Sweater Town
Chapter 16 – The Outside
By Starwin
Mabel knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to stay, to be here with her brother. The only way to do that was to be outside of sweater town. She moved toward the rip that would take her out. Yet, as she drifted she felt a strange tug pulling her in the other direction. It wasn't strong enough to stop her but it made her feel weird, like she had left something of herself behind.
"No, you've got it wrong, Bel," Mabel heard her voice say. She hadn't said those words, yet, she had. It was just not her that had said it. She glanced over her shoulder and was surprised to see... herself. Not older or younger. Not a shadow from another world. But her. Another her.
Stranger still, that other her was looking back over her shoulder too, as if she was the reflection. Mabel didn't miss the questioning gaze in the eyes of this other self. It was the same feeling she was having too. She didn't understand. She knew who she was seeing but not how or why.
The only difference between them as far as Mabel could see was that her other self was drifting back into sweater town.
Before she could make any sense of it, Mabel crashed into the edge of the world. Blazing light flooded over her eyes. She felt weight return to her body and a tingling sensation across her skin.
She stumbled forward, her feet finding uneven ground with every step. All she could see was a blinding white that was brighter and more intense than the place she had just been. She stopped and blinked and that seemed to help. Blob like shapes were coming into focus around her.
She could see browns and greens and blues. Something wiggled in front of her face, oh, those were her arms. She blinked again and the world came into sharper focus around her. She was in a forest. Her eyes moved upwards and she gazed upon the empty blue sky. The sun hung lazily off to the side, drifting down towards the end of the day. She looked left, then right. She was alone. She looked down… and wished she hadn't.
She was still her younger self - still herself, she guessed - but that wasn't the problem. Her sweater was gone. The real sky above her, no one around, her lack of sweater… it all meant one thing, it could only mean one thing. She was home… and sweater town was gone... Dipper was gone.
She felt tears starting down her face. She was alone. Forever now.
Mason watched as his sister press her palms against the golden rip in the air. He could barely see the gap in reality wavering before him but he could see it. In truth, he could see a lot more than the triangular rip. He could also see translucent strands of the thread-wall which was more visible closer to the tear. It was as if the light that poured through was illuminating something unseen.
May pressed harder and abruptly tumbled forward into the light with a yelp. In an instant she was gone. He stood there, having no idea what he was supposed to do now or next. Was he just supposed to wait? Should he walk through the almost invisible fabric to the other side? When sweater town came down was he just going to poof out of existence?
His eyes swept up the wall. There were many spots of golden light spread across the sky, each one making patches of sweater town visible to him. It was as if the sky was full of holes, holes that were quickly growing larger.
So this was it then. The end of the world. Was he about to vanish into nothing? He was pretty sure he was going to be fine. Well, as fine as anyone who had lost their sister for a second time could be. It hadn't really sunk in yet. This all felt like a nightmare that he longed to wake from.
A massive thread tumbled out of the sky. He took a step back and it missed him by inches. Although he wasn't sure if he'd had to step out of the way. It was transparent, just like the rest of the wall. And instead of landing on the ground it passed through it like a ghost.
Not for the first time he wondered what it really was. He had, after all, spent a lot of time thinking it over. The best he had come up with was a pocket of four dimensional space-time protruding into his three dimensional reality. What he was seeing was like a shadow of it.
Or, heck, maybe the whole thing was just magic. For as much science as he had learned over the years from Ford there had always been just as much unexplained weirdness. Like science it all worked on rules too, things you could predict and understand to some degree. Unlike science however the "how" of what magic did was inherently unknowable.
He watched as one of the largest rips grew even bigger until at last, the wall failed. All at once every thread seemed to come undone and the sky opened into white light. Mason had to shield his eyes as the whole world unraveled above him.
He looked back towards the gap only feet from him, the one that May had vanished into. For one insane moment, he thought about diving through and chasing after her. But the moment passed. The threads on either side pulled apart and the hole in reality evaporated away.
Except, something had been left behind. No, not a something, a someone! A young girl dressed in a light blue shirt and purple skirt. She had her back to him, her brown hair fluttering in the wind.
"Abby?" cried Mason in alarm. No, that was impossible. He shook his head as the girl turned towards him. For a moment they had looked so similar and he had forgotten the impossible. "Mabel…?" he asked, his throat dry. She smiled and rushed to hug him around his middle.
For a long moment he didn't react. He didn't know what to do. He had watched the sweater wall collapse and he had watched his sister vanish into it. Yet, here she was, hugging him tightly. Now a little more tightly.
"You're not happy to see me... are you?" asked May in a whisper. Mason realized he must have waited too long. He returned the hug somewhat awkwardly.
"Sorry, you - you just surprised me," he said. "I thought… I thought you were gone…"
"I thought so too bro-bro," said May. "I thought I had gone home and that I had lost you… forever this time…"
"Mabel," Mason asked. "What happened?" She blew a raspberry and lifted her shoulders in a shrug, she was still hugging him. "Please, no more of that." He rubbed the side of his face in frustration.
"Yeah, I guess it can get a little annoying," said May with a giggle. It almost made his heart break to hear that laugh. "As for what happened..." she trailed off into silence and looked away. Mason felt her hug him tighter, a sure sign that she was thinking about how to answer his question, without answering it.
"If you don't want to talk about it - " Mason began, trying to give her an out.
"I met Bel," said May flatly. It took his brain a long moment to process that.
"Wait, you what?" asked Mason, panicked uncertainty like he hadn't felt in years erupted in his brain. "Bel, as in my Bel?" She nodded. Mason finally wriggled free of her hug so that he could squat down in front of her and be eye level with her. "Mabel, what happened? What did she say?"
She shrugged again, wrapping her arms around her body.
"I don't know," said May after a long moment. "Look, I don't think I'm ready to talk about it just yet, okay?" It wasn't okay. She had talked to his sister, his dead sister. The one that he loved, that he missed so much it hurt and she wouldn't tell him?
"It's okay, when you're ready," said Mason, using all his strength to keep his voice steady. The small smile of appreciation that she gave him told Mason he had done a good job not showing his real feelings on the subject. "How are you still here? Sweater town's gone." He waved his hands up at the sky.
"Again, I don't know," said May. "I was some place really strange, like a world between worlds or something. Even stranger, when I left, there were two of me, going in opposite directions."
"Bel?" whispered Mason hopefully, but May was already shaking her head.
"No, it wasn't Bel. It was me, another me," said May, frowning. "Like, it was my reflection or something? I think I'm still here because I came out the other side. So, I wasn't in sweater town when it came apart. But that other me..." she trailed off again. May suddenly looked down at her hands and abruptly stepped back. Her wide eyes searched across the ground as if seeing something. "What the heck?" she exclaimed. "What's hoo-ha this!"
Mason followed her gaze. She was staring at the rough uneven dirt only a foot or so away from where he was. It just looked like normal ground to him. May however was still fixated on the ground, entranced by something only she could see. He had sort of gotten used to that, both from his sister and from May. One had a hyperactive imagination (okay, both did) and the other actually could see things he could not. But sweater town was gone, wasn't it, so what was she seeing?
"Mabel, what is it?" Mason asked when she didn't elaborate. May blinked and looked confused.
"I don't know… I was thinking about the other me and… and I think I saw her… I think I saw us," whispered May.
"Us?"
"Another us, different us-es," she said with a nod. May waved the hand not clenched against her chest through the air. "They're gone." She looked up into the sky and Mason followed her gaze into the empty blue. "It's just the sky above me now. My sweater's gone."
Something else clicked in his brain. No sweater. No woolhole.
"Wait," said Mason, as the sudden terrible realization came over him. "Mabel, are you saying you're here forever?" She shrugged but must have caught his expression.
"No idea, Dipper," said May. She frowned. "Sorry, Mason. That's going to take some getting used too. I guess a lot of things are going to take some getting used too." She looked at him with sad eyes. "You - you do want me here… right?" He didn't answer, instead he wrapped her up in a crushing hug. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Of course I do," said Mason, his voice cracking. "No matter how you look or where you're from, you're my sister."
"And you're my Hipity-Dipity-Doo!" said May, hugging him back.
"Don't call me that. That's an awful name," said Mason flatly pulling out of the hug. She giggled again. "But why would you want this? What about your life back home, your friends… our parents…" She looked away, he knew that expression. She didn't want to tell him her reason.
"Dipper," she said. "I mean, Mason - "
"If you want to stick with Dipper you can," said Mason. Just like she was always going to be May to him. She nodded.
"I couldn't go back, I couldn't be in a world without you, I just couldn't," said May. "And those other people are here too, just, different."
"Not all of them," said Mason sadly. "Mabel, I'm twenty years old than you. I have a daughter… you… you have a daughter that's the same age as you. Abby… how are we going to explain any of this to her? I mean, we can't hide it… right?"
"Of course not," said May with a frown and a shake of her head. "You know I'm a terrible liar anyhow." He nodded in agreement. Yeah, he had always found her complete inability to make believable lies somewhat adorable. For someone with so much imagination, it was hard to understand why she was so bad at it. "We just tell her the truth. Everyone else though, that might not be the best idea."
"No kidding," whispered Mason. "They would definitely think we're crazy."
"Well…" said May. "It actually might not be that hard to come up with something because I sort of already have. I mean, you already did."
Mason looked at her in confusion, he had come up with something? He hardly understood what was happening right now and he had been here for it. There was no way he was thinking ahead. She rolled her eyes.
"Twins!" cried May in exasperation. Mason shook his head, yes, okay, they were twins but they really no longer looked anything alike. "No, Dipper, me and Abby! We look alike!"
"Oh," said Mason. The idea rolled over and he felt it click in his brain. That… that was actually maybe an okay idea. Afterall, they had found Grunkle Stan's twin, someone that almost no one knew existed. And people always just seemed to accept the long lost twin thing for some strange reason. "I guess that could work. But, I mean, people already know she was an only child." May waved a dismissive hand.
"Come on, evil twins are always showing up when you least expect it," said May.
"You're the evil twin?" asked Mason with a half smile. He had expected a laughing comment or a giggle or anything except for his sister to burst into tears. "Mabel!" he cried as she hugged him again, apologies spilling from her mouth.
"I'm sorry Dipper! I'm so sorry!" cried May.
"Mabel, it's okay, I was joking! You obviously aren't evil. You don't have a mustache or goatee!" cried Mason, trying to inject some humor that appeared to go unnoticed. May just shook her head.
"I am though," she whimpered. "Bel, it was… coming here, it was my fault what happened to her." Mason felt his body stiffen.
"What?" he asked softly but he already knew what she meant. He listened as she explained - half listened with a numb body and brain.
"I didn't travel here the right way," she said. "I didn't pull her out of her body first, I just took it over. And somehow - somehow that damaged her. I gave Bel cancer, Dipper! I did it to her! I - I killed her." She looked away, still sobbing. "I'm an idiot, why did I stay here! I'm a monster!" Mason stayed silent, not sure what to say. However, he was even more unnerved when she started to laugh. A slightly unhinged uneven choking laugh.
"But I guess I got what I deserved too, right," she tapped at the side of her head with a soft "boop" and it finally clicked for him. That thing Bill had said. Mason had asked her about it before but she had deflected the question.
"I have it too… a tumor, growin-in-my-brain… just like… like Bel," explained May. "I might have stayed here… but for how long? Now you just get to watch me die again. I'm sorry, Dipper." Mason shook his head and took a few steps to her before he hugged her again from behind.
"No," whispered Mason. "You couldn't have known what would happen. If you had, I'm sure you would've stop - "
"Would I?" interrupted May and her voice sounded unsure. She was really asking him because she clearly didn't know. The answer was firm in his brain though. He knew what his sister would do.
"I know you would've stopped," lied Mason. "I once asked you if you were here to hurt us, do you remember what you said?"
"I probably said 'Dipper' because that was all I could say," said May with a sniffle.
"Yeah, that's true. But you shook your head so hard your hairband fell out," said Mason. "I couldn't explain it but I trusted you then and I still do. You never wanted to hurt anyone."
"But I did," said May.
"You did," agreed Mason. He hugged her tighter. "Bel was sure you had given it to her," he continued and he felt her start to tremble in his arms. "She was mad at you for so long. However, even when you stopped coming here, it just kept growing. Every year, worse on the years you weren't here." He laughed softly. "She just needed to hold out for two more years, two more and she would have been fine."
"Fine?" asked May, her voice angry. She tried to struggle free of the hug but Mason held her. "How would she have been fine?"
"Because there's a cure for it," said Mason. "Not a treatment but a cure. I told you I searched for one, but I wasn't alone. One of the big companies had a breakthrough two years after Bel passed, now it's easily correctable."
"That's not fair," whimpered May. "That's not fair!" Her knees gave out and if he hadn't been holding her, she would have collapsed to the ground.
"I know," said Mason. "Life isn't fair. We just have to make the most of what we can. Hold on to the things that matter to us," he hugged her tighter, "and keep going. I've lost a lot along the way. But I've gained a lot as well. Come on, let's get you home and we can talk." He lifted her up in his arms and carried her back to the car.
She nuzzled her face into his chest as they walked. It took all his strength to keep walking as the emotions tumbled around inside him. He had gotten a sister back but not his sister. She had been the cause of Bel's problems yet she had also brought him such happiness. She was a person from the happiest time of his life brought forward into the now.
"Dipper!" cired May, causing him to tumble out of his thoughts. He came to a stop at her panicked cry. Her gaze was fixed on the car. He looked at the Geep but it was empty. She began to struggled. Mason let her down and she dashed to the car, her arms clutching around the empty air. After a long moment she released her hold on nothing and looked sadly at her hands. "Dipper…" she whispered sadly.
"Mabel, what is going on?" asked Mason. He was really starting to worry. Was she hallucinating? Should their next stop be a hospital instead of home?
"It was us," she said, not looking up at Mason. "Another us, just like before. I saw Dipper, my Dipper."
"How's that possible?" asked Mason. May shook her head.
"I saw something like this in - " she closed her mouth and shook her head. "Can we just go home?" Mason nodded.
They got back into the Geep, May taking the seat across from him. Mason started up the car and they made the short drive along the dirt road in near silence. May kept muttering to herself along the way, although, at least her tears had stopped. Mason felt the need to try and comfort her, to say something to make her feel better. But, honestly, he had no idea how to do that right now. It was a weird feeling not knowing what to say to his sister because he had always known how to make her feel better.
The problem was, he didn't know how to feel about her right now at all. She was his sister, from an alternate universe. She was functionally identical to the person she had been at the age of thirteen. However, she was also more than that. She was the person that had taken away his real sister, the person that had stolen days out of her life, the person that had replaced her.
His logical brain told him he should hate her. That anger was the only possible reaction he should be feeling right now. But he was pretty sure that wasn't what he felt. For all she had done, he could understand. After all, he had gone to any lengths to get his Mabel back. And he had failed.
Now she was here, sitting right beside him and shouldn't he feel something other than confused?
His eyes drifted onto her and he could see her chewing on her hair. That brought a smile to his face. Mabel had chewed her hair less and less over the years but she still did. It was one of the things he loved about her. Not the hair chewing specifically but how open she was with her feelings. He had always been closed off, walled up, towards everyone.
She had once confided in him that she loved that he could hide how he was feeling and wished she could too. Sometimes.
"A good flavor today?" asked Mason sparing a glance at her. They had just turned back onto the paved road that would take them home. Not for the first time, Mason lamented the fact that the car did not have selfdrive on it. He really wanted to give all his attention to the little girl beside him. There were no other cars on the road, so he felt somewhat okay taking his eyes off it to look at her.
May spit out the hair and shook her head, "Nope, just tastes like hair," she said. She glanced out the window. There was another long stretch of silence while Mason tried to think of how to bring up the topic he most wanted to discuss. But he couldn't find the right words.
"She isn't really gone," said May. "Bel, I mean." Mason's hands tightened on the steering wheel but he didn't say anything. He wanted her to continue. "She's watching over us, probably right now."
Mason felt himself relax. He also felt a pit of disappointment in his stomach. Oh, she hadn't meant literally. She was just repeating all that religious talk people loved to spout about departed loved ones. He didn't need to hear that. It didn't make him feel better.
"She might even be here with me now," continued May. "I don't know how to tell but she said it was easier to be here when I was. Are you here with me Bel?" Mason turned his head to stare at her. That had sounded way more specific (and slightly crazy) than just talking about being watched over by angels or something. May shrugged to herself. "I donno, maybe she is. I've never been able to really feel her here with me before but - "
"She was able to be there with you," said Mason in a whisper. May looked at him and nodded. "She told me about it, about the times you were here and she was able to sort of be there too. Like a waking dream. Are you saying that Bel is alive, that she's here with us right now?" May looked away again and shook her head.
"No, Dip, I - I'm sorry, I shouldn't have," said May, continuing to shake her head. He reached out and touched her shoulder.
"Please, tell me," he begged. She still didn't look at him.
"I went somewhere, when I touched that hole in the sweater," said May. "I don't know what it was. Maybe a sort of sweater crossroads or something, that's what Bel called it. From there we could look in on other worlds, other versions of our self and - " She stopped, seeming not to want to elaborate. "Anyhow, we couldn't be any other versions of us, we could just look in on them. And that's what Bel has been doing, looking in on you and Abby. She's not a ghost or a made up something, but her. I don't know what she was and she didn't know either.
"She thought that the thing Bill did to us might have kept like her mind or something alive. She can only watch but not interact. Maybe that's what I keep seeing, after images of other worlds?"
"The dreamscape," whispered Mason with a nod. May looked back at him.
"Wait, you know what it was?" asked May.
"Maybe? One of the things I've studied over the years when looking for - for a way to bring my sister back," he said. "You remember that first summer here, right?" May rolled her eyes. Right, obviously, it had just happened to her, although it was so distant for him. "And that sock opera you put on."
"He-he, yeah, that was fun. Gabe was a little creepy though," she muttered.
"You also probably remember Bill taking over my body," continued Mason.
"And I remember you as a sock puppet," interjected May.
"What you don't know was that I was stuck, in the dreamscape," said Mason. "Bill kicked me out of my body to take it over. But I was still there, floating around like a ghost. I was nothing more than my mind or spirit or whatever. I spent years trying to figure out what happened to me.
"We even had a previous encounter with it," continued Mason. "When we went into Grunkle Stan's mind. We were both without our bodies. Just our thoughts jumping into someone's dreams. And both times, Bill opened the way."
They pulled off the main road and onto the unpaved dirt that led back to the Mystery Shack. The car bumped along and both of them stayed quiet. Mason pulled into his usual spot by the back door and turned off the car. The two of them sat there silently.
Mason was lost inside his own head, trying to work out how he was feeling right now, how he should feel about the person sitting next to him. Who was she really to him? Not Bel that was for sure. He didn't feel the same way he did for Bel. May was a moment of his past, frozen in time. Not really a memory but not exactly the person he wanted her to be either.
A finger jabbed into his side and he heard May whisper "boop" as she poked him back into reality. At least she hadn't punched him in the arm or something.
"You've got that far off look in your eyes bro-bear," said May. "Still can't read your mind." Mason nodded, that was probably a good thing… wait, did Bill's power give her the ability to read his mind? Was she just pretending that she couldn't? Was she reading his thoughts - she poked him in the cheek.
"Ack, sorry," he said rubbing his cheek. "You can't read my mind though, right?" May rolled her eyes. "Right, just checking." He continued to rub his cheek, his thoughts still working over that last notion. He was trying to buy some time to -
"I'ma poke you in the eye if you don't stop being silent," threatened May, only half-joking as she held her finger up, pointed towards his eye.
"Alright, alright, no more poking," said Mason, holding up his hands and giving her his full attention.
"Well?" said May after a long moment when he didn't continue. 'Well what?' was what he wanted to say but he just gave her a blank stare of confusion instead. She let out a frustrated sigh. "Gah, you can be so thick sometimes! It's no wonder you weren't able to guess what was going on with me!"
"Hey, I worked it out!" complained Mason. "And secondly, how was I just supposed to stumble on to you being my sister from an alternate reality, that lost a different version of myself, so escaped into a made up fantasy world that turned out to be real, and took over the body of her counterpart in that other universe!"
"Pfft, that was like number two on my list," said May with a casual wave of her hand. "It's so obvious!"
"What part of that was obvious!" cried Mason in frustration. His frustration melted away into confusion. "Wait, what was number one?"
"We're both just crazy," said May with a nod.
"Yeah, I still haven't ruled out that possibility." The two of them were overcome with a fit a laughter and giggles. It was good to have his sister back, no matter the version.
They finally made their way inside, both still recovering from laughing. For Mason, he was just coming home. But for May, it must have been like coming home for the first time. She paused in the entryway looking around.
"Come on, we can chat in the kitchen," said Mason, motioning them towards the door to the kitchen. May moved towards it but halted abruptly at the door. She just stared into the empty room with its one lone card table. Mason had always meant to get a better table but Bel liked the little run down one they had. She said it reminded her of their Grunkle. May stared longingly at it too, did it remind her of something as well.
"I see them," whispered May. Mason's brow furled in confusion. "They're here, clearer than before, four of them, sitting around the table talking." Mason put a hand on her shoulder and for the briefest moment, he could see them too.
The air wavered and shimmered. In the four fold out chairs set around the table, there were four shadowy shapes that weren't exactly people. He couldn't make out any details of their faces or bodies but he could tell that one of them, the closest one, was looking at them. Mason pulled his hand back and they shimmered away.
"Who - what?" he asked in confusion. May just shook her head.
"Can - can we go somewhere else?" she said. Mason nodded, looking back into the empty kitchen. How was his sister so calm about this? Just that little glimpse of them had almost been enough to freak him out, yet she had been seeing them ever since she had come back. Maybe longer?
"Mabel, when did these things start showing up?" asked Mason. She shrugged. "Seriously, I'm not sure how much more shrugging I can take." She looked back and smiled at him then stuck out her tongue.
"It just started," said May. "That first time, near the edge of the sweater, was when I first saw it. They were just like shadows then. But each time I see them again they're more clear, more visible. I saw myself just now, looking back at me. I saw you looking confused… and… and I saw Dipper… and Bel…"
Mason came to an abrupt stop, just feet away from the couch.
"She's here?" he asked. He felt a thrill of excitement rush through him. May shook her head.
"No, it isn't us that I'm seeing, well, it is us," said May. "It's just another us."
"This is making my brain hurt," complained Mason, flopping down onto the couch.
"You're telling me," said May.
They sat in silence again for a long while, occupying the comfy couch that Bel had picked out so many years ago. Each spot had a reclining seat. Mason had always taken the left seat, his whole life. He was the left twin after all, as Bel had so often reminded him.
That had changed of course over the past twenty years. Whenever Bel noticed them sticking to their sides she would mix it up, take his seat or sprawl herself across him. Declaring there was no left or right, only love and the power of love and the - uh, other things of love.
Of course they hadn't changed up their sleeping arrangement. She still slept in the bed on the right and he on the left. Or, at least that's what the outside observes were supposed to think. In actuality neither of them really had their own bed anymore. Both sides were fair game.
That would have to change. It wasn't Bel he was talking to right now even if she acted so similar. They hadn't talked sleeping arrangements yet. In truth, they had hardly talked about any plans for what they were going to do. Neither of them seemed ready just yet to talk about themselves or what the future now held for them.
So Mason spent the next few hours filling May in on everything that had happened through the years she had missed. Not about her life because she had gotten that from Bel. At least, most of it, as near as Mason could tell. He talked about the rest of the world. It had changed so much and she had always been trapped here every year with just the barest glimpse into what things were like.
Being thirteen, she showed little reaction to the current political climate. Nor did she really understand the new war that had started. In fact she didn't seem interested in any of the problems of the world at large, of which there were many, both new and continuing.
She was however excited to learn that High School Boy SingSong Fifteen: To Sing Once Again, had come out, even if it had poor reviews. He talked about advancements in technology and science, although her eyes glazed over a bit as he got into the details.
"Do you still do the UsTube video things?" May interrupted as he was talking about the current climate crisis they were facing. The question caught him slightly off guard and reaffirmed that she hadn't been paying attention to what he was talking about.
"No," said Mason with a shake of his head. "After Bel passed, I just didn't want to keep doing that. They did make that animated show about us though, it was pretty good, but only two seasons long. It was sort of strange to watch a reimagined version of myself. I think they might have made me too nerdy though." May let out a sorting laugh. "What?"
"Too nerdy? I don't think that's possible bro!" cried May, trying and failing to hold back her giggles.
"Yes, ha ha, they made you pretty boy crazy too by the way," said Mason, "always chasing after the heartthrob of the week." May smiled at him and wiggled her eyebrows.
"So they got me right on then," she said. Mason opened his mouth to answer, about to say something that would have been both stupid and possibly uncomfortable. Luckily, his brain managed to think better of it and closed his jaw for him. "Uh, how right on did they get us?"
"I don't know what you mean," lied Mason, knowing exactly what she meant.
"Dipper," she muttered, narrowing her eyes.
"Fine, no, they didn't get that side of us, thankfully," he said. "Just a loving brother and his twin sister's sibling affection, alright!" He actually felt slightly embarrassed to say it. He looked away from the girl sitting next to him on the couch.
"Wait," said May. "You're the star? And my character is just like what, your sidekick?" That snapped Mason out of his embarrassment.
"What? No, we get equal screen time, I mean, they get it! They're fictional characters, May!" said Mason. Her eyes widened slightly. "Okay, maybe the show is a bit more focused on the character based on me, but it's just based on me. It isn't me, or you. Besides, I didn't write the show, I just gave them the idea and - "
"You called me May," interrupted May. Mason froze, darn it, had he? "That's how you see me, isn't it? I'm just the other Mabel, aren't I?"
Darn it, darn it, darn it!
"Yeah," said Mason. He wanted to look away from her but instead focused his eyes on her. She nodded after a long moment.
"Dip - Mason, you don't feel the same way about me as Bel, right?" asked May. The first answer that had jumped to his brain was 'NO!' followed by 'of course I do!' and finally rationalized into:
"I love you like my sister," said Mason. "The same way you love me." She smiled and then tackle hugged him, squeezing him so tight he thought she might break a rib. "Yes, like that. Air, Mabel, air!" She let him go and retreated back to her side of the couch.
They talked for several more hours until both of them started to yawn. Mason glanced down at his watch to see it was almost midnight. Almost midnight. Was she really going to be able to stay here this time? Her sweater had gone but would she remain?
"Guess it's time for bed," said May quietly. He had never been good at guessing what she was thinking but this time he knew for sure she was thinking the same thing as him. Would she still be here when they woke up tomorrow?
"Hey," said Mason. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure everything'll be fine." He held out his hand to her and she took it, giving him a squeeze as she did. "We'll face tomorrow together, alright?" She nodded.
They went upstairs together. They brushed their teeth together, May even challenging him to a toothbrush race, something they hadn't done for many years. As always though, she came out the victor. Spitting into the sink first and declaring her victory as toothbrush champion of the universe!
Mason let her have the room first to change, again something they hadn't needed to do for years. However, he was pretty sure she would feel less comfortable with him there. He sure as heck did. She was still his sister, the one he had fallen in love with but at the same time she wasn't. She was so much younger. The same age as their daughter.
It didn't take her long to change and when she was done she stepped outside to let Mason get ready for bed. However, before he could change his eyes found something else waiting for him, someone else already in their beds.
They weren't shadows this time, they were people. In her bed, he could see May and Dipper, both thirteen again, cuddled together under the blankets holding each other. And… and in his bed...
"Bel," Mason whispered. He walked over to it, seeing his own face beside his lost sister. They were like ghosts or after images. He reached out to touch her and as he did she looked at him and smiled sadly. Then she faded away and he was alone in the room once more. Was he going to be tormented with visions like this forever?
A knock at the door brought him back as May asked if he was done yet.
"Just a sec," he called before quickly changing into pajama pants and a shirt. Not his normal sleeping attire but being almost naked seemed like a poor choice at the moment.
Changed, he opened the door to let May back in. For a long moment they stood together looking over the room. Mason felt May grab his hand and squeeze it.
Wordlessly, they both went to their separate beds and got in. Mason checked his watch. There was only a few minutes to go until midnight but already his eyes felt heavy. He reached out and clicked out the lamb by his bed.
"Goodnight, Mabel," he said to the darkness. This had been something he had done all his life and still did, even if there hadn't been an answer for many years now.
"Goodnight, Dipper," his sister answered back. It was almost heartbreaking to hear. He didn't cry often but Mason felt himself starting to tear up as he heard her voice. He had his sister back.
Mason opened his eyes to the darkness of the room. He must have cried himself to sleep because he didn't remember drifting off. His tired eyes found the glowing letters of his alarm clock. 1:44 A.M.. His eyes slid off the clock and onto the bed across from him. The empty bed. He felt his face fall.
She hadn't been able to stay after all. They had worried and planned and it had all been for nothing because just like always, after midnight she -
Mason felt something shift very slightly beside him. He felt a small arm tighten around his torso. His eyes moved from the bed across the way to the person curled up next to him. She was here. She was still here.
He lay back down and put an arm around her. He really had his sister back.
