Edit: Fixing the whole Stan-switch thingie...

A/N Huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed this! Not much to say this time around but I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter!

Illusion

Beep. Beep. Whoosh. Beep. Beep. Whoosh.

Her world is surrounded by sound and smell but not sight. She can't see anything, no matter how hard she tries, and when it finally occurs to her that her eyes are closed, she can't open them. She can't move at all, not even to breathe, yet it doesn't seem to be an issue. She just exists.

The beeping noise is steady, slow. The whoosh of air has its own rhythm, also steady, also slow. The air smells sterile and strange, not pleasant, reminding her of a place but she can't figure it out, the name for it is just beyond her reach. Her body is numb, which is a nice change and the voices in her head, telling her over and over to let go are blessedly silent.

Maybe it's all over?

She can sense something suddenly resting on her hand and it sends a surge of warmth and comfort up her arm and she's filled with a feeling of peace and sadness. The touch wraps around her hand and squeezes briefly. She wants to squeeze back in return, but her hand won't cooperate. Nothing wants to cooperate, it's like she's completely paralyzed.

"Hey Mabel," a voice says softly, sadly. It's muffled, like he's speaking through a pillow, or her ears are full of water, but she recognizes the voice instantly.

Hey yourself bro-bro, she thinks, unable to reply.

"Oh man, I…I don't know what to do, I feel so alone," Dipper sighs, his stifled voice sounding so lost and broken, "They got Soos. They don't believe him when he said he doesn't know anything and…they're holding him as an accomplice. They even took Wendy in for questioning. Man she looked, she looked so shaken when they let her go, like she had been crying. Apparently they grilled her hard. I talked to Mom and Dad, they want so badly to come see us, but Gravity Falls is still on lockdown, no one is allowed to leave or enter. They're not even going to make an exception for us, which is stupid.

"One good thing came out of this though…we've got help in the most unlikely place. Pacifica has pulled some strings and the Northwest's entire team of lawyers are going to represent us. She says it's the least they could do after I helped her with her family's ghost problem. Apparently they're really good, of course considering all the Northwest family has gotten away with, they have to be good, right?"

He pauses, sniffs once or twice.

"I keep thinking about what you said…Oh man Mabel, I…I am so scared that the last words we'll ever exchange are angry words…but you're going to keep fighting, you're going to get better, I have to believe that otherwise I…I just don't know what I'd do. I'm sorry for being so angry with you, it wasn't you that I was angry at, not really. I was just so upset about everything that I wasn't thinking clearly. I mean yeah, I did feel a little betrayed, but honestly, I kinda knew what you'd choose, probably before you did, and while I wished you listened to me, listened to reason, I realize now that I can't blame you for being you. You've always tried to see the good in people, and when Stan asked you to trust him, I knew that I was fighting a losing battle. I realize now that the pressure you were under was intense, because yeah, for me it wasn't a choice, but for you? But see where all this blind faith you have in people has gotten us?"

He pauses again to heave a deep and heavy sigh, "But I've been thinking about what you said, and about what Stan did for you, and you're right. I would do the same thing for you. I will do the same for you if that's what it takes. I don't know how, but I'm going to do whatever it takes to save you. I promise. You just have to promise to me that you'll hold on, OK?"

I'll try Dipper, but I don't know if I can…I won't stop fighting though.

She can feel him squeeze her hand, and she can hear him crying and she wants so badly to reach out for him and let him know that everything is going to be OK, but how could she? She can't move and she knows that it's not going to be OK, it's hopeless.

To her surprise though, her hand does move, squeezing back and she can hear Dipper suck in a bated breath.

"Mabel?" he breathes, "Did you just…? Do it again! If you can hear me do it again!"

Her hand twitches once more, but something seems wrong. Her hand moves, but not on her command.

"Oh man! Are you…? Mabel, can you hear me?"

Her hand moves again, and even though she wants to let Dipper know she's there, she somehow knows that she's not moving on her own free will. She tries to will just her thumb to move, just to be sure, but her whole hand squeezes Dipper's and curls into a loose fist.

Dipper, I don't think it's me that's doing this!

She tries to keep her hand still. But again it moves, but not when she tells it to.

It's not me!

"Oh man, Mabel, hold on! Are you in pain? Squeeze once for yes, and twice for no."

She tries to squeeze his hand twice, because she can't really feel anything but his warm touch, but her hand moves once.

Don't believe it! It's not me that's doing this!

"Oh, OK…OK just stay with me Mabel, I'll go get help!" he says excitedly and she feels him let go of her hand, "Somebody help! She's waking up!"

She senses him leaving the room, she can hear the beeping noise, once a slow, steady rhythm pick up in speed, and suddenly she's overwhelmed with pain.

We told you to let go, but you didn't listen…

Dipper! It's not me! I'm not the one in control! Don't trust them!

He can't hear you child, we told you to let go and stop fighting us…it's too late now.

She inwardly screams as a sharp, agonizing pain rips through her chest and she feels like her soul is being torn into pieces.

It's not me!

It's not me!

"It's not me!" she cries out loud.

"Mabel, Mabel, hey…shhh, it's just a bad dream!" Dipper's voice soothes and she opens her eyes, crusty from dried tears. Now fully in control of her body, she's surprised to see she's in the living room at the Mystery Shack, curled up on Grunkle Stan's comfy chair in front of the TV. Her blanket is loosely draped over her and her foot propped up on some pillows with an icepack resting on the bandage wrapped around her ankle. Dipper's kneeling in front of her, his hand on her shoulder.

"Dipper?" she sobs, "I don't understand…what's going on? How'd I get here?"

"You were having a bad dream," he repeats, "you cried yourself to sleep, remember?"

"I…I…it wasn't real?"

He shakes his head, "Just a dream. Mabel, what's going on with you?"

"I don't know," she cries, "I don't know…"

Dipper combs his fingers through her hair comfortingly before resting his hand back on her shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze, "It's going to be OK. I think maybe you're just overwhelmed by all that has happened today. Hopefully that's all it is. Grunkle Stan wants to take you to see a doctor though, just to be sure you didn't hurt your head or something. He's worried about you, we all are."

Mabel wants to tell him she's OK now, but she's not and he's definitely not going to believe her so she just nods with a sniff, haphazardly wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She shakes her head, "I…I don't know what to say to be honest."

"You were saying something about it not being you? What did that mean?"

"I…I don't remember."

"You're a terrible liar, Mabel," he chides gently.

"Well… I don't want to talk about it, OK? I'd rather just forget it. Like you said, it was just a dream!" she snaps, a little harsher than she intended to. Or was it? It felt so real…

"OK, OK," he raises his arms in mock surrender, "I'm just worried about you. I only want to help."

She sighs, "I know, and I'm sorry. I'm just…so much has happened and…I don't know…" I don't even know if this is real. And if it is, then what it means terrifies me because that means I'm in Bill Cipher's debt, but if it's not…that's so much worse. "I don't know what to think or how I should feel."

"I know what you mean," Dipper nods.

You have no idea, brother!

"Do you think I did the right thing?"

"What down there? With the portal?"

She nods.

"Of course you did. Don't be all second guessing yourself Mabel," Dipper tells her, "you made the right choice, I'm proud of you."

"But…I condemned the Author, our own Great Uncle to remain trapped. I broke Grunkle Stan's heart." I was tricked into making a deal with Bill Cipher to escape a worse fate and I'm so scared about what he wants in return.

"But you didn't know, based on what we knew, you did the right thing. You potentially saved the world!"

"But at what cost? I can't shake the feeling that I made a horrible mistake! That no matter what choice I made down there was wrong!" What does Bill want? What's in it for him? Why was he so eager for me to shut the portal off? Is this reality even real?

"Mabel," Dipper says, "I know it wasn't easy for you. You were under so much pressure, so much weight was put on your shoulders so quickly. Maybe neither choice was the right one, but consider the alternative. Who knows what kind of catastrophe could've happened if you let the portal open? For a moment I thought that was exactly what you'd do and I was terrified that we were all going to die, but we didn't thanks to you. As for the Author? We'll figure something out. Grunkle Stan may have given up hope, but I'm not going to, and neither should you."

Mabel gives him a small smile, "I thought I was supposed to be the optimist in the family."

"I know, these pep talks are supposed to be your job," Dipper teases. Mabel huffs softly through her nose, rolling her eyes at her brother before leaning forward and pulling him into a hug.

"So, are you feeling any better?"

"A little," she lies, widening her smile to deflect his concerns, "thanks."

"There's the smile I've been missing!" Dipper grins, releasing her from the hug.

You're right, this is better than the alternative, of course it is, but it comes at a price, and I don't know what that is yet, and that scares me. But you're right, I shouldn't give up hope. We'll figure something out…assuming this is even real, and I just don't know anymore. This reality feels real, but then so did my dream.

"What happens now?"

"Well, Grunkle Stan and Soos are out changing a flat tire on Soos's truck," Dipper says, frowning slightly, "after we get you checked out by a doctor, they're taking us home. The memory eraser won't keep the Agents away for very long, since we couldn't exactly erase all the evidence against him, so Stan has to go into hiding for a while. We're taking a detour to Portland first though, I guess Stan knows a guy there or something that can help him out…"

"I thought Soos's truck was totalled…"

"Uh, no…" Dipper cocks his head to the side, confused, "There was a little bit of damage, the worst being a busted tire, why would you think it was totalled?"

"No reason," Mabel shrugs, averting her gaze. "Just thought…" Am I going crazy? Mixing up realities and stuff? "…because of the gravity anomalies it might be..."

"It's fine," Dipper replies, casually waving off her concerns, "Things are a mess, but it could've been so much worse."

"You're telling me," she chuckles nervously.

Dipper regards her with confused scrutiny but after a moment just shakes his head, "Anyway, I packed some of your things while you were asleep. If you're OK now, I'm going to finish up."

"Let me help," Mabel offers as she starts to get up, but she frowns when Dipper gently pushes her back down, "Come on, I'm not making you do all the work…"

"No, you need to take it easy," Dipper says with complete seriousness, "I'm not kidding when I say we're all worried about you. Just…humor us and get some rest."

"At least let me join you and keep you company!"

"Mabel, you can barely even stand on that foot of yours, let alone walk, how are you supposed to climb the stairs to our room?" Dipper chides with a weary sigh.

"I can manage."

Dipper raises a skeptical brow.

"If you help me," she adds. When his frown deepens she puts on her most innocent expression, "Please? I don't want to be alone."

"I'd have to practically carry you, and I can't do that. I'm almost done, and besides you have Waddles here to keep you company," Dipper says.

"Waddles?" she sits up excitedly, "You found him? Oh thank you, thank you! Where is he?"

"I didn't realize he was missing…" Dipper muses, placing the back of his hand on her cheek and forehead as though to check for a fever.

Mabel ignores the worried gesture and leans forward, glancing down and finds him lying on the floor by the chair, hidden from her line of sight until she twisted around to look, "Waddles! I thought I lost you forever!" She pats at her lap, motioning for him to join her. When he's within her reach she picks him up and cuddles him tightly, feeling tears well up in her eyes again.

"I think he was a little spooked by the gravity anomalies," Dipper shrugs, "he was probably hiding somewhere."

"Probably," she agrees with a slight whimper, a lone tear falling down her cheek as she thinks about the other reality, how she probably did lose him forever. She lost everything forever in that reality. Or was going to. I can't go back there! I can't go back to Limbo, all alone with the knowledge that everyone I care about was going to suffer…

"Mabel, he's fine," Dipper frowns, "You can relax."

"You're right," she agrees, wiping a tear from her eye before kissing Waddles on the top of his head.

"I won't be long," he promises, "I swear I'm almost done packing."

"I don't want to leave though."

"Me neither," Dipper agrees, "but Grunkle Stan…"

"I have an idea," she says suddenly, thinking back to something the other Dipper said in her dream, "maybe he won't have to leave. I bet he just needs a really good lawyer, maybe even a team of them…"

"I doubt Grunkle Stan could afford a really good lawyer…"

"Pacifica," Mabel exclaims, "maybe she could help. I bet with all the shady shenanigans the Northwest family has gotten away with over the years they must have the best team of lawyers in the country! Remember when you helped her with that ghost problem?"

"Yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday—oh yeah because it was yesterday," Dipper teases sarcastically as he furrows in brow in curiosity about her choice in words.

Really? It feels like ages ago…but yeah I guess it was, Mabel thinks, shuddering a little because so much had happened, in both realities, not to mention the Void or Limbo or whatever felt like far more time had passed that what probably actually did. It was no wonder she had exhausted herself. She shudders, struggling to fathom the fact that everything she had been through took place in the course of only one day. "Well," she says, her voice shaking a little, "maybe she can pull some strings and arrange for them to help us with Grunkle Stan's legal problems?"

Dipper looks skeptical, "I don't know…yeah I helped her and her family but it's kind of a huge favour to ask for in return."

"It's worth a try, isn't it?"

"I guess so," Dipper nods, "though I doubt her father would allow…"

"Exactly," Mabel grins, "I wouldn't be surprised if Pacifica would try and make it happen just to spite her dad."

Dipper returns the grin, "OK, I'll see what I can do."

"You know, I think she likes you," she teases in a sing-song voice, trying so hard to be more like her old self, "things were starting to look like the beginnings of an epic summer romance there at the party, broseph…"

Dipper blushes, "Shut up. I was just doing my duty as the only Ghostbuster in town."

Mabel laughs, and though it's subdued and heavy with the weight that still seems to be pressed on her shoulders, it's the first real laugh she's had in what feels like ages. Dipper seems too happy to hear her laugh to be annoyed by her teasing and he visibly relaxes, lightly punching her on the arm, joining in the laughter.

"Glad to see you're starting to feel better, sis. I'll be back soon," Dipper says as he heads upstairs.

Her smile fades as he leaves. All the warmth and sense of hope seems to disappear with him, and alone again Mabel shivers, cuddling Waddles closer to her. "Bill?" she whispers, "Are you there? I think you owe it to me to give me some answers…"

She's met with silence.

"Please?" she whispers, "I need to know what's really going on."

Nothing.

Mabel sighs, covering her eyes with her hand, trying to will herself to not cry. She doesn't want to worry anyone anymore, so she's got to keep it together. Come on Bill, answer me, please! What do you want from me? I don't even know if this is even real! And if it is, then what was that I dreamt about? It felt just as real as this does! What are you planning you stupid triangle?

As she expects, there's still no answer, which makes her angry because she knows he's out there, watching. She lets out a small growl of frustration and glances around the empty room, and decides she doesn't want to be alone. She gently sets Waddles down on the floor and carefully climbs to her feet, making sure to keep her weight off her sprained ankle. Using the furniture for support she hops on her good foot towards the gift shop with the intent of joining Stan and Soos.

It's painful and slow going but when she gets to the door outside she nearly collapses in shock. Grunkle Stan and Soos are nowhere to be seen, the forest is a mess, the totem pole is knocked over and it looks just like it did in the other timeline, only now, off in the distance towards town there's large plumes of thick black smoke. She can hear the wailing of a siren in the distance, not like police or ambulance sirens, it's the kind of siren that only goes off in case of a major catastrophic emergency. She had only heard it once before in her life, and that was only a test but the sound is ominous and terrifying.

She looks around in horror, and sees flames licking at the trees, coming closer and closer. She glances behind her and realizes that the Mystery Shack has fallen, and the remains are on fire.

A sharp, shooting pain strikes her in the chest, and she doubles over shocked by the sudden agony. The pain isn't physical, it's deep within her soul and it brings her to her knees. She tries to scream but no sound comes out.

We told you to let go…we warned you…

She's overwhelmed with dizziness and collapses to her hands and knees, trying with all her might to hold on, to keep fighting. She hears a voice call her name in the distance, but she can't answer. It's all she can do to remain conscious. But then she blinks and to her surprise everything is suddenly back to normal. There's no traces of smoke, or fire and the siren has stopped.

What was that? She wonders, blinking back tears.

Just a little glimpse of what's to come in a certain alternate timeline if you back out of our deal, a familiar voice in her head replies, and he sounds angry, so how about instead of acting all entitled to answers, start showing a little gratitude!

"Mabel! Jeez kid what are you doing? Are you OK?" Stan calls, as he and Soos jog towards her. Behind them she sees Soos's truck, looking a little banged up but completely fine compared to the other timeline.

"I-I'm OK!" she answers shakily, using the doorframe to pull herself back up to her feet, "I just…lost my balance. Silly me, how embarrassing!"

Stan rolls his eyes and scoops her into his arms, "You really need to stay off that foot kiddo, what are you doing up anyway?"

"I didn't want to be alone," she replies honestly, wiping the tears from her eyes before wrapping her arms around his neck.

Stan sighs, "Yeesh, you could've hollered or something. Anyway, feeling any better after your nap?"

"A little," she nods. "How about you? Are you OK?"

Stan goes quiet, his eyes distant. He can't quite look her in the eyes when he replies softly, "No. No I'm not. But I…I will be."

Her heart heavy with guilt and fear, Mabel hugs her Grunkle tightly and closes her eyes, "I'm so, so sorry."

"I know sweetie, I know."

A/N Thanks for reading! Please do me a grand favour and let me know what you think! I absolutely love, love, love reading your thoughts and theories and all that jazz! Hope everyone is having a super fun awesome day!