A/N Once again thank you all so very, very much for reading my story and to all my reviewers and everyone who is following and/or has favorited this. You guys are awesome and it really makes my day to see that people are enjoying my stuff! It really helps keep me motivated to follow and pursue my passion for writing, and this (fanfiction) is such a fun way to hone my writing skills, y'know what I mean?

Anyway, this story and this episode has really captured my muse and I hope I can keep up the momentum of frequent updates. Seeing such supportive feedback definitely helps!

EDIT 7/30/2015

Well, without further ado, here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy!

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She can hardly believe what's happening. At the first sound of the wood cracking and the Mystery Shack shifting, she stops fighting Soos who holds her back as she watches with horror the building collapse and her first thought is of Stan who's still inside.

"GRUNKLE STAN!" she cries, fighting Soos again as she tries to make her way to the unstable rubble that was their home away from home. It doesn't matter what Stan did anymore as long as he's OK. If they're to work out everything and all make amends he has to be OK and she can't accept any other possibility.

"Hey, hey, Mabel," Soos soothes, "he's OK, he's fine."

"We don't know that!" she sobs, "We have to make sure!"

"He's safe Hambone, I promise. He's in the bunker under the Shack, remember?"

"But what if he's trapped? What if he can't get out? What if he's not under there anymore and…" she gasps as she realizes something else, "Waddles! Waddles was in there too! I have to make sure they're OK!"

"It's still not safe Mabel—Dipper! Dipper you need to stay back!" Soos releases Mabel with one hand to reach for Dipper who looks like he's in shock, slowly stepping towards the remains of the Shack, one foot at a time. He looks like a lost kid, unable to comprehend what's happening, unable to fathom what just happened.

She understands the feeling.

"Grunkle Stan?" Dipper calls, shaking off Soos who grabs his shoulder, the shock of what happened apparently making him momentarily forget how angry and betrayed he felt. He steps closer until he's at the edge of the rubble that was once the Gift Shop and bends over to pick up part of the sign that once rested above the door.

"Dipper come back here dude, it's still not safe!"

"Dipper do you see anything?" Mabel asks.

"I…I don't know…" he stammers. "I can get inside though and take a look, there's room to move around…sorta…"

"Don't you dare!" Soos exclaims, "I'll look, but you dudes need to stay out here. Please!"

Dipper turns to face them, looking a little frantic and uncertain, "I can see the vending machine, there's no way he can get through there."

"He's trapped!" Mabel cries, "If he's still down there then…"

"He'll be fine," Soos promises, though his eyes betray his worry and doubt. "I bet he's stocked up on tons of supplies and is probably in a better position than we are dudes. I bet he can live down there for a long time until we can get him out."

"And Waddles?" Mabel squeaks, the world starts to spin and she falls to her knees, holding herself to keep from falling apart as the world around her seems to crumble. This is my fault…I did this. I should've just shut off the machine like Dipper said and none of this would've happened.

"For all we know he's not in there at all, maybe he got out and wandered off," Dipper offers, turning to her as Soos approaches the remains of the Shack. "I'm sure he's fine. They're both…they're both fine."

Mabel nods hopefully, hugging herself as she watches Soos try and find a safe way inside the fallen Shack. She half expects Dipper to offer some sort of comfort, a hand on her shoulder something, but he doesn't. In fact, he just walks away and follows Soos, ignoring his objections.

It's not like she expects or even feels like she deserves to be comforted when the power to prevent all of this from happening was in her hands and she instead chose to let the portal open, but it's weird. It's weird because it's Dipper. The thing about Dipper is that even when he's mad at her, the one thing that had always been a given was that he couldn't stand to see her hurt or upset and in a time of crisis would typically let any misgivings he may have melt away, even if it's temporary.

But not this time apparently.

Of course this time she had crossed a line. Big time. Because of her their world was falling apart in more ways than one.

Because of me. Because of Grunkle Stan.

She squeezes her eyes shut, suddenly dizzy and nauseous as her stomach churns and she gags. All she can see is the stars, vast and endless and a swirling vortex of rainbow light and she's back in that room, gravity trying to pull at her back, trying to lift her and carry her away, beckoning her to let go.

It's his fault. He lied to us…but I chose to trust him. He may have been trying to save his brother, but I didn't know that. All I knew was that trusting him could've ended the world.

Her body tingles, and she can feel the breeze brush through her hair and she swallows, terrified that she'll disappear into the vastness of space in the heart of the whirlwind of colors.

But I can't believe that Grunkle Stan would willingly and knowingly allow all this to happen. I don't believe he would've been so desperate had he knew. But I knew. I knew it was a possibility and yet I didn't stop it.

"It's my fault," she whispers before the remains of the icy pop binge she went on this morning rushed to her throat and she can't hold it back any longer. She doubles over on her hands and knees and acidic and vaguely orange flavored liquid bubbles from her mouth to the dirt, along with something thick and metallic. She clutches at the dirt and grass, her eyes watery and closed tight as she gags and vomits.

Let go, let go…don't fight it any longer…everything will be all right if you just let go…

No, no, no… she thinks, focusing all her energy to hold on for dear life, ignoring the faint whispers in the back of her mind. She regains control of herself and the vomiting spell stops and she releases a pathetic whine, opening her eyes to see a small puddle of partially digested icy pops, but also blood. That's not good. She draws a shaky breath, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as she covers her mess with loose dirt and gravel before shuffling away from it.

She glances in Soos and Dipper's direction to see them staring at her and she stifles a sob, snaking her arm around her middle as she shakily pushes herself to her feet, swaying with unrelenting dizziness once she's vertical.

"Mabel, are you OK?" Dipper asks, hurrying back towards her and grasping her upper arm to hold her steady.

She nods quickly, afraid that if she answers out loud she'd just throw up again.

"You sure? You look really pale, what's wrong?"

She swallows a couple of time and forces a grin as she replies, "I think I overdid it with the popsicles this morning. I'm OK, just…so much going on, y'know? I think the stress of it all…it's getting to me."

"Did puking help?"

"I think so?"

"You don't sound like you're sure."

"I'm fine, I…I'm just regretting not having any solid food today besides sugar," she lies because she's not fine. But how could she or anyone possibly be fine with everything that's going on?

No, she's not fine. She's terrified and the strange feeling inside her, the tingling, the ache, the dizziness and nausea is only getting worse instead of better, and she just vomited blood. Blood. That couldn't be good. But she doesn't say anything about it because their world is currently falling apart both literally and figuratively. The Mystery Shack is in ruins, Waddles and Grunkle Stan are missing, Dipper's faith in everything he's ever cared about, including her, has been shattered, Soos's truck is totalled and all of it is because she let the machine stay on. The last thing they need is one more thing to worry about, especially considering she's the one who let it happen.

But I need to say something…

"I think I'm still a little off balance from when gravity was going all weird," she adds, "but then again who isn't?"

Dipper eyes her curiously, "What do you mean?"

"You know, the energy from the portal, the messed up gravity…you felt it too right?"

"I guess," he shrugs, "I'll probably have some colorful bruises tomorrow but…I'm still not sure what you're talking about."

"OK, so just me then?"

"Mabel you're being weird," he frowns, clearly unsure if he should be worried or annoyed. He seems to go for a little of both when he says, "You didn't hurt yourself or hit your head or something down there did you?"

"Not sure," she shrugs, "but I'm fine, really. I think throwing up helped."

Dipper sighs, rolling his eyes. His anger coming through again now that she's somehow convinced him she's OK. As he trudges back to Soos who's digging through the rubble, she wipes a tear from her eye, sad because she succeeded in convincing him so easily. Considering everything, she's not entirely surprised, nor can she blame him but it's weird for them to be so out of sync.

Normally if something was wrong with her, he was always the first to notice, sometimes even before she herself was fully aware. And despite her desire to convince him there was nothing to worry about, and she hopes that's still true, that whatever is wrong will pass, a huge part of her wanted him to call her on her crap, put his arm around her and tell her that everything was going to be OK. That he forgives her, that he's sorry she had been put under so much pressure to choose and that they'll face whatever is ahead together.

Normally that's exactly what Dipper would do, but she blew it, she crossed a line, she broke the trust they shared that she thought was indestructible. It's completely selfish for her to want him to comfort her and apologize to her after what she did.

I hope this doesn't mean things are ruined forever between us…

"Here," Soos says, climbing out of an opening into the rubble of what was once the Gift Shop, "give her this." He tosses Dipper a bottle of water and he sighs and hands it to her. "Rescued it from the vending machine…or what's left of it."

"Thanks," Mabel murmurs, opening the bottle with trembling fingers before rinsing her mouth. "Any sign of Waddles or Stan?"

Soos shakes his head, "The opening to the basement is completely caved in. Until we clear some of the rubble, he's stuck down there."

"Assuming he's still down there and he's not hurt or worse," she sniffs.

"And I'm sorry Hambone, I can't see any sign of Waddles anywhere."

Mabel closes her eyes and nods, stifling a sob, "Maybe he got outside…he's probably fine, right?" She wants to be optimistic, and normally she is able to remain optimistic no matter how dire the situation is but not this time. He's gone isn't he? I hope he's OK but…I just don't see how he can be.

"Yeah, of course he is!" Soos exclaims with a smile that rings false and she nods returning it with an empty grin or her own while deep down she takes a moment to grieve her lost pig, "But Mr. Pines…he's a sitting duck down there. I don't have the means to dig him out, and I need to get you dudes home. I'm worried the Government agents will get to him before we do."

"So what if they do?" Dipper mutters.

"Dipper!" Mabel exclaims, "How can you say that?"

"Because he deserves it?" Dipper shrugs, "He's a criminal, look at the damage he caused! They had every right to go after him in the first place!"

"But he's our Grunkle!"

"No, he's your Grunkle, Stan may be related by blood, but he's not my family!" Dipper hisses.

"And you think he'll be able to do anything to redeem himself or fix his mistakes behind bars?" Mabel asks. "If Ford was right, how is he going to even try and stop whatever might be coming if he's rotting in prison? He lied to us, yeah, and he endangered us and put so much on the line, but it was to save his brother!"

"And look how great that turned out! Ford's a jerk, he threatened you, he treated me like dirt and made it clear that it was a mistake for Stan to bring him back!"

"But Grunkle Stan didn't know that!"

"Ugh, after everything that's happened I can't believe you're still taking his side!" Dipper groans, gesturing grandly to the fallen Mystery Shack and the torn up forest.

"I'm not taking sides!"

"Yes you are! You should have hit the damn button Mabel, none of this would've happened!"

Mabel stumbles back a few steps, overwhelmed with dizziness as the world starts spinning and spinning and she closes her eyes, wrapping her arms around herself. More tears fall from her cheeks, "What if it was me, Dipper?"

"Huh?"

"What if I was the one lost, trapped who knows where. Tell me honestly that you wouldn't risk everything to get me back!"

That seems to give Dipper pause and he goes quiet.

"Tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing for me!"

"It's not the same," he says finally.

"You think so, huh?" Mabel asks, raising a skeptical brow. But she can see in Dipper's eyes that she had made her point and it was something to really think about.

She turns and starts to walk away, distancing herself from her brother. There's a heavy silence pressing down on them as sirens wail in the distance but none of them seem to be heading their way. She swallows hard moving further and further away from him while in the back of her mind she wonders just how far the damage the portal caused went.

"No matter what Stan's intentions were, you didn't know that!" Dipper calls after her after a moment, "All you knew is that you could have destroyed the universe! You knew that, you knew Stan was a lying, thieving con artist with a Doomsday device and yet you still chose to trust him instead of me!"

"That's not true!" Mabel snaps, stopping in her tracks, "Well, maybe part of it is but it was never a choice between you or Stan, OK? If that were the case it would be you, always you! But I had to trust Grunkle Stan, I had to! He was desperate and I couldn't believe, I still can't believe he would do anything to bring us harm on purpose, not without a good reason!" Her body is tingling with energy that buzzes and pulses and tugs and she holds herself tighter before she could be torn in two even as it brings more pain to flare within her.

"Yeah but if he just told us…if you just shut the machine off then…"

Mabel cuts him off before he can continue, wanting, needing for him to see her point of view, "There's still so much we don't know about that machine, about any of this and I had seconds to decide, I listened to my heart and maybe it was wrong, but in that moment I knew that Grunkle Stan had never been more honest than when he was asking me to trust him! For all we knew we had it all wrong and pressing the button would've been what destroyed us all!

"The weight of the entire universe was on my shoulders and I only had seconds to decide, don't you get it? And I had no way of knowing what the right answer was and I had to listen to my instincts, I had to because...because…" she stops and swallows back the blood and bile that suddenly pushes up her throat, "Man, Dipper…do you have any idea of how hard it was? Maybe it seemed easy to you but…"

She can't keep it down any more, despite her best efforts, and she turns away, doubling over as she gags, choking up more blood than last time. Her eyes widen in panic at the red pool forming on the ground in front of her and she's trembling so much now, from throwing up, from pain, from dizziness, from all the stress and emotion and uncertainty and she wants it to stop.

Let go, let go…don't fight it any longer…everything will be all right if you just let go!

Mabel gives a small shriek of frustration to drown out the barely audible whisper in the back of her mind, staggering back a few steps. She wipes the blood and spit from her mouth with her hand, slowly turning around to see Dipper and Soos staring at her with concern unsure if they should go to see if she's OK or give her some space, but also a figure emerging from the trees.

"Grunkle Stan!" she gasps, surprised and relieved. She wants to run to him, but she can't move. It's taking all her energy just to remain on her feet let alone walk two steps. The world seems to be tipping over and the distance between her and everyone else seems to be expanding as everyone drifts in and out of focus.

Dipper and Soos follow her line of sight, turning away from her to watch Stan head in their direction. Stan seems relieved to see they're OK, but then his eyes go to the Shack and his shoulders sag with despair as he moves to the remains of what had once been his home.

"How…?" Dipper asks.

"Emergency escape hatch in the woods," he explains quietly, "it only opens from the inside. What are you guys still doing here?"

"Can't go very far until I fix my truck or find another means of transportation that isn't destroyed," Soos says.

Stan looks around, awestruck by the damage. He turns back to the ruins of the former Mystery Shack, approaching it in disbelief, "I can't believe it's gone. My…my home, my life…"

"Did you know this would happen?" Dipper hisses accusingly, "You owe us an explanation, now Stanley! Tell us everything!"

"Guys…" Mabel whispers meekly, swaying as the world keeps spinning. It's worse now, so much worse and it's terrifying. Their voices sound hollow and tinny and they seem to be drifting further away from her. It's like she's looking at them from underwater and she can't breathe and it's hot and electric and her vision is wavering and she's struggling to remain focused on her surroundings and on her feet.

"As I said to Mabel, I'll tell you everything you need to know and soon, but first things first I have to get you kids away from here."

"Why, we're not the ones wanted by the government agents!" Dipper retorts, "You are!"

"It's not just that Dipper…please! I can't do anything else until I know you kids are safe and the only way that can happen is to get you out of Gravity Falls before…"

"Before what?"

"Guys…I think…something's wrong…" Mabel whispers, blinking heavily and seeing the rainbow vortex opening in her mind and it scares her. She wants to raise her voice, get their attention because there's no denying or hiding whatever is wrong with her now, whether she likes it or not. But she can barely find her voice to speak and she reaches out for them even though they're a good thirty, forty feet away from her.

"Before something bad happens to you! If something got through the portal, if Ford's right about me kick-starting the apocalypse…this is my problem to fix and I don't want you kids getting hurt!" Stan snaps back. "Soos, I need you to get these kids and yourself to safety, can you fix your truck?"

"I don't have the time or resources to…"

"What about my car?"

"Guys…Dipper…help me…"

"Look around you! Do you think your car would be in any better shape than Soos's truck?" Dipper hisses.

Stan pinches the bridge of his nose, "Look kid, I screwed up. Maybe I shouldn't have lied to you but…"

"Guys!" Mabel manages to raise her voice this time, loud enough for them to hear but still incredibly weak, "Please stop…fighting…s-something's…wrong…"

Her eyes flutter and roll back as she suddenly gags, and more blood bubbles from her throat to her mouth. She can't keep it in anymore.

"Mabel?" Dipper's eyes widen in shock.

"H-help…m-me…" she chokes out as the strange and painful energy surging through her body strikes again. She feels gravity pulling at her back, trying to rip her away from everyone and tear her apart as the swirling vortex of color and light opens to reveal the vast and endless stars as voices whisper in her head.

Let go, let go…

And she tries so hard to hold on, because the terrible beauty of the stars frighten her so much because she knows that if she lets go she'll fade away. So she fights it, she fights it with everything she has to hold on but it's so hard!

Don't fight it any longer…everything will be all right if you just let go!

No, no, no!

"MABEL!" Dipper cries.

Her eyes flutter open and she can vaguely see him rushing towards her but it's too late. She's already falling and falling and falling…

I'm sorry…

She didn't mean to, but she let go.

Her knees buckle and she collapses hard onto the ground, dropping like a stone.

But the world still spins and spins and gravity pulls and pulls her further and further away from herself up, up and away into an endless void of nothingness.

A new voice rings through her mind, familiar and frightening but different from the distant whispers that had beckoned to her.

"Hello Shooting Star…took you long enough!"

A/N As always, thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think, good or bad. I'd love to hear your thoughts and theories and whatnot. It always makes me so happy!