Just for clarification:

Stanley = Grunkle
Stanford = Author

Drabble 15: A Tale of Two Twins (Pt. 1)

Sum:
The twins wake up to a scream in the middle of the night.
Upon finding Grunkle Abel crying in his bedroom, they
don't know what to think, but do their best to comfort him.

Internally, it only further drives the knife stuck in his
heart deeper. Externally, he tells the boys that he loves them
and appreciates their efforts greatly, besides promising
to tell them what it was about tomorrow . . .

And when they discover a certain device under the
Mystery Shack, they learn exactly why he had been crying that night.

Universe:
Swapped Roles
(Basically, it's the same but
with different people in different
places than they would be)

A`N:
I just got to thinking on how people in the "Ageswap Au"
replace little Stans with Dipper and Mabel and vice-versa
and so on with the rest of the cast. Well, if it still applies after
"A Tale of Two Stans", that means that Mabel would've been the one
thrown out, as painful as that is and everyone would try to play it
differently. So here's the blatant truth, people! Enjoy! ;-P

A scream sounded through the quiet house. Lee and Ford jolted upright from their beds. They immediately looked to the other twin. Frowned when they realized the other was alright. Brown eyes widened in unison and they jumped from their beds. A pause with Ford as he groped for and put on his glasses. A second pause as both stopped in the hallway, taking a moment to adjust to the darkness out there, as opposed to the left-on, dusky lantern light in their room.

Only one other person was in the house this late at night.

Grunkle Abel.

The twins scampered down the hall, quickly opening the door to their Grunkles room. He was sitting up and hunched over on the bed, tears streaming down his cheeks as he sobbed. Neither Ford nor Lee had ever seen their Grunkle anything like this. Sparing one more glance at eachother, they hurried over and clambered up on the bed, getting on either side of their Grunkle.

While Lee merely cuddled into the older mans side, Ford rubbed his back and told him it was alright. After a few minutes, their efforts were rewarded as he calmed down. He wiped the tears away and pulled the other two into a hug.

He smiled down at them, murmuring quiet thanks before nudging them off the bed and towards the door. They both left, stealing glances back and shutting the door behind them. They knew him well enough by now to know that that was as much of a response they were going to get. After an unspecified event years and years ago, Abel Pines had become something akin to a mute, only speaking when he really had too.

Or when he was scamming tourists, and then his voice was loud, clear, and rather booming and deep. All part of the act. Getting him to talk could be rare, but his lack of words couldn't hide how much he cared for those around him, even if he could be a little rough around the edges. His actions often spoke louder than words, besides gestures, grunts, "hmph"s, and other assorted non-word sounds were enough to convey and hold short conversations.

At least, with the twins. And Fidds. And maybe the teen who manned the register, Dan, though that was debatable.

Ford couldn't believe it. Staring out at the device with his twin and their handyman friend Fiddleford, he just couldn't believe it. After all this time, their Grunkle Abel had been . . .creating some sort of doomsday device! He'd also lied about the journals! He had the other two, the first with a single Pine Tree and the second with two, golden things that lay on the covers. All the while he possessed the third with his twin, and Abel had never said a word of the others!

Fidds was rambling on about how long it must've taken to build this, mostly under his breath, while Lee was just staring, wide eyed.

"T-minus, one minute and thirty seconds." a computer-voice said, spurring the three into action. Quickly, they went to the three keys on the control-panel thing in the room with the deadly device, turning them in their slots. The lever, nearer the portal than Ford liked, made a popping sound, a cover snapping off on the top and a large red button revealed.

They walked over. Ford glared at it, anger over the lies welling up. Just last night, he thought that nothing was wrong except his Grunkles tears, but now . . . .

He held a hand out over the button. "This all ends . . . now!" he shouted. Before he could swat it, someone shouted behind them.

"Don't press that button!" it wasn't quite as deep as their Grunkles voice, but there he was, huffing and panting, a hand clutching at the doorframe. He walked forward cautiously. "Ford, please, don't press that button, you gotta trust me."

"Why should we trust you? After you lied to us? I don't even know who you are!" Ford shouted, taking a step towards him, gesturing wildly.

Grunkle Abel all but flinched back, taking the blow from the words harder than his glasses-wearing great-nephew would've thought. It made him pause a moment. They simply stared at eachother; and then something made a beeping noise.

Grunkle Abel looked at his watch, eyes widening in panic. "O-oh no!" he choked out, voice cracking and going from semi-deep to a higher pitch. "Brace yourselves!" he urged, waving his hands in front of him.

In that moment, the gravity seemed to turn off, sending them all floating in various directions. Fidds practically shrieked, flailing and slamming into the wall to the left of the portal, close to the ceiling. Grunkle Abel yelped, bracing himself as he slammed into the back wall chest-first. He wheezed and placed an arm over his chest, taking a moment to reorient himself. Ford managed to latch onto a steady support beam, glasses luckily still on his face, more towards the right of the portal.

"Ford!"

Ford turned, spotting his brother floating near the lever, foot caught on some cord or rope. "Lee! Shut it off!" he shouted to him.

Lee gave him a terrified look before bending over and grabbing the rope, pulling himself along with low grunts.

"No!" Grunkle Abel launched himself off the far wall, practically swimming in midair towards his great-nephew. Only to grunt and be spun end-over-end when Fidds rammed into his side, clutching his arm and yanking at the short hair, clinging despite the shoving he was receiving. "Get off, Fiddles, what're you doing!" his voice rose in pitch, shoving at the thirteen-year-old, though there wasn't much force behind it, the attempts halfhearted even if his tone was desperate.

"Sorry Mr. Pines, if that is your real name! But I have a new mission now! Protecting those twins!" he shouted in reply.

Ford quickly lunged out, tackling and stopping the forward motion of the other two, hovering in place not ten feet from his brother, who now clung to the lever. Lee was staring at this whole scene wide-eyed, not sure what to do. Despite the obvious solution of swatting the button and shutting the machine down, he felt . . . unable too.

"Lee, hit the button!" Ford cried out, clinging to his Grunkles coat as the older man tried to shove or yank him off.

"No, no, don't! Lee, you gotta listen to me! OW!?" Ford had dug his fingers into his side and chest, preoccupying him as he tried to get him to let go.

All three froze as soft sobbing met their ears. They looked over as one, grips relaxing slightly, but not letting go. Watching as tears floated upwards instead of rolling down Lee's cheeks.

"Gr-grunkle Abel, I don't even know if . . .if your my Grunkle!" he cried, hugging the lever like he wished he could be hugging a person, preferably his brother. Abel flinched hard at these words, a guilty expression flitting through his eyes.

"I wanna believe you, but . . ." he trailed off, not wanting to state the obvious.

Abel held out his hands beseechingly. "Then listen. Remember last night how I promised to tell you what my nightmare was about today? How it was about something that scared me and would soon come up before summer ended?" he asked.

"T-minus thirty seconds." the electronic voice spoke again. Just after, the portal flashed, sending the other three flying into the far wall.

It knocked Lee off balance, but he clutched the lever with one hand, other raised to hit the button.

"Wait, please!" Abel cried, some small tears falling from his eyes and floating towards upwards. Sobs began to shake his shoulders.

Lee stopped, watching. Fidds and Ford, on either side of Abel, but out of reach, stared.

Finally wiping at his eyes, he gestured a little with on hand, other stuck underneath a pipe or something he'd half-crushed with the impact against the wall. "I wanted to tell you that no matter what happens, no matter how bad everything looks or confusing it is, that I'll always be your family. Nothing can ever change that or stop me from caring about the both of you."

"What if he's lying? This thing could destroy the universe, Lee, listen to your head!" Ford insisted, now in a crouching position on the wall, staring at his twin desperately.

"Lee, please! Everything I've worked for, everything I care about, it's all been for this family!" Abel insisted, rubbing at his eyes again as more tears floated upwards.

"Don't listen to him! Shut it down, now!" Ford insisted, beginning to panic more, letting it show.

"Look into my eyes, Lee!" Abel insisted, continuing when the brunette turned his head from the portal to look at him. "Do you really think I'm a bad guy?"

Lee looked down at the button, hand hovering over it. He looked up a moment, taking a deep breath before closing his eyes. "Grunkle Abel," he said aloud, raising his voice so everyone could hear him.

"Ten, nine, eight," the electronic voice counted down.

Raising his hands above his head, he let go of the lever, floating upwards away from it, framed by the glowing portal behind him to the other three. "I trust you."

"Lee, are you crazy?!" Ford demanded, hurt inside, but more worried for his twin than anything. "We're all gonna-!?"

"-two, one, zero." the voice said.

The portal activated; one by one, they all screamed. On the surface, in the town, everything began to rise up, going crazy as people freaked out. Things floated about underneath the Shack, everyone temporarily unconscious.

A picture frame with the two young Pines twins cracked across the glass before shattering. Then, the gravity returned to normal, everything crashing back down. Everyone grunted as they landed, groaning as they sat up.

Grunkle Abel flexed his right wrist only once with a low whimper. When the gravity had returned, he'd twisted and strained it terribly because of the pipe. It ached, but he shoved the pain aside.

The portal flickered, close to going out. Someone appeared on the other side, stepping through. Their hood, scarf, and goggles made it impossible to see their face, and the light cast from the portal, flickering slowly out, left him swathed in shadows besides. He stopped at the first journal, reaching down, fingers ghosting over the golden metal of the lone Pine Tree, the "1" written in ink in the middle.

Picking it up, he straightened and tucked it inside his vest, underneath the coat.

Ford looked up, furrowing his brows in confusion. "Wh-what? Who is that?" he asked.

Grunkle Abel slowly pushed himself to a sitting position, biting his lip to keep from crying out as his wrist protested being used. "The Author of the journals . . ." he breathed out, managing to keep the pain hidden.

The other man pulled of the goggles and threw back the hood, his intense stare settled firmly on Abel. He looked exactly like the other in face, in the brown eyes that stared out, relief, anger, and disbelief clear, and some mystery emotion drifting through, focused solely on the other man. The only real discernible thing between them was the stubble coating the other's jaw.

Otherwise, they were exact twins.

" . . . my brother . . ." Abel finished, eyes welling with tears that he refused to let fall.

Ford and Lee stood shoulder to shoulder, gaping in shock. Fidds stood just behind them, mirroring their reactions, though he'd gone pale; it was entirely possible that he might faint.

"I . . . I can't believe it. . . this whole time . . .why!?" Ford suddenly turned from awed shock to anger, rounding on Grunkle Abel. "Why didn't you ever tell us?! We could've helped!" he wiped at his eyes furiously, refusing to felt his tears fall. "You, you, you . . . ." he broke off, glaring down at his shoes.

Fidds couldn't help but half-hide behind Lee. This new Mr. Pines looked kinda scary. Or at least, he was intimidating.

Abel pulled himself to his feet, biting his lip to hold back small sounds of pain. The other slowly stepped forward, brow furrowed in confusion. He reached out cautiously, then drew back, suddenly suspicious.

"I do I know you're not the shape-shifter? You look exactly like me!" he demanded, voice deep and actually very close to the Abels', who had a slightly higher pitch.

Abel flinched back, cringing, tears starting to fall as he grasped his wrist, muttering under his breath from the pain.

"He's not; we fought the shapeshifter and turned him into a big Popsicle again in your top-secret bunker we found using your third journal." Lee suddenly piped up.

The Author jolted and spun on his heel, taking in the three children, blinking in surprise, as if only just noticing them. He smiled a little, pulling out the first one. "You've read my journals?" he asked.

"W-we haven't just read them, we've lived them!" Ford exclaimed, starting to get excited. "I have so many questions-"

He was interrupted by a quiet squeal. All turned to see Grunkle Abel clutching his wrist, eyes screwed tight in pain, leaning heavily against the back wall. "Yep, ow . . . not good . . ." he grumbled under his breath, though he sounded . . . less like himself. More . . .more something. None of the younger boys could quite lay their finger on it.

The Author was by his side in a moment, gently pulling that arm out of his tight grasp and pushing the sleeve up, gently feeling it. "What happened, Mabel?" he asked quietly, concern and worry clear.

"Mabel?" Ford asked in confusion.

"But, your . . . your Grunkle Abel." Lee followed up, both staring up with identical looks of confusion.

The Author gasped, a hand going to cover his mouth in shock as the other jerked back, flinching when reached for. Sobs began to shake his(her?) shoulders, tears falling.

"You took my name?" the Author asked softly in shock and concern.

"Y-your not our . . . our Grunkle?" Lee squeaked in shock, while Ford laid a protective arm around his shoulders. Fidds hovered just behind the two, anxiously watching to see what would happen next, keeping his mouth shut for once.

"N-no . . ." Mabel replied softly, hugging herself one-handedly, the other pressed lightly into her stomach. The voice was feminine, no longer deep, booming, or even spoken so softly it seemed shy or hesitant by nature. "I-I . . . I'm sorry . . . " she whispered, closing her eyes, the one arm tightening it's grip on her chest. "I n-never meant to h-hurt anyone . . ."

"It's okay Mabel, sh, it's okay," Abel, their real Grunkle, gently wrapped his arms around her, pulling her towards a clearer, smoother pile of debris, sitting her down next to him. She turned to cry into his chest, while he patiently reassured her and rubbed her back. He lightly beckoned the other three children over, and they sat more-or-less at their feet.

Ford couldn't quite wrap his head around it. The whole summer so far . . .Grunkle Abel, er, Great Aunt Mabel, Grauntie Mabel? Either way, she looked and sounded every part like a man, boy, male; how? Some sort of spell? No, maybe not, but then . . . how?

And, more pressingly, why?

I'm gonna end it here. First off, sorry for being away for awhile. I got hit by writers block and was struck down a few times by lack of sleep. Not very fun, let me tell you.

But, I am back, and I fully intend to try and pick up the pace. Enjoy and please review!