog," he said.
"That's between me and second grade Dipper," replied Mabel.
Ford finally sighed, "Okay, how much is this without the coupons?"
It was not much but Ford still spent more then he intended too. Luckily for him it was on Stan's credit card. And the look of happiness on Mabel's face as she finally had her new glue gun made him feel like the happiest man on Earth.
For a visit to an Arts and Crafts store, they had spent so long there, that the sun was already beginning to set as they all climbed into the Stan mobile.
The ride home was filled with Mabel talking about all the arts and crafts she planned to make with her new glue gun, Dipper trying to tell jokes, and Ford talking about his adventures with Stan. All up until Mabel fell asleep in the back seat.
"By the way Grunkle Ford, what got Mabel so upset earlier today?" asked Dipper.
Ford looked behind at Mabel fast asleep. She looked so peaceful, innocent, and happy. He then looked back at Dipper, "Oh, well, it was nothing really. It's all behind us now," he said.
"Uh, Okay," replied Dipper.
Ford smiled. He knew Dipper would have been okay with knowing what had happened, but he also knew how fiercely protective he was of his sister. It was in a way that he only wished he could have been for Stan at their age. They both looked so happy and he did not want to end this most perfect of day on an emotional note.
He felt now more then ever, that both Dipper and Mabel felt the same way about him. He now felt that he had finally jumped the final hurdle Mabel had for him. She now felt that she was equal to Dipper in his eyes. He did too. It was a feeling of happiness and accomplishment he did not wish to lose.
The sun dipped over the horizon as they pulled up to the Mystery Shack.
Dipper walked next to Ford as he carried Mabel who was still fast asleep inside. He knew she had many plans for the glue gun she took them both on this trip for, but for now, it was time for bed.
And after the day they had all had, it was something they were all ready for.
The End