They got back to the shack as the sun rose over the hills. It didn't matter. Everyone was ready to sleep. Ford climbed up the stairs that led into the attic. He saw Dipper reading and Mabel was curled up asleep. He smiled. It was probably too late to talk to Mabel right now. He wondered if he should even have the conversation with her. Bill obviously showed him what actually happened to the rift so that he would either lose trust in his niece or become angry with her or both. It was his fault for not telling her about Bill and the rift. Even worse, he told Dipper not to say anything to her. He almost tore the twins apart because of his own issues. As he turned to leave, he heard Mabel's voice.
"Grunkle Ford," she whispered. He turned. He saw her eyes were closed.
"What is it?" He walked over to her bed. It appeared as if she were sleeping soundly. "I'm so sorry," she said. He raised an eyebrow.
"Mabel?" She didn't respond. He turned to leave again.
"No! Wait!" he heard her voice. "It's all my fault," she said softly. "I just wanted—" Was she talking in her sleep? She must be dreaming, he realized.
"The end of the world happened because of me—" He was about to wake her, but then she stopped sleep talking and seemed to be sleeping soundly. Ford looked over at Dipper.
"It sounds like she's having a nightmare," Ford said. He stared at Dipper for a moment. "I know this may sound like it's coming out of nowhere, but, I need to know what happened when you talked to Mabel last year about being my apprentice."
Dipper closed his book, letting out a long sigh. "Well, you know everything. She got upset and then accidently left with my backpack—which had the rift in it." He turned away from his uncle.
Ford nodded. "I know what happened," he said.
Dipper's eyes widened as he turned back around. "S-she told you?"
"No. Bill showed me, while we were in the Mindscape."
"What? Are you friggin' kidding me?"
Ford grabbed his head. "Nope. He showed me after realizing my plan to kill him." He removed his hand as he laid his eyes genuinely on his nephew. "I saw everything."
"Ford, please don't be mad at Mabel. Look, she finally told me about the rift. I was mad at first, but she really does feel bad," Dipper pleaded.
"I don't blame her. I'm sorry," Ford said. "I was so wrong for what I tried to do to you two."
"No one blames you," Dipper said. "But, she can't forgive herself. Maybe you need to talk to her.
"I will tomorrow. Have a good night," Ford said as he patted Dipper on the shoulder.
"Good night," Dipper said as he turned off the lamp on the nightstand.
Ford turned towards Mabel's bed where she lay.
"—My fault—I'm so sorry—" he heard Mabel whisper. Ford moved over to her bed, bent down, and kissed her on the forehead.
"I forgive you," he said softly. "Now, forgive yourself." He listened for a moment. Mabel stopped mumbling. Ford stood up and left the room.
The next morning, the Mystery Inc. gang awoke and met in the living room. There was an all around sense of accomplishment, but there were still questions they felt needed answers.
"So, the fire and the monsters were illusions," Velma said slowly.
"Yeah, but those monsters seemed so real. The paint on the hood of the Mystery Machine got chipped when we hit the zombie."
Daphne shook her head with a slight smile on her face. "I still can't believe you actually hit it," she said.
"So, like, what do you want answered, Velma?" Shaggy asked.
"Supposedly, the presence of Bill's stone body caused the illusion. I'm just not sure why? And how long was the illusion there? It didn't seem to appear until he went to look for his body and we followed after him."
"Like, it doesn't matter. It's all gone. He's gone. Let's just leave it at that," Shaggy said.
"Reah," Scooby agreed.
"Sorry, I need to talk to Ford about all this," Velma said as she headed into the hallway. She approached the gift shop and peeked inside where she saw Ford holding Mabel. She sobbed with her head on his shoulder.
"I'm so sorry," she cried.
"Mabel, I told you. It's not your fault." He glanced sincerely at his niece. "I guess you learned a valuable lesson though. If you had just brought the rift back to me, then—" Ford stopped. How would he have responded to her last year if she did that? Knowing how he was back then, he may have yelled at her. He was fixed with such paranoia. "Never mind. It's all over now."
"Grunkle Ford, did Dipper ever tell you about the day you came back through the portal into this dimension?"
Ford stared vacantly at her for a moment. "No. We never talked about that day. I uh, honestly didn't want to bring it up because it's also the day Stanley said to me—" He recalled how angry his brother was at him, telling him they were no longer family.
"Dipper screamed at me to hit the button to shut off the portal." Ford's eyes widened. "H-he did?"
"I didn't listen to him. I listened to Grunkle Stan. So, I guess there too, I was responsible for everything that happened."
"I—no. I'm glad you didn't press the button. I'm glad to be back home."
Fresh tears formed in Mabel's eyes. "But, I regretted it!" she yelled. "After Dipper told me he wasn't coming back to California with me. I thought to myself, 'I should have pressed that button!'"
Ford let out a long sigh. "Mabel. Enough. Please, we got through it all. No more regrets, okay?"
Velma waited as Mabel walked through the door leading outside the shack. Ford stood still for a moment with his hand gripping part of his hair. He turned suddenly, noticing her there.
"Where did you come from?"
"I've just been standing here for a moment," Velma answered.
"How much did you just hear?" he asked, his tone darkened a bit. It scared Velma a little, but she held her ground.
"Not too much, and what I did hear, didn't make a whole lot of sense, so—" She smiled. He returned a smile too. "You know, I've never met a scientist like you before, Ford. Most of them are not as—I don't know, what's the word, intense."
"Intense?" he asked as if impressed. "Never heard someone use that word to describe me before."
"So, this portal you went through—" Ford put up a hand to stay 'stop.'
"Not going to talk about it. Sorry." Velma nodded. She expected that reaction. Whatever happened to him was staying a secret until he died.
"So, can you explain this whole illusion in the forest? I get that the statue of Bill created the illusion. I just don't understand why?"
"I don't know why either. But the chasm and the fire disappeared. Even the monsters were gone when we looked in the hole." He pinched the sides of his eyelids. "Have no idea how you tricked them into falling into it."
Velma shrugged. "The guns weren't working?"
He looked up. "Guns?"
"Yeah, you're family seems to have a thing about using weapons."
Ford laughed. "We come from a long line of gun users. My dad owned every type of gun you can think of. He made sure his three sons knew how to use them."
"Three of you?" Velma asked. Then realized there had to be another sibling to be the grandparent of Dipper and Mabel. "So, you have another brother?"
Ford nodded. "He's passed away now." His eyes grew sad. "From what Stanley said, he died while I was in the other dimension."
"I guess I won't ever hear about this other dimension," Velma said.
Ford smiled. "I might tell you a little bit some time. But we'll have to keep in touch somehow."
"I can give you my email address," she said.
"Email, huh? Still haven't gotten one of those yet."
"Well, I'll still give you mine and when you sign up for your own, send me an email."
Ford nodded. "Okay. Maybe Dipper can help me with that."
Later that morning, everyone stood outside next to the Mystery Machine. Fred and Shaggy loaded all of their bags into the back. Stan looked at the vehicle, giving a long sigh. "Well, it was nice while it lasted."
"How much money did you actually make?" Daphne asked.
Stan shrugged. "Uh, a little bit. I guess it wasn't as big as I thought it would be."
"Told you!" Fred responded as he passed Stan to the door of the driver's side.
Stan mumbled under his breath about Fred being a 'know it all' hippie.
As the gang got into the vehicle, Dipper handed Fred a piece of paper. "Here's my email. Don't forget about us, okay?"
Fred let out a loud laugh. "Kid, we're never ever going to forget about you guys or this town." Fred drove off as the Pines family and Soos waved.
The van reached Greesy's Diner.
"Hey, like anyone hungry?" Shaggy asked.
"Yeah, sure. Let's have one more meal here."
As they got out of the van, they saw Wendy and her friend Tambry sitting outside on the cement stub in a handicapped parking spot. Wendy looked up.
"Hey!" she waved and walked over.
"Hi, is everything going alright?" Fred asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, Dipper just texted me about what happened last night. Dudes, I wish someone called me! I would have loved to help take out that stupid one eyed triangle!"
"Actually, we owe it to the Pines' family. They are really an interesting bunch," Velma said.
"I'm glad I know them too," Wendy said.
"Yeah," Fred said as he gave a nervous laugh.
"Well, we're, like, getting something to eat," Shaggy said.
"Oh, and then what?" Wendy asked.
"Well, that's it for our trip to Gravity Falls," Fred said. "At least for now."
"Oh," Wendy answered, her mouth turned down. The gang started to walk into he diner. Suddenly, Wendy stopped Shaggy. "Hey, here's my number. Keep in touch, okay?" She smiled at him.
Shaggy was at a loss for words. "Okay, like sure." He took the piece of paper with the number on it. He punched in the number on his phone and hit the call button. Wendy's phone rang. She looked at it and then hit the 'end' button. "Dude, you didn't think I gave you a fake number did you?"
Shaggy shrugged and laughed nervously. Shaggy waved 'bye' as he walked with Scooby into the diner.
After they ate, Mystery Incorporated climbed into their van that would forever be stuck in the 1960's. It moved on down the road, and across the strange rock formation, believed to be created by an alien spaceship. They saw the large water tower displaying the name of this mysterious town and finally sped passed at sign with bold lettering reading, 'Welcome to Gravity Falls, and in smaller lettering, 'Nothing to see here.'
Author's Note: This is the end of the story. I had fun writing it! I want to thank everyone who read and commented on the story. Thanks for the support!
I'm working on a few more stories.
1. This Is What Happens When...
This story is completed. It's is a short story about the nightmares Mabel had about the rift and the conversation she has with Dipper about the whole incident.
2. What Silently Falls Within Us
I'm also working on another crossover with Gravity Falls and Silent Hill, entitled 'What silently Falls Within Us.' (I loved the early Silent Hill games, in fact, the first few fanfics I wrote were for Silent Hill). This takes place a few months after the show ended. Stan and Ford are hunting anomalies and end up in the town of Silent Hill.
3. The Other World
Lastly, I'm working on a Gravity Falls story that takes place three years after the show. The entire Pines family ends up going into the other dimension where Ford was trapped for thirty years. The title I'm going with is called 'The Other World.' It may change.
So, that's it.
Thank you.