Mike stared at the photos in his hand entranced by the memories they held. His siblings smiling and laughing faces, right next to his own, frozen in a moment of joy that Mike had nearly forgotten about until he found them. With all the tragedy and pain that hung over his family, there were times when it was hard to believe they had ever been happy. But here in his hands was physical proof that he and his siblings had once laughed together.

"What are you looking at Mike?" Mabel asked once she noticed Mike had been staring at one thing for a while. Mike, along with Helpy, had been sorting through a lot of old boxes and documents that he had gotten from Henry after the man had gone down in flames with the others. Mike wasn't letting the twins help, as most of it pertained to the darker side of his history that he wasn't ready to share with them yet, but they could still keep him company while he and the little animatronic worked.

"Henry had some old family photos of mine," Mike replied, immediately getting the twins' attention. "I'm not sure how he had them as some of these were taken after he had lost contact with my family and I had been forced to leave them behind when I had run away from home, but I'm glad he was able to save them somehow."

"You had run away from home?" Dipper asked, always eager to learn more about Mike's past.

"Forget that!" Mabel interrupted in excitement. "Can we see the pictures? I didn't get a good look at your siblings in the bubble and want to see what they really look like!"

"Sure," Mike chuckled, showing the pictures to Mabel and Dipper. Most of them were taken within various pizzerias that the kids were allowed to run loose in while their father worked, but a few were taken around their house and backyard. (Thankfully none of the pictures in this particular box had Willam in it, though that wasn't too surprising considering he was either working or the one taking the photos.)

"Elizabeth has lovely hair!" Mabel commented as she looked through the photos.

"You had a mullet?!" Dipper snickered as he examined a few as well.

"I was a rebellious teen in the 80s, of course, I had a mullet," Mike confirmed with a snort. "I grew it out to look different from my father. I haven't had hair that long since I was 15."

There were a lot of things that Mike had started hating after Evan's accident, having his hair long is one of them. Over the years he had become a lot more indifferent about things like that, especially because he had far more things to be concerned with.

"If you ever grow it out again, I'll be happy to help you style it," Mabel offered.

"I'll keep that in mind," Mike laughed, subconsciously running a hand through his hair. He was already letting his hair grow longer than he had before he died (reveling in the fact his hair could grow at all), but maybe it'd be fun to let his hair be long again, at least for a little while.

"You guys looked like you had a lot of fun together," Dipper commented, holding up a string of pictures where the three Afton siblings were making different goofy faces in all of them.

"We had good times and bad times, just like all siblings," Mike said, looking over the photos Dipper was holding himself. "These were taken during one of the brighter moments during a harder time. Our father had become a bit distant and pretty much absorbed in his work, especially as a big project was about to be unveiled. Tempers had been pretty short between the three of us for a while, but Elizabeth managed to convince Evan and I to go with her to the nearby mall. We didn't have a lot of spending money, but we ended up having a lot of fun looking at all the stores, eating some ice cream, and taking these silly pictures in the photo booth. It's the last photos of the three of us before… before things started to get really bad."

It was only a few weeks later that Circus Baby's Pizza World opened and Elizabeth went "missing" and Willam's downward spiral increased to a whole new level, shattering their broken family beyond repair.

"I just wish I could have talked to them properly about everything before they finally passed on," Mike commented wistfully. "Without things like killer animatronics, cleansing fires, or end of the world chaos getting in the way."

"You know… we could probably summon them if you want…" Dipper suggested, immediately drawing the attention of the other two. "It shouldn't be that hard, and we have all the materials for the ritual already in the Mystery Shack."

"Oooohhh! Can we?" Mabel asked in excitement. "It would be so cool to actually meet them!"

"I don't know…" Mike said slowly, looking at the picture still in his hand. "They're finally at rest and I don't know if they'd want me to pull them away from that…"

What Mike didn't say was he was afraid that his siblings wouldn't want to talk to him after everything, though it seemed like Dipper and Mabel were able to guess his unvoiced worries.

"I'll talk to Grunkle Ford about different types of summoning circles," Dippers concluded. "I'm sure there's a variety that's more like an invitation rather than a compulsory thing."

"Alright…" Mike sighed, unsure whether or not he should be excited or dreading the prospect. "If you find something like that, I'll give it a shot."

A few hours later, space had been cleared in Mike's room and the summoning circle was carefully drawn in its center.

"Everything looks good," Dipper said, comparing the circle to the one from his notes. "All that's left is to light the candles and say the incantation. Do you have it memorized?"

"Yeah, Ford helped me practice the pronunciations," Mike replied, still unsure how to feel about this whole thing. "I shouldn't have any trouble with it."

"We can stick around if you need us as emotional support," Mabel said, giving Mike's hand a comforting squeeze. Once they had seriously started preparing for this summoning, there had been a few discussions about whether or not Mike would be doing this alone or not. Mike decided he needed to do it alone this time at least, as there were a lot of personal topics he needed to discuss with his siblings in private. Dipper and Mabel both understood and respected that decision, but they could both tell Mike was struggling with this.

"I'll be fine," Mike assured, squeezing Mabel's hand back to let her know he appreciated the offer. "This is something I need to do on my own."

"Okay," Mabel smiled, letting go of Mike as she and Dipper headed out the door. They would be sticking around nearby though, just in case something went wrong or if they got the opportunity to meet Mike's siblings.

With the door shut for privacy, Mike turned back to the circle and began lighting all the candles. Once every flame was lit, Mike extended one of the claws in his animatronics fingers and held it to his human palm. He froze before actually drawing blood though, worry and nervousness stiffing his limbs.

"Come on Michael," Mike scolded himself. "You can do this. This cannot possibly go any worse than some of your previous interactions with them. So stop stalling already."

Taking a deep breath to force himself to calm down, Mike used his claw to cut his palm, letting the blood drip on the circle as he began to chant.

"Potentia de hoc saeculo et ultra, velum peto perforare et loqui sanguini mei. Sit circulus iste ostium ut perambulet quos nomino si desiderium est: Evan Chris Afton, Elizabeth Clara Afton."

As soon as Mike finished the chant, a surge of power passed through him and into the circle, making the candles flare briefly and the circle begin to glow. The power also seemed to have a weird effect on Mike's animatronic parts, making them glitch briefly and error messages flash across his vision. Thankfully whatever problems there were passed quickly, but Mike made a mental note to talk to Ford about that later.

Turning his attention back to the circle, Mike watched with growing anxiety as the seconds passed by and nothing happened. Mike was half convinced that his siblings really did want nothing to do with him when the circle began glowing even brighter and a figure began to form in the center. After a moment the familiar and slightly translucent figure of his little brother floated before him.

Evan blinked slightly as he adjusted to being partially present in the mortal world again, before smiling at his brother and saying, "Hi Mike…"

"Evan…" Mike said in wonder and hope. He automatically started to reach out for Evan, wanting to touch his brother to see if he was really here, only to pause when he remembered that Evan was only here in spirit. Evan though, reached out as well and easily held Mike's hand in his own, much to Mike's shock.

"How..?" Mike couldn't help but wonder in surprise as he took in their connected hands. Evan didn't feel like flesh and blood to Mike, warmer and slightly tingling, like sunlight made solid.

"The evil power that resurrected you didn't break your ties to the world beyond," Evan explained sadly. "You died once already and you still have the power of souls running through your veins. It's impossible for you to ever be completely a part of the mortal world ever again."

Mike had already suspected something like that on some level, but it still felt like a shock to hear. Still, this wasn't what he wanted to talk with his brother about. So Mike pushed that revelation and all the thoughts that came with it aside and said, "Evan... I'm so-"

"You don't need to apologize again Mikey," Evan cut in with a huff. "I already told you that I forgave you a long time ago."

"So it really was you in the bubble," Mike concluded, getting a nod from Evan "I thought it had been, but I couldn't be sure."

"Considering that that place was made by a demon to give you your heart's deepest desires, I guess I shouldn't be surprised," Evan sighed. "And if you need to apologize again now that you know it's really me… I won't interrupt again."

"I'm so sorry Evan," Mike immediately began, already crying. "I'm so sorry I killed you. I'm sorry I wasn't the brother you deserved. I don't how you can have forgiven me already after all I did to you…"

"Mike… you were you the best brother you could have been in the circumstances," Evan replied, grabbing Mike's cheek to make sure his brother was looking him in the eye and could see his sincerity. "You looked after me and Lizzie, even though you were just a kid yourself. You loved and protected us, putting us first even as the pressure of it all threatened to break you. Yes… you had a lot of bad moments, especially in the weeks before my death, but those moments are far fewer than the times you did everything you could to make us happy. I never blamed you for the times you acted more like a monster than a brother because I knew that was William's doing. You are just as much a victim of William's as the rest of us even before he got you killed, probably even more so. If you can forgive me and the other lost souls for the terrible things we did while trapped as a result of William's actions, then you can forgive yourself for the things you did while trapped under his influence. I love you, Mikey. I am so happy that you're my brother and always will be."

Mike openly sobbed after hearing that, pulling his brother into a hug that Evan gladly returned. It felt like a great burden had finally been lifted from Mike's soul, finally getting to truly apologize to Evan and knowing that his brother didn't hate him, that Evan had never hated him, even during his worst moments. There was still a part of Mike that didn't think he deserved forgiveness, probably always would be, but it lost most of its bitter power and stinging influence, washed away by the love of his brother.

Mike wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but eventually, the tears ran out and Mike felt freer than he had in decades. Giving Evan one last loving squeeze, Mike finally stepped back from the hug saying, "thanks Ev, I needed that…"

"Always Mike, though I hope I never have to hear you apologize to me like that again," Evan said, only teasing slightly. "I think you've done more than enough of that over the decades and I want you to finally move on."

"I'm working on it," Mike replied, wiping away the few remaining tears. "Probably still have a long way to go, but I have a family now that has been helping with that a lot and I know they always will."

"I'm glad," Evan said with a smile. "And I do want to meet them, but I think you need to talk to Lizzie first."

"I'm surprised you came first before she did," Mike couldn't help but admit.

"She's worried that you wouldn't want to see her for the same reason you were worried I wouldn't want to see you," Evan sighed. "Don't worry, I can get her to come. Give me a moment…"

Evan faded from view as he returned to the world beyond, leaving Mike alone with the still glowing circle. A few moments that felt like an eternity passed before Evan finally came back into view, towing along the familiar figure of their sister. Lizzie was acting shyer than she had ever been in life, hiding slightly behind Evan and refusing to look Mike in the eye.

"Hey, Lizzie…" Mike greeted softly, wanting to reach out to her but holding back for the moment.

"Hello, Mike…" Elizabeth mumbled, being pushed closer to Mike by Evan. "Mike… I'm so sorry…"

"It's alright, Lizzie…" Mike smiled, reaching out and wiping away a tear. "I've already forgiven you for killing me…"

"But I didn't just kill you!" Elizabeth cried, floating away from Mike's touch. "What I did was so much worse! I purposefully trapped you in the same existence that had been torturing me for years! I wanted to cause you pain and agony! I wanted to make you suffer… and I did… I made you suffer for decades…."

"But it wasn't really me that you wanted to get revenge on was it?" Mike prompted gently. "It was Willam that was your real target."

"But I should have realized it was you, not Willam…" Elizabeth sobbed. "There was a part of me that suspected the truth, but I refused to acknowledge all the signs. It wasn't until we were using you and my soul was in contact with yours that I could no longer deny the mistake we made. But it was already too late by then and you were forced to pay the price…"

"You were hurt and you were desperate…" Mike said, gently making Elizabeth look at him. "You had been stuck in a killer animatronic that you had thought had been made for you. You spent years isolated and alone, experimented on by Willam and tortured with electricity under his orders. You were scared and confused with no one there to help you. Anybody in that situation would go mad as you did. I can't blame you for lashing out at who you thought was the source of all your suffering. You were just trying to survive and escape that hellish prison… I understand Lizzie…"

"But that doesn't make it right…" Elizabeth sniffed. "It's not fair… you didn't deserve all that pain…"

"Maybe not… but what happened happened," Mike shrugged. "Yes… it was horrible and a screwed-up situation for all of us, but there's nothing we can do but move on from it. I've forgiven you, Lizzie… I just want us to be brother and sister again…"

Elizabeth sobbed harder and clung to Mike in a desperate hug. Mike easily wrapped his arms around her, murmuring words of comfort as Elizabeth let all her guilt and sorrow flow out through her tears.

"Feel better?" Mike asked when Elizabeth's sobs finally subsided, getting a nod from her. "I'm glad…"

"So Evan told me you got adopted by a new family…" Elizabeth said as she finally broke the hug, changing the subject as she wiped away her tears. "How did that happen?"

"Alright," Mike smiled, more than willing to talk about happier things. "So it started when I found this blog article about animatronics going crazy in some middle of nowhere town in Oregon…"

The three of them talked for hours, sharing stories, reminiscing about their childhood, and just generally getting reacquainted with each other after so many years. They talked, laughed, and even cried a little more, but all of them felt more content and happy than they had in a long time.

"It looks like our time is almost up for now…" Evan noted when he saw how low the candles had burned.

"Yeah," Mike yawned. "But there's one last thing we have to do first…"

Mike went over to his door and opened it, unsurprised to see Dipper and Mabel still there, slumped against the opposite wall in sleep. Mike went over and gently shook them awake.

"How'd it go?" Mabel asked sleepily as Dipper yawned and stretched out his sore muscles.

"Pretty good," Mike smiled. "And there's a couple of people that I want you to meet."

The twins both became instantly more alert as they realized what he was implying, eagerly following him into his room.

"Ev, Lizzie, these are my new siblings, Dipper and Mabel," Mike introduced. "And these are my original siblings, Evan and Elizabeth."

"Hi!" Mabel smiled and waved. "It's nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too," Evan waved back, smiling as well. "Thank you so much for accepting Mike and being there for him since we can't."

"It's no problem," Dipper replied. "We're happy to have him as our big brother."

"So… do you want to hear about the time Mikey ate a grasshopper when we were kids?" Elizabeth suggested with a mischievous grin.

"W-what? S-seriously?" Mike spurted as his face turned red. "That's the first thing you say to them!?"

"It's a great story!" Elizabeth smirked. "One that they should hear."

"Ooohh! I want to hear it!"

"Me too!"

"I don't think I know this story… now I have to hear it!"

All of them had identical grins, delighting in the opportunity to embarrass their older brother like all younger siblings do.

"This was a mistake…" Mike groaned into his hands. "Why did I want to have siblings again? I hate you all… I regret ever coming to Gravity Falls."

"Aww… we love you too," Mabel said, giving Mike a playful nudge while the others laughed and giggled.

"Okay. Okay." Elizabeth began once her mirth subsided. "So Mikey and I were playing in the backyard and-"

Elizabeth was cut off as one of the candles flickered out, making her and Evan briefly vanish before they reappeared.

"Looks like we won't have time for that story today," Mike said, unable to help but feel a little relieved. "Oh well… It's been great to see you two again."

"Don't worry, I'll tell you next time," Elizabeth staged whispered to the twins.

"If you do I'll tell them about the time you ate the leaves off the backyard tree," Mike threatened.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Fair's fair Liz. If you're going to pull out the embarrassing stories then so can I!"

"It's been nice to finally talk to you again Mike," Evan cut before Elizabeth could continue the argument. "And it was great to meet you two! Please do your best to help Mike whenever he lands himself in trouble again!"

"And don't let him blame himself for what happened to us!" Elizabeth added. "It wasn't his fault but he has trouble getting that through his thick head!"

"We will!" Dipper and Mabel promised. With one last goodbye, Evan and Elizabeth vanished from the mortal world and the glow faded from the circle just as the last few candles finally burnt out.

"It was nice to meet them," Mabel said. "Will we get to talk to them more next time you summon them?"

"I don't know… I don't exactly relish the idea of you guys sharing embarrassing stories," Mike jokingly contemplated.

"We could always summon them when you aren't around instead," Dipper grinned.

"Nope! I much rather be there so I can do damage control," Mike immediately conceded. "But I think that's enough for tonight. Come on… it's very late and we should all get some sleep."

Dipper and Mabel didn't protest as they both yawned at the same time. Feeling too lazy to go up to their room, they just joined Mike on his bed. Mike did a little good-natured grumbling, but let the twins snuggle up on either side of him, feeling like the luckiest older brother in the world.