From Guest (Guest): "I REALLY need stans pov of the not what he seems episode please! Btw I love your storys!"

You just had to bring back the feels, didn't you? (Oh, and thank you by the way!)

Innocent

How had they caught him? He hadn't been careful enough, it was the only explanation. The worst part was that they had arrested him in front of the twins. The looks of confusion and fright on their faces had caused his heart to ache. As the car drove away with him inside, Stan panicked and tried to tell them he was innocent through the window. Whether they heard him or not didn't matter as they soon passed out of sight.

He wasn't innocent of stealing the nuclear waste, that much was obvious to him and the agents. He was mostly referring to what he knew would come later that day, what he knew would occur with the portal and how they were sure to react to all of the lies he'd ever told them.

It was not difficult to imagine their heartbroken and betrayed expressions. This realization made him go quiet, burying his face in his hands.

What had he done?

INNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENT

The interrogation wasn't that bad. It wasn't like he would tell them anything. Sure, they believed in the paranormal but there was no way that agent would believe him if he explained what his intentions were with that "doomsday device". Soos could protect the machine if he wasn't able to escape in time. He trusted the man-child more than he cared to admit out loud. Besides, the guy would do anything without questioning it.

He almost laughed when the agents tried to threaten him. To be honest, he was more worried about the kids than himself.

And, of course, the person who should be coming out of the portal in less than two hours.

If only he could get free.

Once he remembered the anomalies, Stan wanted to hit himself in the head. How had he forgotten about those? They could certainly be used to his advantage, especially since these guys were dumb enough that this plan could work.

But his back definitely ached once it happened. Yeesh, he hadn't done something like that in ages.

Agent Powers' yells of anger were music to his ears, though. Try and catch me, hotshot.

INNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENTINNOCENT

Soos wasn't in the Shack when he got there, though. And the vending machine was open.

His blood ran cold and Stan stopped to catch his breath, feeling numb. No. Soos wouldn't have... How had he guessed the combination?

Just like that, he realized the man-child couldn't have done this on his own. There were only two others who would have the guts and brains to do it.

Somehow that hurt even worse.

The game was up. There was no hiding now.

He raced for the elevator and felt ill when he saw the three standing by the portal, Dipper about to press the shut-down button. No. No, he couldn't! Not now, not after everything he had worked for to get here!

Stan ran into view and wasn't prepared for the mixture of emotions on the trio's faces. Soos looked sad, but determined and hurt. Dipper was understandably angry, which he had anticipated, but the betrayal and pain in his eyes... It stung. Mabel's was the worst of them: she looked as if she were going to cry, and seemed to be pleading with him, begging for him to tell her it was all just a big nightmare, that it wasn't real.

Dipper's accusations hurt even worse. It was all true, too. It wasn't as if he hadn't been lying to them or hiding this on accident.

He just wasn't prepared for the severe heartache in his chest.

If only he had tried to explain this before now. Maybe they would have understood (well, Mabel might have but possibly not Dipper).

And then the next anomaly occurred and he found himself struggling with Soos gripping his waist like a teddy bear and his great-nephew trying to shove him away from Mabel.

God, she was crying. He'd made her cry. Please, stop, he wanted to beg. It's going to be okay, sweetheart.

So he pleaded in a way she'd understand, begging her to use her heart instead of her head. Did she still trust him, at least a little? Was he really a bad guy?

Oddly enough, Stan found that he was asking himself the latter question at the same time. He was starting to regret ever causing this mess.

But then she said, "I trust you."

And nothing else mattered.

In the ruins of the lab, as the dark figure emerged from the portal and Dipper questioned who they were, Stan found himself breathing a brief sigh of relief. Not that it would last, most likely.

"The author of the journals... My brother."

I need a moment to cry over this episode, dammit. Mabel's crying and Stan's pleading just broke me.