Okay, so . . . in short, I'm afraid I'm going to get backed up on requests. Besides the Deserted and Timeskip Au timelines I'm going to be working with, there has been one or two other rewuests so far, besides others I still need to try and complete but haven't had the chance to yet. Plus, I feel like a piece of junk at the moment. Probably sick, which is no fun.

In other words, please bear with me, everyone, if things start slowing down a bit.

Also, has anyone heard of the "Crystal Pines Au" that crosses Gravity Falls with Steven Universe? 'Cause I'm considering opening up a secondary drabble series for oneshots in my own twisted version of it. Not in a bad way sorta twisted, but I tend to do the unexpected with Au's that have a more . . .I don't know how to put it, I just typically work outside of the usual bounds for Au's.

Seriously, just look at my Monster Falls thing "Lurking Shadows"! It's heck crazy and no one's been turned just yet . . . or HAVE they?

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Enjoy!

Drabble 20: Deserted; Smebulock!

Sum:
Both Stans end up in a new dimension that, not only is in the future,
but that is unexpected in more ways than one. But without proper supplies
and Lee getting feverish from infection, Ford needs to watch his back and
relearn how to trust others.

Plus Lee fighting and facing things he never expected
to see or encounter. Both will have to relearn how to cooperate
and become a dynamic duo again if they want to return home . . .

Universe:
(Kick-off of two different
and new Au's ["Timeskip"
and "Deserted", respectively],
offered by another author.
Enjoy.)

A`N:
Here we go, the start of the fun! Let's see where this goes,
for now. Hm . . .how hard is it to fix an elevator without tools?
Do gnomes have rabies? How long can one last with a sick
man and no food, water, or any sort of medical supplies?

Stanley and Stanford both shouted as they tumbled out of the portal in a tangle of limbs. Ford pulled himself up, glancing back just as the blue glow in the portal flickered out.

He let out a growl and pushed himself to his feet, glancing around to take stock of the situation. The portal was demolished; it lay in a lopsided, half-broken heap. The entire place was a falling-apart mess, with hardly any light to see by, now that the portal had gone out.

"Great, just GREAT!" he grumbled, starting to pace. He was trying to figure out why the portal merely looped them back around after it's destruction when he tripped over something . . . something that wasn't debris.

Wha-?!" he managed, losing his balance and falling on his face. Whatever he'd tripped over let out a soft groan, curling up beneath him.

Sitting up again, Ford squinted in the near-darkness, just making out the shape of his brother, sprawled out on the ground, face down. Crawling closer, he lightly touched his brothers shoulder, about to shake him.

He pulled his hand back almost immediately at the sharp cry, Lee curling in on himself. Digging in his pockets, Ford found a lighter. After a few moments, it flickered to life and he was able to better examine his twin. His right shoulder was badly burned; the hot metal had burned off his coat and shirt around it. Ford felt a flicker of guilt at this, fingers lightly ghosting over the wound, afraid to touch and make it worse.

"Water . . . we need to get some cold water on this . . ." he said aloud.

Lee didn't seem to be completely lucid, his breathing a little to fast and his face a mask of pain.

"Stanley, come'on, get up." Ford ordered him, lightly gripping his other arm. "We've got to get you upstairs so we can treat that burn."

Lee grunted, struggling to push himself upright. With his brothers help, they made their way into the next room, towards the elevator. The symbol that was now branded on his brothers back was gone from the desk. No, not gone; not really. It was there, just no longer glowing hot.

Reaching the elevator, Ford hit the button with his fist. After waiting a minute or two, he hit it again. "Why isn't it working?" he muttered, leaving his brother leaned against the wall as he peered up the elevator shaft. Or, tried too. As he looked beyond the gate, he realized that it was rusty and brittle, the elevator looking in no better condition.

Had the portal really caused this much damage? Managing to wrench the gate open and stepping inside, he realized something else. The door in the roof for the emergency hatch was lying, unhinged, on the floor of the elevator. Jumping and managing to grasp the edge, he hauled himself up, peering up the shaft. There was no light visible at the top. Using his lighter to look around himself, he could see the severed metal cord, broken close to where it attached.

"Bro, hate to bother you, but there's somethin' weird down here." Stanley's voice broke the silence.

It was so unexpected that Ford jumped and nearly lost his balance. Dropping back through the hatch, he walked out of the elevator to find Stanley slumped against the wall. He was peering blearily at something over in one corner of the room, eyelids drooping. Somehow, he'd also gotten his hands on a piece of rusted piping, gripping it loosely.

Ever the more paranoid twin(nowadays), Stanford cautiously approached the corner. When Lee offered him the pipe, he took it, holding it warily in one hand and the lighter in the other. When he got closer, he could make out tiny footprints in the dust and dirt.

"Come out! Show yourself!" he snapped, trying to brandish the pipe menacingly.

For about a minute or so, there was silence, then a small creature limped slowly out from behind a pile of broken concrete and wood. It was a gnome; and a rather familiar one at that. It was dragging one leg, it's hat had several small tears, one arm hung limply at his side while the other clutched at a large splinter of wood as a cane. One eye was swollen shut and from the dried blood on his face and scraggly grey beard he appeared to have had a bloody nose recently.

"Sm. . .Smebulo . . lock . . ." the little thing got out, looking up with unfocused eyes.

"Smebulock . . .?" Ford muttered, thinking back to when he first discovered the gnomes. "Hey, I think I know you. Smebulock Senior, right?"

The gnome shook it's head. "Smeb . . .Smebulock . . .Junior . . ." he corrected. He promptly fell over, legs giving out. He let out a pained cry, one hand trying to push himself up.

Setting down the pipe, Ford scooped the gnome up and turned back to his brother, who was staring at it with an unreadable expression.

"What the heck . . . is that?" Lee asked slowly, as if having to focus hard to get the words out.

"A gnome. And if one got in here, then he might know the way out. I think he fell down the elevator shaft," he nodded towards it. "Which explains how busted up he is now. Other gnomes might come looking for him here. We might be able to convince them to help us out of here."

Stanley stared at him incredulously. "You didn't make a set of emergency stairs? Seriously? UGH!" he groaned, pulling a hand down his face and sinking to the floor.

"Stanley?!" Ford asked, crouching in front of him and laying a hand on his forehead. It was slick with sweat and warm, too warm.

Lee tried to wave him off. "I'm fine, Poindexter," he mumbled, eyes slipping shut. "Jus' . . . jus' give me a minute. . ." His top half buckled over, and he would've ended up sprawled across the floor had Ford not caught him.

"Smebulock . . ." the gnome said, reaching a hand for the lighter and gesturing to be put down.

Ford readjusted his grasp on his unconscious brother, and gently set the gnome down. Smebulock sat with his back to the wall and took the lighter, lighting the flame again, and holding out the small light as far as he could. He tried for an encouraging smile that quickly dissolved into a grimace of pain as he tried to shift himself into a more comfortable position.

Trying to be careful of his brother's shoulder, Ford hefted him up and stood again, looking around. The whole place looked like it had been turned upside down, things scattered everywhere. Besides looking very old, like the various rusted metal he'd seen so far. He hadn't been so paranoid and sleep deprived that he let things get this bad, right?

The only place clear of debris was inside the elevator, so Ford hauled his brother in there. Taking off his coat and folding it into a makeshift pillow, he laid Stanley face-down. He had Smebulock stay inside the elevator while he took the lighter and started searching through the lab for anything useful. He didn't find much.

Any spare blankets or sleeping bags were moldy and falling apart, he only found one of three first-aid kits and it was rusty and half-crushed beneath a pile of cement. Even if he got it loose, there was zero guarantee it'd still have anything useful.

A duffel bag stuffed with supplies -for in case he had to run and survive the apocalypse above ground if he couldn't make it to the bunker- was stuck underneath some collapsed beams, rotting, and the only salvageable thing was a tiny metal lantern, a dusty pack of matches and some candles.

He lit a candle and stuck it inside, holding it up to help illuminate the space. The portal was not only broken, but rusted over as well, which didn't make any sense. Unless the energy from the blast had somehow both totaled and sped up time in here, it shouldn't be rusted. And all the cloth items shouldn't be rotting or moldy, either.

With a sigh, he turned back and entered the elevator box on heavy feet, sitting down next to his brother. With the stronger light, he could better see the burn. He almost wished he couldn't. It looked bad, really bad. Hospital-level bad. And here he sat, uselessly, without anyway to fix it. He shivered a little and curled in on himself.

Smebulock was watching him, hugging himself with one arm. "What happened to your arm?" Ford asked, not quite ready, no, unwilling to go to sleep. As he had been for days on end already.

Smebulock looked down at his arm, shrugging the other shoulder. "Smebulock . . ." he got out, pointing up towards the hatch. Ford looked up, spotting a small bit of blue fabric. He looked back down at the gnome quizzically. Smebulock held up the sleeve of his hurt arm. A tear of fabric was gone.

"Wait . . . you fell down here?" he asked.

Smebulock nodded. "Smebulock . . .Smebulock." he nodded to himself, struggling upwards until he was standing. His right leg seemed to twist beneath him, probably sprained if not worse, but his left arm didn't respond or move at all. Just flopped around.

"Oh dear," he muttered, putting it together. "You may've dislocated your arm. Should I try to fix it?" he asked.

Smebulock nodded after a moment, allowing the human to pick him up once more, settling on the ground again as Ford examined his arm. "This looks like it's dislocated. Um, this is going to hurt. On three, alright?" the gnome nodded. Stanford gently moved the arm around so he could move it back into place.

"One, two," he shoved the arm back into it's socket. Smebulock didn't make a sound, surprised. "Three." Stanford muttered. He licked his lips. His mouth felt dry.

The gnome squawked in pain, slowly moving both arms. He finally gave Ford a bit of a look, discomfort, annoyance, but thankfulness, too, before standing and limping to the wall Ford was leaning against. Carefully, he curled into a small ball, mindful of his leg and any other possible injuries.

Ford sighed, reaching out and gently running a hand through Lee's long hair. He couldn't believe the mess they were in. He thought back to the fight they'd had. Sure, they'd fought over stuff in the past, when they were kids, and the worst of them led to Lee getting a cut on his jaw and losing a tooth. Even though his twin had praised him for finally "manning up", he'd still felt guilty over it.

Just like with the burn on his brothers back.

Sighing, Ford looked up at the roof of the metal box. "We'll figure something out." he glanced back down at his brother, face a mask of discomfort, even in sleep. With a soft sigh, he shifted until he was laying next to him, then blew out the candle. No use to waste resources. Reaching over, he gently gripped his brothers hand, giving it a squeeze.

"Together."

For the first time in weeks, Ford felt . . . not exactly at ease, not quite. But . . . secure. Ever since the accident with testing the portal and Fidds quitting the project, he'd felt like he was being watched most of the time. While he didn't exactly feel completely safe now, he definitely felt a lot better with his brother there beside him.

With a weary smile, Ford closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

I couldn't help throwing in Smebulock, heh heh. In some ways, he's just . . . in a sense, adorable, if that makes an sense. I guess it's because, whenever I saw him in the show, he seemed like he could use a break or needed some sort of friend. I tend to take canon characters like that and either help them or harass them or both.

Enjoy and please review!