Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Alex Hirsch owns Gravity Falls, not me.

Mabel wasn't quite sure how she even became involved with this whole situation in the first place. It may of all started with Soos. The task was simple enough: find the screwdriver. Why? She, being the generous preteen she was, decided to assist Soos with fixing the sink, the Pines family having discovered that the garbage disposal had quit on them. The event had occurred when Dipper was washing the dishes yesterday and the machine decided to abruptly stall when he was scraping chucks into it. Their Grunkle Stan had told Dipper to step aside, since he was "capable of handling this". Apparently he wasn't capable of handling it though, as the disposal roared to life, projecting pieces of shredded food into his face, before halting its activity once more. Stan hadn't been exactly happy about the event and had threatened to "kill" the "darn" machine. He would of succeeded too, if Dipper hadn't convinced him to tell Soos to fix the sink, instead of destroying it. And now, Mabel had traveled down the very same hall that she had went down from that one night. No spine-chilling sights or feelings this time though, much to her relief.

Most of what had been previously stored from the day the twins discovered the room, still sat there, untouched. Stan hadn't wanted anyone to stay in that room in the first place, causing him to seem suspiciously protective of it. When questioned, he simply replied with "because I said so" in a voice full of more spite than usual. He had tentatively agreed though, after the twins harassed him for two days straight about it. His only rule for the handyman was not to touch anything or else there would be consequences. Soos's eyes had widened at this, swearing his loyalty aloud for his boss, promising to do no such thing. Stan had simply rolled his eyes, before grumbling about how annoying everyone that entered his life was. Dipper and Mabel weren't even entirely sure what the big deal was. It was just a bunch of random boxes and old, boring keepsakes cluttered together. There was no importance to it. Even that dusty calendar from 1975 was still up, proving the twin's theory that the room didn't seem significant enough to keep maintained. The only differences made were the updated bed sheets and a few of the handyman's supplies now being mixed into the mess.

Mabel entered the space and observed the clutter. "Oh boy, this is gonna be a heck of lot harder to find," She groaned. But, then the brunette grinned and placed her hands on her hips. "I'll find it though!"

She began to rummage through Soos's tool box, looking for the well-used gadget. When she didn't find it there, she had begun to tear the blankets off of the bed frame, and shook them out to determine if it was mixed up in them. Nothing there as well. Mabel finally peered under the bed and reached a hand beneath, feeling around. Just some dust bunnies. She giggled aloud at the term. It sounded so cute! The preteen went to stand, but froze when she saw movement in the corner of her eyes. She quickly rolled over onto her back to see if anybody or anything was there. Mabel's heart was thudding in her chest and she no longer felt giggly. The room was empty though. She released a sigh of relief. Mabel went to stand, once more, but stopped. A triumph grin spread across her face. The screwdriver was glinting, from a bit of sun reflecting off of it, under the wardrobe to her left. Mabel army-crawled across the floor, pausing before the ancient thing. She ducked her head under it and grasped the tool she had been seeking. Mabel lifted her head up as she pulled out, but roughly banged her head against it. "Owie!"

There was a quiet creak, as she squatted in place, rubbing the tender area. Mabel ceased her rubbing when she realized that the wardrobe door was what produced the creak. It was open by just a crack and Mabel realized it wasn't even a wardrobe, but in fact a writing desk concealed inside a wardrobe. A secret desk inside a secret room. Excitement welled up inside her. She stood and fully opened the doors to it. On the desk were dust covered papers, with all sorts of physics formulas and chemistry equations sprawled across them. A few books were stacked in one corner, topics ranging from quantum mechanics to the principle of relativity. A vintage Star Trek mug sat in the other corner, featuring the Enterprise from the original television show on it. The mug was filled with chewed up pens and pencils. A large, chipped mirror sat upon the back wall of the closet. Mabel screeched and jumped away when she saw the reflection was not of her own, but of a man. She tripped over a box behind her and the screwdriver flew out from her hand. The preteen immediately scrambled to get back up and peek into the mirror. It was simply her own face.

She turned away as she released a sigh of relief. "Whew! I thought I had turned into a man!"

The brunette whirled back around to further explore the work space, but froze once more. The man had returned, his hands pressed up against the mirror like he was on the other side. His large nose was balanced out by a smooth square chin, a distinct dimple on it. His arms and chest were covered in a tight, black shirt, showing off his muscular figure. The messy brown hair, reminded her of Dipper's, sticking out in random angles, appearing like he didn't brush it ever. Nonetheless, he was young and handsome in appearance. The background of the mirror looked like the room she was in, but the colors were the opposite. They appeared to be darker, as if it were night, instead of day. Oh no. This was not happening.

Two pairs of chocolate eyes stared at each, before Mabel whispered, barely breathing. "W-What are you...?"

A look of disbelief crossed his face as his mouth began to move. Mabel wasn't hear anything though, much to her puzzlement. She studied his lips, attempting to decipher what was coming from them. "Moo, ran, knee, he? Is that Japanese or something?"

He face palmed. Mabel giggled at him, initial fear fading away. "Sorry, it's just I can't really hear you."

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then seemed to have an idea, for his face lit up. He breathed heavily onto the glass, causing a dense haze to appear over it. A finger poked through the haze and began to move, creating a message. " 'em ees nac uoy'. What the haydoodle does that mean?"

A arm rubbed vigorously over the message, erasing it. He fogged up the mirror once more, before rewriting the sentence. It read, "You can see me."

"Well duh! Of course I can see you, silly!"

"No one else has fully seen me."

"What does that mean? Are you playing hide-and-go-seek?!" She excitedly asked.

The corners of his mouth tipped upwards at her enthusiasm. "No, none have been able to see me."

"That's weird. Is it because you're hiding in a mirror?"

"I'm not hiding in it. It's just the easiest way for me to see others."

"Wait, have you been spying on everyone in the Shack?"

He frowned. "Not exactly. Well, at least not on purpose."

"Ok, cause I was gonna say that if you've seen me that one night with the puppets...in my room...and I did that one thing...yeah, uh, then this conversation is gonna get really awkward, really quick."

He blinked, brows furrowing in confusion. "What thing?"

"Uh, nothing, haha." She replied, obviously suspicious.

The man decided to move on, beginning to feel as if he didn't want to know what she was speaking about. "...I was right when I thought you saw me that night though."

Mabel blinked. "What night?"

"When you dropped your water. I apologize for that by the way. I was simply studying the constellations and the back door was the best place to do that."

"Wait, but that was Grunkle Stan!"

"I'm not sure what a Grunkle is, but I'm guessing you're talking about Stanford Pines. And, he appeared in the doorway when you looked."

"What?! That was you? You scared the heck outta me!"

"I apologize, again."

Mabel gave him a thoughtful look. "Wellllllll, I didn't have a heart attack, so it's all good, I guess," She thought for a moment, before asking. "You know Grunkle Stan?"

"Well," He stopped writing and stared off into the distance. Snapping out of his daze though, he continued on. "I suppose I did, a long time ago."

Mabel wasn't all that sure about that answer. It made her wonder if the age he appeared to be was in fact his actual age. As a matter of fact, she wasn't even sure if he was human. She made a pouty face. And he was so cute too, not fair! If Dipper was here, she was sure he would know right away. Or search for the answer in the journal. Though, she supposed simply asking would probably work as well. "So, what are you? Like a magic mirror man or something?"

"I-"

Mabel's head jerked away before she could finish reading it, due to Soos calling out her name, asking where she could possibly. She suddenly remembered why she even came in there in the first place. Ah, she became distracted. Curse her distractible personality! Mabel whipped her head back to finish reading his message, but saw the fog and writing had vanished already. Well, poo. Mabel would have to find out what was written later. "I have to go now," The man appeared to be dispirited as she told him this, discourage etched onto his young face. The dispiritment appeared to age him, provoking a feeling of familiarity in Mabel at the appearance. She beamed at him though. "Don't worry; I'll come back later!"

And Mabel was gone, leaving the disheartened man all alone, in the darkness, where he had been trapped for decades.

~!9/1-13/19-20-1-14-12-5-25!~

Stanford Pines wasn't entirely certain of what was occurring in his great-nephew's head, but he knew it wasn't pretty. Dipper had a difficult time focusing on what Stan had recounted to him, but Stan had continued on since it appeared that it had made the preteen relax. After getting to know the twins better over the course of this summer, he came to the conclusion that Dipper was a "worry-wart" as Mabel had dubbed him. Stan had gotten a kick out of that phrase the first time Mabel used it and had later on teased a blushing Dipper about it when she was outside playing with Waddles. The elder man wasn't aware though that the phrase "worry-wart" was an underestimation. The preteen had had a full blown panic attack right in front of him for God's sake! This was beginning to be more serious than what Dipper had led him to initially believe though. This gave reason for Stan to suspect that Dipper had endured several of these attacks in his lifetime, for he acted as if he knew what exactly was needed to calm down. And there was no way in hell that his sister didn't notice either.

Stan frowned at this. He understood that the twins kept secrets (like the journal he had been searching for) and he was alright with that. As long as it didn't put their lives in danger (ok, so the journal put the twins in danger, but that didn't count since the whole town was dangerous). But, for Mabel to not even decide to inform her own great-uncle of Dipper's condition when they lived under his roof pissed him off. He deserved to know. He was their guardian for the summer for crying out loud! And, if he didn't ensure their safety, his nephew would kill him. That brought him to the next topic; did their parents know? Stan realized that his nephew would of never told him though, since they hadn't spoken for over 20 years. It was their mother that had communicated with him, so that the twins could spend the summer here. He wondered though, if them coming over had anything to do with what was going on with Dipper. Why didn't their mother inform him though? He swiped a hand wearily down his face. Stan needed to have a conversation with a certain bubbly preteen and possibly her mother later on.

Not wanting to disturb the sleeping brunet after what he had gone through so recently, he scooped the boy up into his arms, and gently tucked Dipper into his own bed. He immediately rolled onto his side, snuggling his pillow, muttering Wendy's name. Stan rolled his eyes. Dipper's crush on the cashier was so obvious that it sickened Stan. Ugh, young love. He shuddered at the very thought. Wendy obviously saw him as a little brother, and would bet all his money that she would never see him as anything more. Dipper had no chance with her. He went to the door, hand resting on the light switch as he observed the snoozing form of his great-nephew. Stan would never admit it to anyone, but he thought of the twins as his own, even though he had known them for only half a summer. That grieved him as he thought about it. His nephew had disliked him so much, that he had never known until recently that the kids even existed. A month ago, Stan would of scoffed at the idea of letting family back into his life again. Now though, he would do anything for them. Even die if he had to. He hadn't been able to feel so much for anyone since he lost the two he treasured most. They had-Stan shook the thoughts that anguished him from his mind. "Night, kid."

The light went out and the door clicked shut. Dipper stared with stilted, drowsy eyes at where his great-uncle had previously stood. A tiny smile curled onto his face as he did so. The brilliant white glow of the moon caused shadows to materialize in the attic. He wasn't anxious though, thanks to Stan. The shape of a triangle rested ominously upon the back of the door. Not anxious at all for the events to come. Dipper closed his eyes.

Chapter 2 End

Chapter 3 will be up sometime next week!