Hey guys! Next chapter here, and you'll finally get a glance to where Steven and Mabel are stashed! At this point, the story's going to become more interesting so I hope you'll like it. Don't forget to leave a review or comment if you have any questions!
Disclaimer: I don't own: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, or Rick and Morty
This was the longest and deepest sleep Mabel had in a long time, she assumed it was the increasing pressure of middle school and unreasonable academic pressures but she couldn't be sure. All she knew was that she was sleeping better than she had since she got back from Gravity Falls, and was in no hurry to wake up. She was in her comfy bed! In her snuggle pajamas and Waddles sleeping at the foot of her bed! Life couldn't be better!
VRR! VRRR! VRRR! Mabel groaned and reached under her pillow to turn off her phone's vibration feature. However, she was so tired that she had to forced herself to open her eyes to look at her screen to set the silencer. She knew Dipper would probably rush into her room to force her out of bed, after which she would hog the bathroom and make him late for revenge. After taking a brief glace at the foot of her bed to check on Waddles, she promptly fell onto her back to resume sleep. Not a second later, Mabel snapped back up after realizing that her pet was not at her bedside... and that was not the only thing that was missing.
Mabel was floating in a pink bubble-like sphere, where it was just her and her bed. There was nothing but whiteness around her, and there was nothing but silence. The girl shivered, remembering the troubling sequence she got up to with Dipper in Gravity Falls and called out: "Time Baby?! Is this a joke?! Come on, let me out! And how'd you get here? I thought you couldn't leave Gravity Falls?"
No answer came to her, and Mabel became even more panicked. "Hello?" She called out. "Is anyone there?! Dipper?! Grunkle Stan?! Uncle Ford?! Waddles?! Anyone?!" Mabel had tears streaming down her face at this point, not understanding what was going or why this was happening. She sat on her bed holding her head, rocking back and forth. Remembering her phone, she quickly reached under her pillow and tried to call Dipper- no service. "Darn it! Stupid cellphone coverage! Companies overcharging you and giving you nothing!" She threw her phone on the bed and resumed her position, trying to figure out what to do next.
Suddenly, something pink caught her eye. Looking up, Mabel rubbed her eyes at what she was seeing. After confirming that this was indeed real, Mabel was almost certainly that where she was is linked to Gravity Falls- she just wasn't sure how. She now wished she paid more attention to her brother's ramblings about the journals. But she had a good memory, she could remember an entry about a pink lion right?
/
The ride to Old Man McGucket's place was silent as the group contemplated on their current situation, these were really the last people in Gravity Falls Dipper would ever ask help from. But here they were, riding with him to the former Northwest manor- to which, had been... redecorated under Old Man McGucket. Though Dipper liked it much better, he was worried that the new cabin in the woods theme of the manor would provide too much foliage to find the elusive old man.
After being dropped off by Gideon's father, who was still terrified of his son, Dipper and the others went up to the front door to knock. "Old Man McGucket? It's me! Dipper Pines! Are you home?"
"Step aside, shrimp." Robbie slightly pushed Dipper aside to open the door. "Old man usually keeps it unlocked so the towns people can come visit."
"Yeah." Tambry added, following her boyfriend inside. "Even the Northwests occasionally come back, to steal some of their stuff."
"And he doesn't mind?" Dipper asked, while looking around.
"Nah. Old man's got more stuff than he knows what do with!" Gideon laughed. "You home old man?!" Shouting through the corridors, Dipper was beginning to worry about the previously mentioned tunnels. If the old man wasn't here, Dipper wasn't sure what he was going to do.
"Got him. He's in the observatory tower thing." Tambry spoke up, showing status updates from the old man on her phone. The pictures showed badly taken selfies of McGucket in front of a giant telescope- Dipper had to smile. Even after the Weirdmaggeden incident, the old man hadn't changed too much. "On the top floor or something. I'll let him know we're here." Tambry typed a post, while leading the others upstairs to the master bedroom.
Knocking on the door, Dipper pushed the door open gently. "Old Man McGucket? It's Dipper Pines... Ford's nephew... are you free? I really need to talk to you-"
"Well howdy there Dipper!" The old man was suddenly in front of him, with his arms out. "And friends! Welcome to the McGucket Manor! Make yourselves at home!"
"Thanks." Robbie nodded, while Tambry gave her own salutary nod.
"No time for pleasantries old man! We came here on a mission!" Gideon cut the small talk quickly.
At this, the old man frowned. "Mission? What do you mean?"
"McGucket... last summer, do you remember my sister Mabel Pines?" Dipper asked.
"Mabel?" The old scientist smiled in recognition. "Why sure I do! Who wouldn't remember that happy sister of yours? Speaking of which... where is she? You're normally together, ain't yah?"
Steadying himself, Dipper grasped the old man's arm. "Please... something's gone horribly wrong! No one can remember my sister but us, and I have no idea why! Bill's dead so it can't be him! And I don't remember anything in the journals describing like this-"
"Wait slow down!" McGucket put his hands up. "What do yah mean, no one remembers Mabel? It's impossible to forget your sister."
"Exactly what I said Mr. McGucket." Dipper said again. "No one remembers Mabel but us, and we can prove it... McGucket look at the pictures in your house that were taken after Weirdmaggeden. Do you see Mabel in any of them?"
The old man frowned, but took a look at one of the pictures at his work desk. The master bedroom now served a dual purpose of being an observatory, with the large work desk containing notebooks, blueprints, and several pictures. He walked over to the picture where he knew Mabel would be in the photo... this picture was taken after Weirdmaggeden, when the town banned together to rebuild. In the picture, Mabel and Dipper were supposed to be holding the first piece of plywood and a hammer.
But when McGucket looked at the picture, he didn't see the twins holding the building materials- just Dipper. Panicking, he hurried to other pictures around the room that had been taken at random times with him, Stand, Ford, and the kids. In none of the pictures did he see Mabel... making McGucket quickly realize the seriousness of the situation.
Turning back to Dipper, he asked. "When did you notice your sister was gone?"
"Since last week." Dipper answered. "I woke up on a Monday and noticed that Waddles wasn't fed and the bathroom wasn't being hogged- weird for my house. I shrugged it off and figured Mabel had to get to school early for something, but when I didn't see her that day, I went home to check on her in her room. Only she didn't have a room... Mabel's room is an office, my parents think I'm an only child, and even accused me of making up jokes when I said that I had a sister named Mabel!" Dipper was practically pulling his hair out by the end. "Not even Ford and Stan believe me, so whatever is going on, it's huge!"
"Ford and Stan don't remember?!" McGucket was especially troubled by that tidbit.
"No! Neither does Soos or Wendy! These people with me, are the only ones besides us that remembers Mabel! And I have no idea why!" Dipper stated.
"Excuse me!" Gideon scoffed at that. "I'll have you know that I could never forget the love of my life!" He boasted and then murmured. "Not sure about these two though..."
"Watch it Gleeful!" Robbie made a fist.
"But he's right." Tambry pointed out. "Like, I don't have anything against Mabel or anything but... why do me and Robbie remember her? We don't really know her."
"Hmmm..." McGucket scratched his beard in thought. "I'm not sure either, but I'll go over some of the notes I took back in the day with Ford."
"Wait! You have your own journals?! That's awesome!" Dipper felt a huge weight lift.
But McGucket frowned. "I'm sorry son but... I longed lost those notes back when I kept trying to forget. They're round here somewhere, but it may take awhile to find. Even so, Ford's journals are better anyways."
"That's actually why we came here." Robbie spoke up. "The shrimp said you might know where those weird journals are."
"Pardon me?" McGucket rose a brow at Dipper.
Before Dipper could answer, Gideon spoke up. "Mr. Pines here in his 'infinite' wisdom, had decided to toss the journals into the Gravity Falls bottomless pit!"
"So they could be anywhere..." Tambry finished.
"We thought you might have an idea where they might have ended up." Dipper finished. "You and Ford studied the supernatural phenomena in Gravity Falls for months... you must have an idea where those journals might have ended up."
"Hmmm..." McGucket tried to recall the tenancies of the pit, but couldn't offer up a good solution. "Son... I don't want to disappoint yah or nothin', but... I honestly don't know where those journals might've ended up." Dipper and the others looked down. "But I'll come with yah to vouch for Mabel! We need to get Ford on board with this! He wrote the journals! He can remember what's in them!"
/
Mabel stared at the pink lion in awe- it was seriously something out of her fantasies! Its main was like cotton candy, and it was the color of some beautiful jewelry she saw at one of Gravity Falls' Saturday markets. Maybe the lion was the spirit of that rose quartz necklace, Dipper had refused to buy her. Seriously, what's a month's allowance compared to that priceless gem?
"Hey! Mr. Lion! Over here!" Mabel tried shouting from within her bubble, but was disappointed when the lion didn't even turn to look at her. The girl frowned and pounded her fists against the force-field, which did nothing but squish against her hands. Mabel sighed and took a closer look at the lion, and gasped- the creature was panting hard and seemed to be scuffed on several parts of its body. There was also something on the lion's back, but Mabel couldn't quite make out the shape. Making her hands into circles, she placed them over her eyes to focus her vision.
"Holy smokes! There's a boy on that lion's back!" Looking closer, she smiled. "He has a star on his shirt, like my sweater!"
While the commonality seemed minor, Mabel was honestly just glad to have someone else in this strange atmosphere with her. Going under her covers, she searched for any stray clothes she may have left on her bed the day before. Like most teenagers, the twins hated cleaning and was often too lazy to throw their clothes in the hamper. While Dipper preferred littering his floor, Mabel tended to throw them on her bed to make forts for when she had trouble going to sleep.
After a few moments, Mabel was happy to find that her classic purple shooting star sweater was under her comforter along with a pair of jeans that most likely needed washed. After dressing under the covers, Mabel pulled the comforter off of her to see if she could find the lion. To her disappoint the creature was gone, which made her wonder- did the lion know a way out? Maybe he was connected to that boy and trying to find a way out?! With no other options, Mabel tried pounding the force-field again- the squishy material reacted the same as last time- but Mabel noticed she could actually force her body through with enough force.
Standing up, Mabel walked to the head of her bed and took a deep breath. After a few seconds, she dashed forward and slammed her entire body weight against the gel-like force-field. After hitting the substance, Mabel could tell she was partially through but was stuck in the force-field's inner layer. She felt panic starting to set in, as she realized she couldn't breathed. She began flailing, desperately trying to get out as she felt her lungs start to tighten.
Just when she was seeing blotches of color, she felt something latch around her waist and forcefully pull her out. Mabel gasped for air as she was plopped down, feeling her chest heave in and out. "Thanks! You saved-" She looked up and saw none other than the pink lion himself. "...Me. Hi... I'm Mabel..." She reached out her hand to touch the big cat, only for it to huff and walk away. "Hey wait up!" At this distance, she had a clear view of the boy- who seemed to be unconscious. "Wait up! Maybe I can help your owner! He's sick...or something?" Mabel asked.
The lion continued to ignore her, and increased his pace. Just when Mabel was about to call out again, the lion opened his mouth and roared. A portal opened, and lion jumped in not a moment later.
"Oh come on!" Mabel shouted.
/
The ride back to the Mystery Shack was full of dread for Dipper, as he and his group had completely comprehended the seriousness of the situation. While he appreciated the support that came with the camaraderie, none of them could even come close to understanding the terror Dipper was feeling. He was seriously beginning to wonder if he would ever see Mabel again- McGucket's statements about the journals had further diminished his hope. The journals were their last chance, and if Ford couldn't remember or recall anything like this in the journals-"
"Hey squirt. We're here." Robbie snapped him out his depressing thoughts.
Dipper nodded and got out of the car with the others. "Thanks Mr. Gleeful." He nodded to Gideon's dad.
"No problem! Always happy to help! Right son!" He looked at his son.
"Sure old man..." Gideon made a shooing motion with his hand. "I'll call you when we need another ride."
As the car drove up, Dipper braced himself fro going back inside. Even though he had McGucket and the others to vouch for Mabel's existence, he wasn't sure if that was enough.
"Dipper!" Grunkle Stan door slammed open. "Where the heck of you been! And why are all these yahoos with you?!"
"Cause these 'yahoos', as you call us, are all here to vouch for the wonderful existence of Mabel Pines!" Gideon preached.
"Ugh!" Stan rubbed his eyes. "Not this bid again! Kid, I think it's impressive you got Gideon here to believe a girl would be interested in him- but that's taking the joke to unbelievable realms."
"It's not just him." Robbie and Tambry went to stand beside Dipper. "We remember her too."
Wendy came out after hearing her friend's voice, with Soos following. "Tambry? You believe him?"
"I do." Tambry nodded. "I don't know why, but me and Robbie remember her. There were so many pics of her and her pig on her social media, but now there are like- none."
"That's cause she doesn't exist Tambry." Wendy scoffed.
"I remember her, cause she set up me and Tambry... I think..." Robbie said. "I was so bummed out after you dumped me, but that Mabel girl encouraged me to get back out there."
"Hey man- I'm glad for you and Tambry." Wendy put her hands up defensively. "But I don't remember..." Wendy paused. "That's funny... I actually don't remember how you guys got together."
"Seriously Wendy?" Tambry scoffed.
"I'm serious!" Wendy stated. "I'm drawing a blank here- like Robbie and I broke up- and suddenly you were together- like no awkward break-up or ex-drama stuff or anything. You guys together, have just like always been, yah know."
Dipper's eyes widened and turned to McGucket, who bore the same look of astonishment. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Dudes... what's going on? Like seriously?" Soos asked, his feeling of confusion seemed to increase the ire of Stan.
"Nothing is going on!" The old man exclaimed and shouted into the shack. "Hey Ford! Get out here and explain what a false memory is or something!"
Finally, Uncle Ford emerged in a lab coat and goggles. He immediately looked at McGucket and asked his former colleague. "Do you remember a Mabel Pines?"
"I do, old friend. She was one of the main reasons why Bill was defeated." McGucket nodded. "Do you?"
Ford looked regretfully at McGucket and then at Dipper, who seemed to be at the edge of feet at this point. "No but... I did do some digging. What Dipper said worried me, so I analyzed Gravity Falls for any strange anomaly and what I found disturbed me."
"Ford wait... you're saying the kid isn't crazy?" Stan pointed his down towards his nephew.
"No... I can't say I remember having a niece named Mabel, but I do believe she previously existed." Ford stated.
"Wait... what do you mean 'previously'?" Dipper asked.
"According to my data, there was a massive shift stemming from Gravity Falls but instead of being contained in this town... it expanded around the entire universe." Ford explained.
"Enough with the science old man! Tell me where my Mabel went!" Gideon demanded.
"Shut up Gleeful!" Wendy made a fist, which shut the preacher kid up.
"As I was saying... I don't know what caused the massive shift or even how to characterize it, all I can tell you is the plasma readings of Gravity Falls are incredibly different than even a month ago. Whatever caused the shift, is most likely related to Mabel's disappearance." Ford sighed.
"Uncle Ford." Dipper spoke. "Is there anything in the journals that would explain this? And why was only Mabel affected?"
"I have no idea why it would only be Mabel, it may be due to the nature of your symbols but I'm not sure. And unfortunately, nothing in the journals explain this specifically, but I do need them to confront an old colleague of mine." Ford sighed.
"What? The crazy old man wasn't enough for yah?" Stan pointed his thumb to McGucket, but frowned when the old man bore a very troubled look.
"Ford... yah can't be serious." McGucket frowned.
"There's no choice in it Fiddleford, he's the only who can explain what's happening. Heck he's probably the only one capable of this." Ford rubbed his temple.
"Who's capable of this Uncle Ford?" Dipper clenched his fist.
"Rick Sanchez... he's the one who helped me develop the portal to Bill's realm."
/
The Crystal Gems were in shock at the previous outburst from Sapphire, whatever she saw... no she saw Steven! She saw Steven, but now what?! What did it mean?! Was he okay?! Was he alive?! The Crystal Gems were all anxious to know as they crowded alongside Sapphire's bedside, with Ruby's lap serving as her pillow.
Pearl dashed over to Sapphire's side, nearly pleading with the clairvoyant. "Sapphire! I know you're in pain, but concentrate! Please!"
"Hey watch it!" Ruby tried to shove Pearl back a little, but to no avail.
"Sapphire! Please try!" Pearl pleaded again.
"...-S-Steven...sad..." Sapphire gritted, holding her head.
Meanwhile, the other gems stood and watched the exchange; trying to think of way to help Sapphire's vision along. "Is Steven okay?" Lapis asked.
"What do you mean by sad?" Amethyst asked.
"What is the state of health of his physical form?" Peridot asked.
"Would you guys be quiet?!" Ruby exclaimed. "Sapphire's already overwhelmed!"
"NO!" Sapphire's shout interrupted them. "DON'T STEVEN!" The gems were silenced, and waited to see if any more would come from Sapphire's vision. They weren't disappointed. "Steven... is about to... make a terrible mistake. Please stop him!" The clairvoyant went limp in Ruby's arms, her condition seemed to be have plateaued but this wasn't necessarily good news. Ruby could tell how unstable the two of them were becoming, and it was only a matter of time before Sapphire's condition would worsen.
Ruby bit her lip, if she and Sapphire were try to fuse now... what would happen? Would her partner be in any worse pain than she already is? Or would her condition be improved? Could she help Sapphire manage her pain?
"Hey Sapphire..." Ruby squeezed her hand. "Do you want to try?"
Gritting her teeth, Sapphire squeezed back and tried to relax. Soon the two companions were emitting a soft glow, leaving the others in the room to believe they were going to fuse. While the typical warm glow emerged, the other gems were surprised to see the two were still separated after the light faded.
Amethyst groaned. "Like this can't get any worse! Now you guys can't even fuse!"
"Most troubling..." Peridot nodded.
"Wait!" Ruby exclaimed. "We can't fuse, but Sapphire and I can still sync up a little. She managed to tell me some stuff!"
"Well out with it!" Pearl exclaimed.
"Yeah! Yeah!" Ruby shooed. "Sapphire isn't sure what she's been seeing, but she says that Steven's somewhere else and that he isn't alone!"
"What does that mean?" Lapis piped up.
"We don't exactly know but... she says Lion's with him and another human... that looks like a shooting start for some reason." Ruby iterated as best she could.
"A shooting star?" Lapis repeated.
"Sorry, but that's all we got." Ruby shrugged. "Oh! And we don't know why Steven's sad but... it's probably because he's lost!"
"So we know Steven's been abducted, then?" Pearl confirmed.
"So it would seem, the only questions remaining are: who the perpetrator is and how they managed to do this?" Peridot rubbed her chin.
"Maybe it has to do with how no one remembers him?" Lapis suggested.
"Ugh! We already know those things are connected!" Amethyst tore her hair out. "Let's go back to what Peridot was saying about the universe splitting or something!"
"If these events are indeed related... it most likely has to do with that human male I mentioned earlier... the man with the portal gun." Peridot sighed. "If he did indeed come here, we have no idea what his prerogative was in abducting Steven. I doubt he has anything to do with the Diamonds, given the fact that he's most likely foiled severe colonization efforts."
"So what you're saying is that we're stuck here, while this man is doing who-knows-what to Steven?!" Pearl exclaimed.
"I will examine the current Gem technology we have and consult with you about making a potential replica 'portal gun' as Amethyst so aptly put it." Peridot rubbed her head. "However, given the limits of the old Gem tech and the current level of technology on Earth, I don't think this project will be completed any time soon."
"So all we can do is wait?!" Amethyst exclaimed.
"Hey, if you have a better idea- let's hear it." Lapis crossed her arms.
"Not sit around and do nothing!" Amethyst yelled and ran to Steven's room.
Ruby sighed, patting Sapphire's head. "I don't blame her for being antsy... but we should probably stick together..." She honestly didn't know if even that would help.
Peridot sighed, rubbing her temple. "Lapis... come with me, I may need your assistance in collecting gem tech."
More than eager to get away from the tense environment, Lapis followed Peridot to the landing pad towards the back of the house. "Where we going?"
Clearing her throat, Peridot looked at Pearl. "I'll need your permission to access the areas with your most advanced gem technology. From what Steven has told me, that would most likely be the Prime Kindergarten Control Room and maybe the weapon's vault."
Waving her hand, Pearl sighed. "Yes... we need to do everything we can."
Nodding, the two gems went to the landing pad and typed in the coordinates. "I will contact you shortly." Peridot nodded before she and Lapis vanished.
With that, the Crystals Gems were left alone with only the still portrait of their deceased leader looking down on them. Standing up, Pearl looked up at the portrait and allowed a few tears to be shed. "You started the rebellion almost completely for my sake, and this is how I repay you..."
"This isn't your fault Pearl..." Ruby sighed.
"You wouldn't be saying that if the roles were reversed." Pearl stated.
BANG! BANG!
The Crystal Gems tensed up badly, looking at the front door. Looking out the screen, Pearl was surprised to see none other than Greg. Opening up the door, Pearl looked at the man cautiously."What are you doing here?"
Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, Greg sighed. "Uh... this is gonna sound kinda weird, but it's not like our last encounter was any better." Reaching into the bag he was carrying, Greg dug around for a moment before revealing the item to Pearl. "I found this in my van..."
"Hey guys, who's at the door-" Amethyst cut herself off, when she saw what was in Greg's hand.
"You guys mentioned a 'Steven' before, and I don't know if it's the same Steven but... I figured with you guys... there's no way it's a coincidence." Greg sighed.
In all the years she had known Greg, Pearl had never felt so overjoyed to see him. If she wasn't near breaking down again, she would've embraced the man. In Greg's hand was a single piece of technology that was old even by Earth's standards, but it might as well have been the most precious material in existence.
Ruby was smiling widely at the relic of the past... a single VHS tape titled 'For Steven.'