Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Alex Hirsch owns Gravity Falls, not me.

Dipper blindly grasped the metal chain, dangling from the ceiling, and tugged on it. There was a distinct click and the closet was enveloped with light. Right away, Dipper knew this was a mistake. There were triangles. Everywhere. His mouth slowly gaped open and all the blood left his face. The mess bestrewn across the floor, dizzily swam before his face. His eyes shifted to his sister and Gideon. They were triangles. Triangles with familiar colors, distorted into one another, overwhelming his senses. THEY WERE TRIANGLES. Dipper staggered backwards, into the door, and fell over. He released a violent scream of horror as the triangles began to squirm. They twitched and trembled as if a mass of bees, sluggishly approaching him. What was that on the walls? WHAT WAS ON THE WALLS? RED. IT WAS SPLATTERED ACROSS THE WALLS. SO MUCH RED. BLOOD. OH GOD, IT WAS BLOOD. He was choking on his breath. Curling into a ball, he made an attempt to remove himself from the situation, but was inadequate to understand that he was in a locked room, unable to remove himself from it. Everything was moving, closer and closer, and he felt such a claustrophobia conquer his senses, that all he was able to do was scream. Dipper clenched fistfuls of his unruly hair and shook his head. NO. NO. NO. NO. He was producing harsh gasps between each cry. Go away. GO AWAY. But, it wouldn't go away and one of them was touching him. STOP TOUCHING. He violently slapped it away and he heard a crisp smack in reply. A voice cried out and he squeezed his eyes firmly shut, before blinking them open.

There were no triangles. No triangles? The bestrewn mess was there once more and Mabel was before him. Tears trickled down her round face, covering her cheek in surprise at his actions. He had hit her. Dipper nearly passed out. "O-Oh, god, M-Mabel, I-I-I-"

Mabel ignored his stuttering, and immediately plucked up the compact case, that had flew from her hands, with a frantic look. "Stanley? Grandpa Stanley?! Are you still there?!"

There was a jagged crack across the mirror from when it made contact with the floor. It appeared that, whoever Mabel had apparently been speaking to, was no longer there. Her sentence caught up to his mind. Grandpa? Wait, what? "W-Who-Wha-Grandp-pa?"

His sister released of sigh of defeat and dropped the compact case back onto the ground. She appeared to be forlorn for a moment, then, she began to dig through the mess around her. Dipper studied the objects in a daze. At least half was clothing, appearing to be a mix of classes, woman and men apparel from anywhere between the 1920's to the 1940's. The rest were antique breakables, he thankfully hadn't broken earlier, and kitchen supplies. Dipper had pulled the compact case from an what appeared to be a tattered makeup bag. He recalled his great-uncle was born sometime in the 40's, so he supposed this all belonged to Dipper's and Mabel's great-grandparents. He marveled at thought for a moment. They were surrounded by their family's history. What exactly did their family consist of though? "M-Mabel...Dad s-said his dad l-left when he was a b-baby..."

Mabel ceased her efforts and gazed over her shoulder with a solemn expression. "I don't know if you'll believe me."

Dipper bit his lip. He wanted to believe Mabel. "Try me."

"Well...uh, Grandpa Stanley, is uh, is almost in another universe?"

Dipper stared at her blankly. "...What?"

Mabel hung her head, returning to her efforts once more. "See, you don't believe me..."

Dipper was the type of person that needed evidence for a claim, especially such a far-fetched one as this. He thought about Gravity Falls though and how much evidence the third journal gave. It honestly wasn't as much as he wished it could have, but he had believed in the writings so far. And so far, his trust had been put to good use. If he could believe the writings of the author, he had to be able to believe his sister. Dipper yelped when that identifiable timbre murmured into his ear. "...telephone..."

Mabel swung around at the yelp. "Dipper?"

"S-Sorry, just, uh..." Dipper stared into chocolate eyes. Trust. He needed to trust his sister. That wasn't as easy as it used to be though. Once upon a time, he would of not hesitated to leave his heart open to his twin, yet he lost the ability to do so over a year ago. Mabel changed though. As soon as he was admitted to Benioff Children's Hospital of Oakland in the psychiatric ward, she began to regularly appear for visits and devote all of her free time to him. Mabel was there more often than their own parents had shown, often immersed in work. Weekends was typical for them. His twin though, would take the the hour ride on the bus everyday after school, and visit him for an hour or two. Dipper had been astonished by her actions and though he would never admit it to anyone, he often cried when she left. And, slowly they had begun to rekindle their close bond. He still remembered what she did though and a part of him would always. He could forgive, yet never forget. Dipper had already revealed his deepest, darkest secret though. He could do it again. "I...I heard a v-voice..."

Mabel's eyes widened and she crawled over to him. "Was it...was it h-her?"

Dipper shook his head. "It was...a m-man..."

Mabel frowned, tilting her head. "What did he say?"

"...'telephone'..."

Mabel seemed to ponder this. "Why would he...?" She froze. "Have you heard this voice before?"

"Uh, y-yeah...he said 'sick' back when...when G-Grunkle Stan caught that bug t-two weeks ago..."

Mabel beamed. "Dipper! Do you know what this means?!"

"Uhhh?"

She began to open the rest of the boxes and investigate. "A-ha!" The brunette hauled out an antique rotary phone, reminding Dipper of the 1940's. "Plug-in, plug-in...Found you!"

She crawled to the other side of the closet and plugged it in. Then, she proceeded to call the Mystery Shack's home number. Dipper was beginning to suspect he would never understand what was occurring tonight. For a moment, he could hear ringing from outside the closet, from the living room's phone, but it was abruptly silenced. After a moment, Mabel shoved the phone into his hands. "If someone picks up, its probably Grandpa Stanley!"

"Wait, what?!"

"Mabel?" The identifiable timbre questioned.

Dipper frowned. No. That couldn't be the mutter he heard. "Uh, no, t-this is her brother."

"Oh, you must be Dipper! So, you can hear me. I thought you did that one day in the hall. I apologize for that by the way. Simply talking aloud to myself."

"W-What? Wait, w-who is t-this?"

"Oh, did she not fully explain? Well, this is awkward...uhh, I suppose I'm your grandfather? It's a bit odd to be honest."

Dipper gaped. "G-Grandfather?...uh, l-look, my grandfather p-p-probably died a long t-time ago, so, uhhh..."

"Ah, I see. You need evidence. I'm like that as, too. Well, lets see what I could possibly tell you to make you believe...? Oh. Well, your great-uncle started boxing when he was eight. And, he started it since our father thought it would build character."

Dipper paled. Only Stan, Soos, and he would know that. And, the handy man would never willingly reveal such a fact to anyone. Dipper only knew, since he heard the memory of Stanford Pines divulge all of that to Soos. "W-Wait...but...I...S-Stanley Pines?"

"Yes."

"B-But, you soun-"

"Young? Yes, well, where I am, time doesn't seem to exist here."

"Where a-are you?"

"I'm stuck between two planes of existence. I am in the Mystery Shack, but in one that is stuck between two different worlds."

"A-Alternative universes?"

"Yes, it seems you grasp this concept better than your sister."

"Why can't Mabel hear you...but s-see you?"

"Yeah, how come Grandpa Stanley?!" Mabel shouted into Dipper's ear.

Dipper cringed and shoved her away. He heard chuckling from his grandfather. "I suppose that was her?"

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Yeah."

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I'm sorry I can't give you two a better answer."

"He doesn't know, Mabel." Mabel nodded dejectedly, then began to crawl over to Gideon, whose head was laid upon a dark coat.

"You two said you were stuck?"

Dipper blinked. He had nearly forgotten everything that had happened. The discovery of their grandfather, that their Dad had claimed left the family when he was an infant, had distracted him from the confides of the closet. Now, he wished he hadn't remembered. His anxiety was returning full force. "Uh, y-yeah... We s-sorta need help...p-please..."

"Ok, where I am, the door can be opened from the outside. Not the inside. I learned that from personal experience back when I was in that world. My brother didn't find me until eight hours later when he returned from work."

Dipper swallowed thickly. "E-Eight hours?"

"It won't take that long, no need to panic, Dipper."

He nearly began to laugh at how ironic the statement was. "H-How are we going t-to get out?"

"Well, you need something resembling a screwdriver or a pencil."

"Uh, Mabel do you see anything like a, uh a stick?"

Mabel glanced up from Gideon. "Dipper, Gideon's burn is...really gross..."

Dipper turned around and watched Mabel cradling Gideon's hand with a appearance of consternation. He barely glanced at the oozing hand for a moment, before gagging a bit with his eyes shut. The deep timbre voiced his concern. "Dipper?"

"Uh, h-hold o-on..."

Dipper set the phone back onto the floor and began to peruse through other unopened boxes. He stumbled across a tattered work briefcase and fumbled to open it. Frayed paperwork was dispersed along the inside of it and a fountain pen. Oh, thank god. The trio needed to leave as soon as possible; Gideon was becoming worse. Dipper would of been pondering on how Gideon's wound had been infected so quickly, if his anxiety hadn't overcome him at that moment. He crawled back to the phone and plucked it up. "Ok, I found a pen."

"Ok, now go to the hole where the handle would be."

Dipper and the phone moved to the door. "Here."

"So, do you see the square metal hole where the handle should be?"

"Yeah."

"That's known as the spindle hole. The spindle is a stick that connects both of the door knobs. Turning that, causes a door to open. Are you following me?"

Dipper made a noise, to affirm that he did. "Put the pen into that hole. There should be a knob next to your pen. If you push the pen to the left, the knob on the side of the hole will move, opening the door."

The brunet pushed the pen to that direction and there was a barely audible click. Then, the door creaked open. Dipper gaped for a moment, before exclaiming in a hushed voice. "Woah!"

"Dipper! Can you help me carry Gideon out?" Mabel inquired from behind him.

Dipper had nearly forgotten. "Uh, s-sorry someone with us is really, uh, sick, so I need to go."

"I understand. Your friend looked pretty sickly from when I saw him in the background of the mirror. You should hurry."

"Ok, uh, bye," Dipper hastily placed the phone back and began to crawl over to Mabel. He lifted up Gideon's feet, ignoring the twinge in his elbow, while Mabel lifted him, by placing her hands underneath his armpits. The pair of them had to remain on their knees or be at risk of hitting their heads. They shuffled on their knees, heading towards the door. When they were out of the entryway, Mabel began to stand, Dipper following her lead. He halted his efforts immediately though, panting. Haha! Pain is hilarious! "S-Stop!"

Mabel immediately went into a crouch. "Dipper?"

His elbow was immense pain by this point and he was beginning to see spots in his vision. His arm was violently trembling. "S-Slowly p-put him d-down."

Mabel slowly settled the 10-year-old down, right as Dipper did. He released his hold on Gideon's shoes and immediately curled his arm against his chest, painfully squeezing his eyes shut. "Oh, my god! Dipper, what happened?!"

He opened his eyes to witness Mabel covering her mouth. He glanced down at his arm and saw heavy bruising surrounding his elbow. Well, that explained why it hurt so bad. "I-I fell..."

"Do...do y-you need a hospital?"

"N-No, it's just bruised...do you hear...any-anything...?"

"What?"

"Well, I-I don't hear him anymore..."

"Grandpa Stanley?"

"N-No, uh B-" Dipper couldn't speak. Why couldn't he? Bill Cipher. Just say it. All he needed to do was say the name. Say it. Just sa-

"Kids? What are you two doing messing around with that closet?"

Dipper swung around to see Grunkle Stan standing at the entry way of the living room. "Uhhhhh..."

Dipper had no idea what to say in order to explain everything that happened the past few hours, without mentioning Bill Cipher. Ever since the first meeting of the dream demon, Soos, Dipper, and Mabel had agreed to not mention him to Stan. They weren't sure he would react kindly to the idea of a demon stalking them. Mabel always knew what to say though. "Grunkle Stan, we need to go to the hospital."

"Hospital? Did one of you two get hurt, again?"

Dipper and Mabel swung back around to Gideon. Expect, he wasn't there. Only the front door, standing wide open. Dipper knew right away that they wouldn't find him for the rest of the night. Mabel didn't know that though. "Gid-"

Dipper stepped on her foot and she stumbled away with a cry. Dipper lifted his injured elbow. "I fell and hit it really hard."

Stan frowned and stepped forward, tenderly taking hold of the extended arm. "Kid, how do you end up hurting yourself like this all the time?"

Dipper gulped guilty. He never meant to. It just always seemed to happen. "Uh, I..."

Stan sighed. "Ok, we're going. Mabel, stay here."

Mabel gaped at him. "Bu-But!"

"No, stay here. You should be in bed anyways. I'm gonna get the car keys, then we're going, Dipper." Stan concluded, before leaving the room. Dipper hadn't noticed until now, but Stan had his fez and slippers on. As if he had never gone to sleep. What had he been doing all night? And, was it him to turn the power back on?

Dipper turned to his sister. "I saw him in the woods a few days ago and he just disappeared. I don't know how Gideon does it, but we won't find him."

"B-But, he was so sick and..."

"I...I know," Dipper gulped. He felt anxious about where the boy could of possibly disappeared off to. The longer he had been with the defenseless boy, the less hate he had felt about their past encounters. The brunet truly wanted to locate him to help, but knew he wouldn't be able to. He knew what happened precisely occurred when someone's fever escalated too high and that caused him to be afraid for the 10-year-old. There was nothing either of them could do at the moment though. "He'll...he'll probably be ok though. He was in jail, so I think he can survive a fever..."

Mabel nodded hesitantly. "Are you ok though?"

"Yeah, it's just some bruises. I'l-"

"I didn't mean that, Dipper."

The triangle episode he had. He recalled the slap and guilt welled up in his heart. "...I-Is your cheek o-ok?"

"It's fine. What happened though?"

It occurred to Dipper that he now possessed a new deep dark secret; the triangles. He would keep this secret to grave though. Then again, that was precisely what he told himself when it came to the whispers. He decided to stick to the truth. "I'm just tired..."

~!10-9-12-12/18-5-8-16-9-3!~

"Dick?" Stan questioned the doctor. The doctor, a man this time, was prodding the bruises. Dipper hissed in discomfort, as his eyes welled with tears. The doctor frowned. Dipper was exhausted after the events that took place that night and desired for the pain to leave. On a curious note though, he wasn't aware Stan would know a doctor here. He squinted through the tears to read his name tag, revealing it to be 'Thompson'. Thompson. Oh. He recalled that Thompson was one of the teenagers in Wendy's group, that was always picked on and chosen to do the task no one else wished to do. Judging from the man's age, Dipper assumed the man to be around he late 30's or early 40's, likely causing him to be Thompson's father.

"I suspect there may be a break or a fracture somewhere on the elbow."

Stan frowned. "It bad?"

"No, I've seen worse, Stanley."

Dipper tensed at the name. Stanley? Wasn't Grunkle Stan's full name Stanford? His great-uncle's eyes flickered over to his face, before returning to the doctor's. "Ok."

The doctor revealed a smile. "Dipper? We just needed to take an x-ray of your arm. Have you ever had an x-ray before?"

Dipper nodded. "So, you've had some experience it would seem?"

The brunet nodded, once more. Dr. Thompson opened the door to the examination room and brought him out into the hallway. He caught Stan narrowing his eyes at Dipper, causing the brunet to squirm a bit. The doctor led him down to the room where the x-ray was. "Um, D-Doctor Thompson?"

They continued to walk. "Yes?"

"I always forget, but isn't Stan's name actually Stanford?"

The man frowned. "No, it's actually Stanley."

"Oh..."

If Stan knew Doctor Thompson, why would he lie about his name? Unless..."Then, is Stanford his brother?"

The doctor opened the door to the x-ray room. He appeared confused. "Brother? Your grandfather doesn't have any siblings."

Grandfather. No siblings. As the information set in, Dipper stared at the man. He thought Stan's name was Stanley. If Grunkle Stan was his grandfather, than who was the man on the phone who claimed he was stuck between two worlds? A chill trembled down his spine. Wha- "Now, you need to change into this gown before we can x-ray you."

Dipper bobbed his head up and down, in a daze. Dr. Thompson turned, to give him privacy, adjusting the x-ray machine. Dipper removed his pajamas, leaving him only in his underwear. Then, he put his arms through the gown sleeves and tied the string in the back. The man moved over to a rack of aprons and didn't turn back to Dipper, until he was wearing the lead shielding apron, to protect against the rays of the machines. Dipper hardly noticed as the doctor guided him to the table, too deep in his thoughts of what the possibility of the names.

~!-?-!~

"There's a hairline fracture on the olecranon. That's right here." The doctor explained to Stan, pointing his pen at the tip of the elbow. Stan was glad the kid was still the x-ray room. He was sure he would have a anxiety attack over a crack on his elbow. It was barely noticeable though, simply a squiggle on the photographs. He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Jesus, he was exhausted. Upon discovering his brother's journals being missing, he had frantically searched every nook and cranny in the lab. Right as he finished searching each hiding place, he realized that they weren't anywhere down in the lab. Right at the moment of that thought, the lights flickered, and died. He had rolled his eyes. Stupid power outage. Then, his eyes widened in horror as he realized all of the power went out, including the portal. Stan had kept it continuously running, fearing it wouldn't start again if he had shut it off.

He had stumbled and tripped over to where he knew the controls were and began to type in the code to start the portal. The first time around, he never bothered to know the code, but memorized it this time, in fear of not being able to operate for decades, like before. When that didn't work, he picked up his lantern and lit it. He rushed upstairs, into the shop, internally panicking. Stan toyed with the control panel outside for the next 15 minutes, until he was able to get the power started. He hadn't exactly understood why the power went out in the first place, but figured the portal had overpowered the house. Stan had nearly returned to the lab, when he thought he heard a distant conversation. Finding his great-niece and great-nephew messing around with the hidden closet he had painted to match the rest of the wood, had surprised him. Then, he recalled how easy they had discovered Stanley's room and realized how not surprised he was. Discovering Dipper hurting himself once more though, was still upsetting, no matter how times it happened. Thankfully, this injury wasn't as bad as the time with the stitches. That would be difficult to explain to Ariel when the kids returned home. The doctor continued on. "Since it's a very minor fracture, he'll need to wear a brace for at least a three to four weeks ."

Oh, Dipper was not going to like this. "A month?"

"Yes, around that time, or it may end up as a full break and then he'll have to wear a cast for a much longer amount of time."

Stan nodded. Dr. Thompson observed him, knowing full well that Stan didn't visit a doctor on a regular basis. "What about you, Stanley? Anything noteworthy?"

"No, I don't have any aches or pains or weird growths. I'm as fit as a horse."

"What's wrong with your hand then?"

"Cut it when I was restocking my store." Stan smoothly lied.

"Can I see?"

Stan rolled his eyes and handed it over, knowing full well the man would harass him for it until he would show him. Dr. Thompson unbandaged his thick hand and studied it. He nodded in approval, before reaching into a draw for more bandages. He re-wrapped it, as speaking. "It's healing fine."

"Great. Now, I'm pretty sure my grandson is dead on his feet. Can we get the brace now?"

"Of course."

The two of them entered the x-ray room, revealed Dipper in his pajamas once more and settled on the table. He rubbed his eyes as the doctor approached and began to position the brace on Dipper's arm. "You have a slight fracture in your elbow. This brace will keep it your arm in place, so that it heals properly. Only take it off when showering, alright?"

Dipper nodded, appearing in a daze. "It's to stay on for at least a three weeks."

Stan was astounded when Dipper bobbed his head up and down at the instructions. He must of been more exhausted then Stan first believed to not complain about the amount of time it would take to heal. More astounding, was that preteen and didn't utter a word on the way back to the Mystery Shack, silence only filled with the vocals of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" and the occasional rumbling of thunder. A storm was brewing. Right as Stan parked though, Dipper spoke. "Why does Dr. Thompson think you're my grandfather?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Stan smoothly lied.

"...He called you Stanley though."

"You must of heard wrong then." Stan evenly replied, sweat building up on his face

"He said your name is Stanley and that Stanley never had any siblings."

Shit. Then, he saw movement from the corner of his eyes. "I think you and your sister should go off to bed."

Dipper glanced over to the porch, and witnessed a concerned appearing Mabel peering through the triangle shaped window on the door. Triangle? It was supposed to be a diamond shape. He was barely fazed by the fact and turned his gaze back to his great-uncle. "Is your name really Stanford?"

Stan released a weary sigh and spoke in a defeated voice. "Yes, I'm Stanford Pines. A lot of folks in this town think my full name is Stanley though."

"...Why?" God, this kid was just full of questions he didn't wish to answer.

"Kid, sometimes folks want to see the best in others."

Dipper frowned. "What?"

"Look, I'm just gonna frank now; I don't want to talk about it, ok?"

Dipper stared blankly into the drizzle of rain. "Ok, Grunkle Stan."

End Chapter 8

Would you look at that; I didn't stop on a cliffhanger this time, unlike Not What He Seems. (Spoilers ahead) Holy guacamole though! Stanley Pines is canon now! Great job fandom! If only we didn't have wait until the summer for the next episode though. The wait is going to be brutal! The olecranon is a part of the elbow. It's the hard pointy bit.