Gravity Falls: Once More

by Absolute Rift

Four years after their faithful summer of weird, Dipper and Mabel finally return to the legendary town of Gravity Falls. Despite having new adventures and mysteries to take on, they are still tailed by the challenges that come with navigating teenage life. With friends and enemies, both new and old, the Pines must prepare themselves for whatever awaits them. (S1 done, S2 ongoing)

61. Cause and Effect: Part 3

Soos' truck rumbled to a stop at the Mystery Shack, parking in the lot in front of the gift shop entrance. Tiredly, Dipper and Mabel climbed out, walking up to the porch with two differing facial expressions, neither of them positive.

Already sitting on the porch, Ryland watched them approach. He noticed their faces and instantly had a bad feeling about what had happened. Still, he stood up and approached them with slightly more uplifting spirits.

"Hey. How did it go?" he greeted. "Did you guys find out if Derrick did it?"

Dipper let out a disappointed sigh. "Yeah, we did..."

"He did it," Mabel confirmed, her voice flat.

"Wait, seriously? So there was no supernatural at all?" Ryland asked.

"Well, I mean…" Dipper started.

"No, there wasn't," Mabel cut off. "And not only did he destroy my art collection and take my painting of Waddles, but he also went and stole things from other people in town too! Like his old neighbor's tire and Lazy Susan's necklace!" She held up the pearl necklace in her hand for him to see.

"What? But why?" Ryland asked.

"To sell them to others!" Mabel exclaimed. "We even caught him trying to sell Lazy Susan's necklace to Yuri!"

Ryland's eyes widened. "Yuri?! That asshole?! Oh, man… Derrick working with Yuri… This is worse than I thought…"

"Well, IIIIII… wouldn't say they were 'working together'. Considering Derrick kinda-sorta used Yuri's face as a punching bag…" Mabel mentioned.

Ryland chuckled. "Ha! Really? Wow, I kind of would've loved to see that actually." He glanced at Mabel, who looked on at him blankly. "I mean, violence is baaaad…"

"Something is just not adding up still," Dipper said, shaking his head. "I mean, sure, I guess he did do those things, but why would he?"

"He hates me, and he wants money. What other reason could there be?" Mabel summed up.

"Mabel, not all issues have such surface-level causes!" he argued. 'This is exactly what I was trying to figure out today…"

"I don't know about you, but I can't think of a good reason to go out of your way to steal a bunch of innocent people's personal belongings to sell to others. Oh, and destroying my entire art collection, in case that hasn't been mentioned already."

"You've mentioned it a thousand times already."

"And I won't stop bringing it up until there's justice!"

"Justice for what? He said we didn't know what he was going through right now! Maybe he's in trouble and needs help! Have you ever thought about that?"

"Ohhhhh, so you wanna help him now?" Mabel asked, glaring at him. "What if he has to destroy my painting of Waddles too? You wanna help him with that? Or maybe help him steal Robbie's guitar next! Or Pacifica's credit card!"

Dipper clutched his fists. "You know that's not what I mean!"

"Guys, chill out! Geez!" Ryland shouted, jumping between the two. "Not even my brother and I have ever gotten this heated about something, and we've had many fights over the TV remote before."

Dipper sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, Mabel, I'm not trying to downplay the things Derrick did. But we still don't have a complete picture of everything. We still don't even know where he got that phone or what app he was using."

Ryland's head snapped up. "Wait, what phone? What app?"

"Derrick had a smartphone on him even though his real phone is back in Piedmont with his dad," Dipper explained. "He was using some app on it to make the sale of Lazy Susan's necklace with Yuri. I wouldn't think much of it normally, but the way they spoke about it implied that it wasn't just any shop app and that it was far off the deep end."

Ryland's brow furrowed curiously as he pulled out his phone. "Off the deep end…"

Dipper tapped his chin as he continued thinking about it. "He even said to Yuri that he was expecting someone less normal… And Yuri seemed to think Derrick was selling a magic necklace."

"He was probably looking for a replacement for the magic amulet Gideon sold him that got destroyed," Mabel mentioned.

"So could it be this app is some kind of online supernatural marketplace?" Dipper theorized. "Maybe even a virtual extension of the Crawlspace we went into? Like a hidden website for regular people and Gravity Falls weirdness to exchange goods with one another."

"Pfft… seriously?" Mabel scoffed. "You think gnomes know how to use the internet?"

"Is it that far-fetched a theory?"

Mabel hesitated for a moment. "Not really… but even if what you're saying is true, then so what? Then Derrick's just been selling the stuff he stole to a bunch of random monsters in the forest instead of people, which means it might be even harder to get them all back! He might've even sold my painting already! We might never find it now!"

"I found your painting," Ryland announced while scrolling his phone.

"WHAT?!" Mabel's head snapped towards him. "WHERE?!"

Ryland held up his phone, a website visible on the screen. "Right here. Check this out."

Mabel snatched the phone from him, her gaze immediately drawn to the top of the screen at the website's name. Dipper peeked over her shoulder to look at it as well.

"The Space Between?" he read aloud, raising an eyebrow.

"What is this?" Mabel asked.

"Exactly what Dipper was just talking about," Ryland explained. "It's a type of hidden online store that exchanges stuff between humans and weirdness."

Dipper glanced at him suspiciously. "Hidden, yet you know about it?"

"Evan showed me it about a week ago. I needed a new bike chain but didn't have enough money to get my usual replacement. That's when he told me about this site that he found a while ago and helped me access it. You can buy normal human stuff on there, but also crazy, supernatural magic crap topo, which is probably how Yuri got the idea that he'd find a new amulet."

Mabel scrolled through the website on Ryland's phone as he spoke, viewing the long page containing store listings for various products of all types. They ranged from normal human clothing items like hats or dresses, to more miscellaneous items like a football or a plank of wood with a face on it. But between those listings would be more out there items, such as a cursed potion or a dozen Hawktopus eggs.

"I was able to get my new bike chain on there for pretty cheap from a fairy colony," Ryland continued. "They did say it has a .005% chance of combusting at any time, sending me to a shadow realm if I'm riding it. But hey, it's pretty great quality and hasn't given me problems so far."

"And what does Evan use this site for?" Dipper asked.

"He uses it to exchange a lot of parts for his computer with a bunch of tech wizards. And I mean literal tech wizards. According to him, they're a bunch of cave dwellers who snack and play video games all day, never touching daylight while using their powers to constantly upgrade their computers. He says they're insufferable. Do with that info as you will."

"Not that I don't find any of this interesting, but… where did you find my painting?" Mabel asked Ryland, gesturing back to his phone.

"Oh, right!" he realized, swiping his phone back from her and scrolling up on the screen. "Here. I think this is it, right?"

He held the device out for the two to see again, with Mabel accepting the phone in her hands. Sure enough, a photographed image of Waddles: A Moment In Time lying against a tree was displayed right on the screen as a listing on the site.

Mabel's breath hitched as she stared at the image in disbelief. "It is… That's my painting…"

"And it's still up for sale, it looks like," Ryland noted. "Which means Derrick must have it still."

Dipper leaned closer to the phone curiously. "Can you look at the account that posted this?"

"I think so," Ryland said, his thumbs tapping away on the screen. He then turned the phone over to him. "Here."

Dipper's eyes widened as he took the phone, his expression darkening. "Oh God…" he murmured. He quickly turned the screen towards Mabel. "Mabel, you can see all the other stuff he's put up for sale already. Look." He pressed a finger to the screen, slowly scrolling along while looking over every listing on the page. "There's Lazy Susan's necklace, his neighbor's tire… And not only that, but he also listed a wedding ring, a bottle of hair spray, and… an inflatable duck from the Gravity Falls Pool…?" He paused. "Okay, what creature wanted to buy that?"

"This is crazy!" she exclaimed. "He got all of these things in a night? And he's still going? We need to stop him!"

Dipper's attention returned to the details on the screen. "Everything here is listed as sold except for your painting. The necklace too, even though we got it before Yuri paid."

"Pretty sure something only lists as sold once you agree to buy it online. Then the buyer lists a location to meet in person for the exchange," Ryland clarified. "That's how it worked for me, at least."

A spark of determination lit up Mabel's eyes. "That's how we'll find him then!" she declared. "We agree to buy the painting through the app, then we'll go wherever he wants to meet and confront him!"

Dipper's gaze remained fixed on the phone. "It also looks like this app maps out where every sale took place. It could be a long shot for some of these spots, but maybe we can somehow trace these stolen items back to each exchange location and get them back so we can return them to their rightful owners. Whatever we can, at least."

"So we'll use the app to set up an exchange with Derrick, find and handle him, then we'll go and try to find and get everyone else's stuff back," Mabel mapped out.

Dipper sighed with a mix of resignation and resolve. "I guess that's the best way to go about it." He scrolled back up the page and tapped a button on-screen. "There. I agreed to buy it. Now we wait for a response. And it could be a while until we-"

Blip.

His eyes lit up in slight surprise as he looked back down at Ryland's phone, reading the new details that popped up. "Orrrr not. Got a meetup location. It's pinpointed on the far east side of town, across from the old Dusk 2 Dawn. Looks like behind a bunch of corner stores right beside the forest."

"Great!" Mabel said readily.

"Yes, great indeed!" a familiar voice suddenly sprang out from behind.

To the side, at the edge of the surrounding forest, two heads popped up from thick bushes. The left head belonged to Sheriff Blubs, and the right to Deputy Durland, both wearing confident smiles as they looked directly at the three.

"Well, I think we have everything we need to know," Blubs claimed. "You got that location, Durly?

"Got it right here, my Blubs," Durland said, holding up his notepad.

"Sheriff Blubs?! Deputy Durland?!" Dipper questioned, caught off guard by their presence.

"What are you guys doing here?" Mabel asked.

"Oh, we saw you two driving around earlier, looking all nosy and investigative, so we decided to follow you all around town to see what y'all were up to," Blubs explained.

"What? Are you serious?!" Dipper questioned sharply.

"Nah, but you shoulda seen the look on your faces!"

Immediately, Blubs and Durland erupted in boisterous laughter. The three teens, however, exchanged uncomfortable and bewildered glances with one another the entire time.

Blubs wiped a tear from his eye, finally composing himself. "Ahh, but nah. We just got a call here earlier to make another report regarding your thieving friend."

"We were already on our way, but then we saw you two come by and decided to stick around to eavesdrop," Durland continued. "Just in case y'all had any juicy info for us to latch onto."

"And juicy y'all had!" Blubs punctuated with a grin.

"Wait a minute, you were called here?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow. "By who?"

Blubs simply pointed a finger behind the three toward the Shack, a knowing smirk on his face. "I think that's a question for your old man over there."

As Blubs indicated, Stan, Ford, Soos, and Melody were walking down the porch steps towards them. Blubs and Durland then turned and headed towards their cruiser, parked further off to the side.

"Anyway, we'd love to stick around and chat, but we got a deal to bust with a juvenile thief that needs jailing," Blubs called back as the two entered the vehicle.

"A juvenile thief…" Durland repeated, shaking his head. "Kids these days…"

"A dang shame, ain't it?" Blubs agreed before looking back at the others. "Let this boy be an example to y'all on how not to waste your teen years."

"Stay in school, kids!" Durland called out the window with a wide, mocking smile.

With a final burst of laughter and the screech of their tires, the police cruiser sped recklessly out of the Mystery Shack's lot, disappearing down the road back towards town. Dipper stood frozen with his fists clenched tightly at his sides while staring in the direction they had driven. The moment he finally turned, he noticed the group of adults had joined them outside. His eyes immediately snapped towards Stan.

"Grunkle Stan, I can't believe you!" he exclaimed, his voice rising with anger. "Why would you, of all people, involve the cops in this?"

"Now wait just a second! You think I called them?" Stan questioned with great offense. "How dare you! You should know me better than that, kid! I'm a lot of terrible things, but I ain't ever been no snitch!" He paused, a pointed look crossing his face. "Ford, on the other hand…"

"What?!" Dipper's head snapped toward Ford in even greater disbelief. "Great Uncle Ford?!"

"I'm sorry, Dipper," Ford admitted. "I was hesitant to do so, especially given some of our present concerns regarding executive involvement, but frankly, this whole situation is a serious matter. This boy broke into the Shack, ravaged your sister's work, and stole one of her paintings. I know you suspected supernatural involvement, but I reviewed last night's tape several times since you two left, studying it for any possible signs of anomalous activity, and I simply did not find anything noteworthy. Certainly not based on anything I've seen over the years, at least. So in my honest opinion, a supernatural explanation seemed unlikely, therefore, I contacted the local authorities to make a proper case of this."

The longer Ford spoke, the more betrayed Dipper felt. "But you did this while we were gone! We were trying to figure things out for ourselves, and you didn't even give us a chance first?"

"Well, was Derrick not responsible for what happened last night?" Ford asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well… no… He was… b-but that's not the point!"

Ford reached out and placed a hand on Dipper's shoulder, his voice softening slightly. "Look, my boy, I know this is not the outcome you wanted. Derrick is a dear friend of yours whom you've learned to put a lot of trust in. But this situation shows that he has gone and betrayed your trust. And believe me, I know what it's like to be in your same position."

Dipper recoiled, pulling away from Ford's touch. "No, you haven't! This is nothing like what happened with you and Bill!"

Ford's brow furrowed slightly. "Dipper, I wasn't even talking about Bill."

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "Well, then who…?" He then shook his head. "Never mind! I can't deal with this right now." He turned abruptly and began walking back towards Soos' pickup truck. "Ryland, forward me everything you have on that app. I'm gonna look into it and fix things myself."

"Kid, come on!" Stan dissuaded.

"Dipper, where are you going?" Mabel called out.

"I'm gonna find all of the things Derrick already sold and return them to their owners. Lazy Susan's necklace, his neighbor's tire, the inflatable ducks… all of it," Dipper plotted. "And hopefully, I can convince them to drop charges against him at the same time."

"So instead of helping me, you're gonna go and try to save him?"

"Getting everyone their things back needs to get done either way, Mabel!" Dipper exclaimed defensively. "Besides, I don't have it in me to deal with Derrick right now."

"Well, I do, and I will!" Mabel said resolutely. "If he still has my painting, then I'm getting it back!"

Dipper gave her a brief, pointed look. "Then you can do it without me. Besides, at the end of all of this, I know you just want him locked up like everyone else anyway…"

Without another word or a hint of hesitation, he climbed into the truck, put it in drive, and pulled away out of the lot, leaving her along with everyone else.

"Dude, wait!" Soos called out worriedly.

Stan shook his head, watching the truck disappear down the road. "That kid… What are we going to do with him?"

"Guys, come on," Melody stepped in. "He's obviously not crazy about everyone going against him for having a friend. I mean, he said that he's his only friend back home. Do you really think he's in any rush to give that up?"

Ford sighed. "Perhaps involving the police was a misstep on my part. I should've conferred with him about it first."

"Like he would've been any less mad," Stan remarked. "But I get why. I just hope he doesn't get into an accident or something now."

"I'm sure he'll be fine. I don't take him for a reckless driver," Ford reassured. "Though I should really consider putting a tracker on that truck in the future just to be safe."

"Ya know, that might even be a big help for me too," Soos nodded. "Most of the time, I forget where I park in this town. Especially here around the Shack."

"Soos, your truck's one of the only vehicles that's parked here on a regular basis," Stan pointed out.

"But did I park in the front or the back?" Soos countered. "These are the questions that matter."

The adults had begun walking back toward the Shack as the conversation took its detour, leaving Mabel and Ryland alone.

Ryland turned back to Mabel and instantly recognized how disappointed she appeared as she continued to face the lot's exit, where Dipper had driven off. Not only had her brother abandoned her side for this issue, but she was now without the transportation to beat Blubs and Durland to the meetup spot in time.

"So what're you going to do then?" he asked her.

She turned to him, her betrayed eyes filling with determination again. "What I said I'm going to do. I'm getting my painting back."

"Well, I'll give you a lift on my bike. I can back you up just in case," Ryland offered.

"Awww! You don't know how cute you are when you're supportive," Mabel said in a tender voice as she wrapped her arms around his torso gratefully. "But it's okay. I'll take the lift, but I can handle the rest of things myself."

"You sure?"

"Positive," she nodded, pulling away from him. "Besides, this is between me and Derrick…"

---

At the edge of town, Derrick smoothly rolled down the cracked sidewalk on his skateboard with the brightly colored painting of Waddles tucked securely beneath his arm. His beat-up sneaker squeaked against the pavement as he braked. Coming to a stop, he glanced around furtively, spotting the nearby Dusk 2 Dawn across the street. He ensured he was unobserved before turning sharply into a narrow, shadowed alleyway. The alley led him to the rear of a dilapidated building that backed directly onto the trees of the dense forest. He pulled out his phone, his thumb swiping across the screen.

"It's almost six… Ugh," he muttered to himself. "This guy better be here before I run out of time."

Suddenly, twin beams of light cut through the gloom emanating from the edge of the forest, lighting him up like a startled deer.

"Well, it looks to me like you're already out of time, boy!" Sheriff Blubs' booming voice echoed through the alley as he and Deputy Durland stood right behind their open car doors, facing Derrick confrontationally.

"Yeah!" Deputy Durland chimed in. "Now you're about to be doing time!"

"Oooh! I like that!" Blubs chuckled.

"I know!" Durland nodded pridefully. "It sounded so smooth! So intimidating!"

"There is literally nothing intimidating about either of you," Derrick disputed with a careless eye roll.

"That may be true now…" Blubs nodded with a smirk. "…but what about when we're holding these here tasers?"

Both officers then drew their bright yellow tasers, the prongs sparking menacingly in the dim light. Derrick's eyes widened slightly, a flicker of genuine concern crossing his face.

"Idiots with tasers," he muttered under his breath. "Yeah, that'll do it…"

Without a warning, he dropped his skateboard and pushed off with his feet, accelerating back down the alley.

"Dang it! He's getting away!" Blubs exclaimed, pointing his taser down as he and Durland jumped back in the car

"Follow him through that alley!" Durland urged.

"The car won't fit through that alley!"

"Why did you think parking here was a good idea?"

"Me? This was your idea!"

"Oh, right."

"I got a better idea then." Blubs gripped the gear shift and put it in drive, holding the gas and the brake pedal down as the tires began screeching. "Hang on tight!"

With the head start he had, Derrick had already gotten some decent distance skateboarding down the road through town. Despite pushing himself to his physical limits to get away, he kept the painting tucked safely under his arm the whole time.

SMASH!

Derrick risked a quick glance over his shoulder, only for his eyes to widen in shock.

Back down the street where he had skated off from, Blubs and Durland's cruiser had rammed straight through the side wall of an adjacent building at a great speed, sending bricks and dust flying just as the car itself returned to the road. There weren't very many passing townsfolk on the street at that moment, but those around ducked or jumped away in fear before running off screaming.

"AAAAAAAHHH! BLUBS!" Durland's belted inside the cruiser, clutching his seat in terror as he sank into it.

"Relax, Durly!" Blubs yelled back, foot still pressed firmly on the gas pedal. "Mayor Tyler was condemning that building next week anyway! No one was inside!"

"Oh. Whew!" Durland said, somewhat eased. "That's a relief!"

"Yup! No one got injured whatsoev- HOLY…!"

With the dust and debris cleared from their view through the windshield, Blubs realized he was dangerously close to ramming right into Derrick. As such, he stomped on the brake pedal as hard as he could, slowing the speeding vehicle.

It wasn't slowing fast enough though. Derrick turned around again, his breath catching in his throat. The mangled front of the sheriff's cruiser was mere feet behind him. With a gasp, he jumped off his skateboard to the side, instinctively clutching the Waddles painting tightly to his chest, and landed hard on his back.

The abandoned skateboard was instantly run over with a crunch, splintering into pieces.

Almost immediately after, the cruiser finally came to a screeching stop. Blubs parked the car and lowered the window, poking his head out to look over at Derrick lying on his back on the side of the road, holding the painting upward.

"Oh my gosh!" he shouted with immense concern. "I'm so sorry! Son, are you still okay?"

"Are you hurt? Do you need an ambulance?" Durland added with panic.

Derrick sat up slowly, wincing in pain, and gave the two officers a bewildered look. "No… I'm fine."

"Oh, thank goodness!" Blubs exclaimed, holding his chest.

"That's a relief," Durland echoed.

A moment of awkward silence hung in the air, broken only by the settling dust and the cruiser's running engine.

"You know we still have to arrest you now, right?" Blubs soon mentioned.

"Aaaaand there it is," Derrick remarked before pushing himself to his feet and immediately breaking into a sprint towards the dark treeline of the forest with the painting in hand.

"Hey! Get back here!" Blubs yelled, shaking his fist out the window in his direction.

Before he knew it though, Derrick had disappeared into the dense foliage. They were nothing but a lone car on the side of an empty road between the forest, parked within the decimated remains of a skateboard.

"Dang it, Durly!" Blubs slammed his fist against the steering wheel. "He's gone into the woods! We can't follow him into the woods!"

"We can't?" Durland questioned, confused.

"No. We can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because…!" Blubs trailed off, a visible shudder running through him. "…I'm afraid of the woods… It's dark and scary out there…"

"Yeah…" Durland agreed hesitantly, a nervous tremor in his own voice. "…and there's spiders."

"YES, YES! Exactly! Gosh dang spiders… I especially hate the big, fuzzy ones. They just give me the creeps!"

Durland reached over and tentatively patted Blubs' arm. "Shhh. It's okay, my Blubs. As long as I'm here, I promise I will do my best to make sure that you never have to deal with any spiders. You have my word."

Blubs turned to Durland, his eyes wide and sincere, and reached out to hug him tightly. "And you have my heart…"

---

Derrick plunged deeper into the forest, branches whipping past his face as he sprinted, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Finally, his legs burning, he skidded to a halt, leaning against a thick tree trunk as he scanned his surroundings.

"Dammit! That was supposed to be my last deal!" he said to himself, pulling out his phone to check the time. "And it's almost six. Great." He let out a frustrated sigh. "Well, at least I don't got anyone following me anymore."

"You sure about that?"

Derrick's head snapped upwards. Perched on a thick tree branch overhead was Mabel, staring him down menacingly from above.

His eyes narrowed. "You…" he began with mixed surprise and annoyance.

"Me…" Mabel echoed with a playful grin.

Derrick stared her down for a moment. "…why are you up in a tree?"

"For dramatic effect!" Mabel declared before launching herself from the branch, landing with a less-than-graceful thump, sprawling on the ground. "That could've gone better…" she mumbled as she pulled herself up, brushing leaves off her sweater.

"I thought I told you to stay out of my way," Derrick said, his tone sharp.

"Wrong! You told Dipper to stay out of your way!" she corrected. "And guess what? Dipper's not here! And also… I'm not Dipper!"

"Gee, I never would've guessed," Derrick retorted, rolling his eyes.

"Be sarcastic all you want," Mabel said, her smile unwavering. "Since Dipper's not around, there's nothing holding me back from dealing with you my way. The Mabel Way."

"Dealing with me for what? What I'm doing has nothing to do with you."

"Wrong again!" she insisted, pointing a finger at him. "That painting has everything to do with me! You might even say… I was in the market for it…"

Derrick's eyes lit up in surprise. "Wait, you're my last deal of the day?"

"Yessiree!" she nodded before holding her hand out demandingly. "So cough it up!"

Derrick lowered the painting curiously. "So you got my money then?"

"I'm not paying for something that was stolen from me," she refused. "Now give it back!"

"Back?" Derrick repeated questionably.

"Don't play dumb," Mabel said, her tone hardening slightly. "You were caught on camera stealing it from the Mystery Shack museum last night. And now, this is your one chance to return it peacefully… or else."

Derrick scoffed. "Or else what?"

Mabel's eyes glinted with intent. "You don't wanna find out…"

"You know what?" Derrick said, a sudden mischievous glint in his own eyes. "I kind of do. So…" He took off sprinting through the trees. "Enlighten me!"

As he weaved his way through the woods, Mabel pulled her grappling hook out from her sweater, firing it upwards. With surprising speed, she swung herself up into the branches again, expertly trailing after him through the forest canopy.

Derrick continued his frantic run down a steep, leaf-strewn slope, his hand reaching into his pocket to check his phone for the time. It was only getting closer and closer to six.

"Come on…" he grunted, pushing himself harder. "If I lose her, maybe I'll still have time to make a real deal on this thing…"

He then burst through a scrub of bushes, his eyes widening in alarm. He slammed his feet down, the soles of his shoes scraping against the ground as he slid towards the edge of a short, unexpected cliffside.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" he exclaimed, staring down at the shallow river below.

"DERRICK!"

Her booming voice prompted him to spin back around. Only a few yards away, she continued stomping purposefully toward him, her expression relentless.

"I. Want. That. Painting."

Derrick instinctively held the painting up like a shield. "Hey, get back! I mean it!"

Mabel lunged forward, gripping the edge of the painting. "GIVE IT!" she yelled, tugging sharply.

"I said, GET BACK!" Derrick countered, pulling back with equal force.

With a sudden lurch, both of them lost their balance and tumbled over the edge of the short cliff, their screams echoing through the trees. They landed with a splash in the shallow, flowing river. Derrick instinctively held the painting aloft, keeping it out of the water, while both of them groaned in pain from the impact.

Derrick stumbled back onto his feet, wincing, but held the painting up, relieved to see it was still largely unharmed and untouched by the surrounding water.

However, Mabel's hand soon shot out from the water, grabbing his ankle with surprising strength.

"Give… me…" she gritted out, her face contorted in pain and determination.

Derrick yanked his ankle free. "You're crazy! Stay away from me!" He turned and began to run-limp away through the shallow water

With a groan, Mabel pushed herself up to a sitting position, then rose shakily to her feet, her own movements hampered by pain. "Get back here!" she yelled, starting to run-limp after him.

As he ran, Derrick grew desperate for options for getting away. From his own experience, especially in Gravity Falls, he knew the dense woods were an unfavorable location for a foot chase. And he knew Mabel was superior at navigating the area, which made the task of escaping her seem even more unlikely.

That was when he spotted the dark opening of what appeared to be a large storm drain tunnel. In the midst of the tense chase, his immediate thought was that he had no better thoughts, and thus, he continued to limp-run ahead, plunging himself into it. Very quickly, the circular concrete walls closed in around him, minimizing the natural light. And the deeper he went, the darker it became, which led to him hesitating briefly as the shadows seemed to swallow him. He had essentially walked into a giant, dark, concrete tube that he couldn't see the other end of.

"God dammit…" he muttered, his voice echoing in the confined space as he mentally debated continuing forward.

"Yeah, run into the scary, pitch-black dark tunnel, Derrick! See where that gets you!" Mabel's voice mocked from behind.

He stopped in place, gripping the painting tightly. Looking behind him, there she stood at the tunnel entrance, the sunlight from behind her casting a giant shadow over him. Not that it was any surprise. But now, there was no avoiding her if he wanted to go back the way he came.

"What's wrong with you?!" he shouted. "Why do you care so much about this painting?!"

"What do you mean, why do I care?!" Mabel exclaimed as she continued stomping toward him. "It's mine!"

"Yeah? Well, I don't see your name on it!"

"It's literally in the bottom right corner!"

"Wait, what?"

Derrick squinted at the corner of the painting. From what he could make out in the low light, there was some type of miniature pen doodle of a little bear or beaver-like creature.

"That's not a name! That just looks like... a wombat mixed with a platypus?" he questioned, genuinely confused.

"It's called a wombatypus! And it's my artist signature, which is close enough!" Mabel exclaimed, stopping right in front of him and gesturing toward the painting.

"Wait… you painted this yourself?" Derrick asked.

"What did you think I meant when I kept saying that it's mine?!"

"I honestly thought you just meant you bought it off of someone or something. I didn't think you meant you made it."

"What? Of course I made it myself! I'm an artist! I draw! I paint! I sculpt! I make my own clothes for crying out loud! You've known this! And yet you still took my painting right after destroying the rest of my work in the Shack's museum!"

Derrick's eyes widened with dawning realization. "That… was all… your work?"

"Yes!" Mabel exclaimed, then paused, a flicker of confusion crossing her face. "You… you didn't know?"

Derrick was silent, staring at her with a look of what came across as innocent bewilderment as he looked down. Mabel studied his face for a moment, intending to catch a smirk or some surrender of fake innocence. But to her surprise, everything about his expression seemed genuine. Which somehow made even less sense.

"How didn't you…?" she attempted. "What were you…? Why would you…?"

Before she could get a full sentence out, Derrick suddenly held out the painting towards her without looking her in the eye.

"Here. Take it,' he simply said, his face and voice defeated.

Mabel stared at him for a moment, still utterly confused and in the midst of processing things. Despite that, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. She snatched the painting from his outstretched hand and immediately recoiled a few steps back, studying his reaction.

But he barely had one. She had somewhat anticipated him dropping the painting on the floor in the shallow water or punching his other hand through it. But instead, he just surrendered it to her, taking a few steps deeper into the tunnel before sitting down against the concrete above the water, resting his arms on his perched knees.

She wasn't sure what to make of him, but Waddles: A Moment In Time was once again in her hands, mostly unscathed. Most of the weight that had pressed down upon her since that morning had been lifted, and her vision seemed clearer again. She had what she came for, and so she turned around and began walking back toward the sunlight beaming in through the tunnel entrance.

But as she walked, she eventually came to an abrupt stop. Something felt off.

She then glanced over her shoulder back at Derrick, who was still sitting on the damp ground of the tunnel, staring at the ground in obvious dismay. A strange, uncomfortable feeling washed over her as she looked at him. Part of it was concern, but another part was still suspicion, like she felt she was being baited into feeling the way she did. But giving that feeling any ounce of greater thought, she figured that made little sense.

Still, despite her hesitation, she turned and slowly walked back toward him. She then came to a stop as she hovered over him a little more than a yard away, which he didn't seem to notice.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice softer.

Derrick looked up at her, weariness in his eyes. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm sitting. What, am I not allowed to sit now?"

"No, it's not that," Mabel said, her grip tightening on her painting. "It's just… why?"

Derrick gave her a confused look. "What do you mean, why? Because I want to sit down – that's why. And besides, I already gave you your painting back, so why do you care? You can go now."

Mabel stood there for a moment, her thoughts swirling, her gaze fixed on the painting in her hands. "Yeah, I guess I can."

"Then go," Derrick said quietly, his focus returning to the ground.

She hesitated again, but eventually, she turned and began to walk away with the painting once more. However, she didn't make it as far as she did prior before coming to another stop. Now she was even more conflicted than before. She glanced back at Derrick, who looked just as dejected as before. A strange feeling inside, something akin to guilt, stirred within her.

Though she wanted to fight it, she gave in, turning and walking back to him again before slowly lowering herself to the ground beside him, sitting down. The sound of her stepping and sliding her bottom against the ground reverberated in his ear, bringing his attention back to her. He raised an eyebrow with growing annoyance.

"Now what are you doing?"

"Sitting. Same as you," Mabel replied, lowering herself to the ground beside him and setting her painting to the side.

Derrick's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you trying to mess with me or something? Why don't you just leave?!"

Mabel shrugged, avoiding his eyes. "Maybe I don't want to leave."

"Wha…? Why- You-," Derrick sputtered, then sighed in exasperation and rubbed his face with his hand. "Fine. Fine. Whatever. Sit there all you want. I can't force you to leave," he said, scooting slightly away from her. "But if you think I'm gonna talk to you now, then you're wrong."

"That's fine. You don't have to talk to me."

A minute of awkward silence stretched between them as they simply sat together in the tunnel. They paid each other no glances or acknowledgements the entire time. Derrick simply stared at the wall opposite of him while Mabel's eyes jumped around a bit more restlessly, taking in their surroundings.

"I never knew about this tunnel, you know?" she said, breaking the silence. "Is this supposed to be like a sewer entrance or something? It doesn't really smell like a sewer. And believe me, I'd know. Unfortunately…"

Derrick remained silent, continuing to stare straight ahead.

"Still though, it's kinda creepy," Mabel continued, kicking her feet against the concrete floor. "Just a random, dark tunnel in the middle of the forest? I mean, it's obviously far from the weirdest thing about this town, but also that's kind of what makes it eerie. I just hope some crazy evil clown doesn't jump from the shadows and kill us now. Wouldn't be very funny. Meheheh."

Derrick still didn't respond or look at her, especially as she started to shift her right foot around.

"I think I still have a pebble in my shoe," she abruptly mentioned. "It's been stuck in there for a few weeks now. I'd take it out, but I feel like my shoe is sort of its home now. So taking it out would be like forceful eviction, and that wouldn't be cool. For the pebble, I mean. It would be a relief for me."

"Are you done yet?" Derrick finally spoke, voice flat.

Mabel glanced at him. "I thought you said you weren't gonna talk to me."

"I didn't think you were gonna take that as a cue to talk my ear off."

"Hey, I'm just thinking out loud. I do this all the time when I'm bored or have nothing better to do, or just wanna say what's on my mind. Dipper would even tell you that if he were here right now."

Silence descended again as Derrick had no interest in instigating the conversation further. After a moment, Mabel began to twiddle her thumbs, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Can I ask you something?" she said finally. "You don't have to actually talk to me or say anything. You can just… shake your head yes or no. Okay?"

Derrick didn't respond, nor did he shake his head. There was no visible acknowledgement of her words, but she still took it as her cue to proceed.

"Okay, well… This might be kind of weird because I feel like this is something I probably should've asked you a long time ago," she began somewhat awkwardly. "But… do you have a crush on me?"

The question immediately widened Derrick's eyes. His head turned very slowly toward her, his mouth partially open with an expression that was a mixture of shock and something akin to revulsion.

"I only ask because, like, I've dealt with those guys who pick on girls and annoy them endlessly because they secretly like them or whatever, but I honestly never took you for one of them," she continued. "But now that we're here and I'm thinking, I guess I'm kinda starting to figure…"

She cut herself off as she watched him slowly and silently shake his head, his repulsed facial expression entirely unchanged. If anything, he looked almost offended that she would even assume this of him.

"Okay! Well, thank God for that!" Mabel exclaimed with relief. "I was not really trying to unpack that whole can of worms. Phew!"

Derrick turned away from her again, allowing another moment of silence to pass between them.

"But now I have another question," Mabel spoke up again, her tone more serious now. "And I probably should've asked this one long ago as well…"

Derrick sighed heavily. "What?"

"Why do you hate me so much?"

Derrick's eyes glanced at her for a second before looking ahead again. "I don't hate you."

"Oh, please," she scoffed. "You've literally said before that you hate me."

"Well, then, I didn't really mean it."

"After everything we've been through together, you expect me to believe that?"

"Well, I sure don't like you. Your constant bubbliness and forced positivity about literally everything always annoyed the hell out of me," he reassured. "But I've never hated you. I hate mosquitoes. I hate cold weather. I hate the sequel to Bloodcraft: Overdeath. I hate the American health insurance system. There are plenty of things that I do hate. But you? You're not worth hating."

"Then why have you done so many terrible things to me over the years?"

"What are these 'terrible things' that you're talking about? I don't remember a single time I've gone out of my way to try to get at you."

"Yeah, right!" Mabel exclaimed, her eyes flashing with indignation. "Almost four years ago now, you set my first blouse on fire!"

"Oh my god, you're still hung up on that?" Derrick groaned. "You've made like a billion different types of clothes since then!"

"That's not the point! Back then, you said to me, 'oHhhHhH, I dOn'T cArE fOr hOw sParKlyYyYyYy iT iS!'," she said mockingly. "I leave my room for not even a minute, and when I come back, you're using my candles to cook blouse barbecue! Or B-BBQ!"

"Yeah, and the same thing I said then, I'll say now – It was the pig's fault."

"Don't you dare slander Waddles' name like that!" Mabel sharply retorted. "It wasn't him holding my blouse above those candles!"

"Okay, look, I'll give it to you that you didn't see what happened, and it all looked very bad. But it really was an accident! Honest!"

"An accident, how?" Mabel challenged, her arms crossed.

Derrick sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Literally right after you and Dipper left the room…"

---

[One Week After the First Day of 8th Grade]

In Mabel's bedroom, Derrick stood by casually as he watched Mabel skip out of the room to go get her mom's sewing machine. Dipper let out a sigh as he began to follow her out of the room, looking over his shoulder.

"Just wait here a second, man," Dipper told him before exiting the room.

Left to his own for the moment, Derrick's eyes began wandering around Mabel's colorful room, taking in every decoration she had. His focus was drawn to a lone poster on the wall that had a laughing clown on it. Right above its head was a caption that read "Laugh a little!" in bold, rainbow lettering.

Derrick narrowed his eyes at the poster. "This offends me."

His attention was soon grabbed by the sound of an apparent oink, which caught him off guard. However, looking straight down, he noticed the chubby pig that apparently belonged to Mabel, from what had just been mentioned not long before.

"Oh, hey," he greeted as he kneeled down next to Waddles."So you're the reason this room's many conflicting smells are currently giving me a migraine." He reached a hand out and started stroking the top of his head. "Well, I guess that's not entirely your fault. You're just trying to live life and get by like the rest of us, huh?"

Waddles simply responded by latching onto the sleeve of Derrick's hoodie with his mouth, beginning to chew.

Derrick simply watched his determined gnawing without immediate reaction. "On second thought, maybe I'm giving you too much credit."

The enthusiastic chewing continued for a moment as Derrick wasn't sure how to respond. He was mostly hoping the pig would just let go on its own, but he seemed really determined to keep going, slowly pulling in more of the sleeve into his mouth. seemingly oblivious.

"Okay, man, that's enough," Derrick said with a gentle tug. "This hoodie is messed up enough as is."

Waddles, however, had no intention of releasing his grip and instead started to yank the fabric back with surprising strength.

"Hey! I said, that's enough!" Derrick demanded, pulling his arm back more forcefully. "Let GO!"

SQEEEEEEE!

With a sudden release, Waddles tumbled backwards, letting out a surprised squeal that startled the cat on top of Mabel's bed, sending it sprinting out of the room. The force of Derrick's tug, however, caused him to stumble, and his arm knocked against the nearby dress mannequin currently sporting Mabel's glitterful blue blouse. The mannequin tipped over, falling directly into the cluster of lit candles on Mabel's desk.

"Oh, crap, crap, crap!" Derrick muttered, scrambling to his feet. He watched in horror as the blouse draped over the mannequin's shoulders caught fire, flames licking upwards. "Craaaaaap! My first time coming over, and I'm really about to burn the whole place down!"

He reached out for the blouse's shoulders, which were untouched by the flames, and pulled it off the tipped mannequin. Holding it up in the air high above the candles as the torso burned, he desperately tried blowing on the flames with his mouth in both short and long bursts. However, neither was effective whatsoever.

"Damn!" he exclaimed, heart beating anxiously. "I gotta fix this somehow before they get back and-"

He was cut off by a sharp gasp from the doorway, which made him freeze instantly as he looked over at it.

"My blouse!" Mabel screamed, her eyes wide with horror as she took in the scene.

Just behind her, Dipper ran into the room, his eyes immediately fixing on Derrick. "Dude!"

Derrick just stood awkwardly for a moment, the flaming blouse still held in his hands above the lit candles. Looking opposite the room from him, he finally noticed Waddles quivering on the ground by Mabel's bed, seemingly spooked after being accidentally flung across the room following their tug of war.

He could tell the whole scene looked rough and not at all in his favor. And yet, with all the panicked tension built up inside, he had no idea how to properly respond. So he just glanced between the two twins a few times before his eyes darted to Waddles again.

"Uhhhh… it was the pig's fault," he awkwardly deflected.

---

[Present]

"Wait, so… you didn't deliberately set my blouse on fire after all," Mabel realized, glancing around in disbelief as she processed his perspective of that moment.

"Why would I do that? I barely even knew you. What reason would I have for burning your new blouse right away?" Derrick asked.

"I don't know!" she admitted as she thought about it. "But it's not like that's the only thing you've done! Like that one time you crashed right into me while riding your stupid skateboard in the halls!"

Derrick's eyes widened. "Oh, yeeeaaahhh… I remember that..."

---

[10th Grade, Fall 2014]

A trio of stereotypical nerd-type students stood proudly in the center of the bustling school hallway, faces glowing with prideful accomplishment. Two of them held aloft an enormous rubber band, stretching it between their outstretched arms. The lead nerd stood back, examining the stretch with a wide smile on his face.

"Great job, guys!" he told the other two enthusiastically. "Our science fair project is finished! We've successfully designed the world's largest rubber band! With an elasticity capable of propelling items at super speed!"

Derrick, skateboard tucked under his arm, casually approached the group. "Including people, right?"

"Indeed!" the lead nerd nodded, adjusting his glasses. "Though I don't know why anyone would wanna do that! That would be very dangerous and-"

"COMING THROUGH!"

While the nerd wasn't paying attention, Derrick had suddenly darted backwards, dropped his skateboard onto the ground, and skated full speed toward the stretched rubber band. He rode straight into the center of the giant elastic, the force pulling him taut before launching him across the hallway with great velocity, much to the surprise of the three nerds.

"WOOHOOOO!" Derrick yelled as he blurred past startled students who screamed and leaped out of his path. "That's right! It's my birthday! And I bought a new skateboard! And I'm riding it through the hall for no reason at all! Now, how do I stop this thing?"

Eyes focusing dead ahead of himself again, they bulged in dawning horror as he realized he was about to ride straight into a wall of lockers at the end of the hall. Time had slowed down for him at that moment, almost like his life was about to flash before his eyes.

In that same moment, he just barely managed to catch sight of Mabel standing obliviously in front of the locker wall as her three friends, seeing the impending collision, scrambled out of the way. Still, Mabel stood directly at the end of his path and only noticed him at the point when it had become too late to do anything about it.

"Oh no," Derrick said to himself in the final second before impact.

WHAM!

The resulting impact left Derrick and Mabel crumpled to the floor in a heap of pained groans. Mabel sat up slowly, a look of utter devastation on her face as she spat a single white tooth into her trembling hand.

"My perfect teefhh…" she whimpered sadly, eyes tearing up.

Beside her, Derrick still lay sprawled on the floor, disoriented and dazed. "Woooo… happy birthday… to meeeeee… uggghhh…" He blinked slowly, holding onto his pained head while staring up at the ceiling with regret. "Why did I do this?"

---

[Present]

"Okay, I admit... that was not one of my smartest moments," Derrick admitted, the memory making him cringe. "It's just… I had just gotten my first skateboard, and I wanted to try it out at a really fast speed… in the school hallways… because I have no respect for campus rules."

Mabel shot him a weird look for this attempt at a justification. Even Derrick knew it sounded stupid, even though it was very true.

"But anyway, that crash was also an accident," he continued. "You can't seriously think I crashed into you on purpose."

Mabel's brow furrowed slightly. "Okay, fine, well… what about when you lit my hair on fire last year?"

"In chemistry class?" he recalled. "That was also an accident. Though, I should've known your hair would be a fire hazard with all of the sparkly crap you used to put in it back then."

"Hey, that sparkly hair mask made my hair glittery and cute!" she said defensively.

"And also very flammable."

Mabel shifted, another memory surfacing. "Alright, then what about in ninth grade when you stopped Jacob J. Jacobson from asking me out? Not that I'm unhappy with Ryland… but you made it seem like Jacob was above asking someone like me out!"

"Yeah, and I thought he was!" Derrick admitted without hesitation.

"Ha! You see?"

"Because he was a senior and you were a freshman!"

"Wait, whaaaaa…?"

"Oh my god, did you seriously not know that either?" Derrick asked, pinching the bridge of his nose irritatedly.

"N-No…" Mabel stammered, her mind racing. "We had geometry class together! Why was he in a freshman class if he was a senior?"

"Because he's an idiot! But one who sure knows how to play basketball…" he said, shaking his head disappointedly. "Anyways, seniors hitting on fresh meat… It's weird as hell. I thought I was doing you a favor."

Mabel's certainty began to dissolve with each of Derrick's reasons for their past incidents, which she realized was entirely rooted in misunderstanding over either miscommunication or pure, unmalicious accidents.

"B-But… You… But I thought…" she stammered, trying to think of anything else to bring up.

"You got nothing, do you?" Derrick observed.

Mabel slumped back against the cool concrete wall, her shoulders slumping. "All this time, I thought you hated me for no good reason. You never liked anything I liked and always made fun of me."

Derrick's gaze softened slightly. "I mean, we're just very different people who like different things. And most of my insults were just retaliation to the crap you gave me. Maybe there were times when I said some things just to rile you up, but I'm like that with everyone. Like I said, I never actually hated you."

Mabel glanced to the side, hopelessly confused. "Then what was all of this about?" she asked, gesturing vaguely. "Why did you take my painting and destroy the rest of my art last night?"

"I didn't know it was your work."

"But why did you do it? Why did you do any of this? Why steal Lazy Susan's necklace or your neighbor's tire or any of that other stuff to sell on that weird website? What was the point? What were you trying to do?"

Derrick's gaze drifted away, his jaw tightening. "I don't wanna talk about it."

Mabel leaned forward slightly, her expression earnest. "Derrick, I know we're not friends, and maybe I've been misjudging you for a while. But… I'm really trying to understand you now. I can't make you open up to me, but if you did, the last thing I'd want to do right now is make you feel worse."

A heavy silence hung in the tunnel air for another moment, with Derrick seemingly refusing to answer. He just stared ahead of him while continuing to rest his arms on his knees. Mabel studied his tired, stubborn face, uncertain of what he was thinking. But instead of breaking the silence, she let her words settle in with him as she looked on at him with honest intention.

Soon enough, Derrick finally sighed, the sound heavy with reluctance. "I wasn't supposed to be here this summer, you know."

Mabel considered the response for a brief moment. "Dipper told me that you got in trouble back home and that your dad sent you here as punishment."

"But not even just that," he claimed, his voice low. "I wasn't supposed to spend the summer back in Piedmont either. I was supposed to stay in Chicago… where my mom lives."

Mabel's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh…" She paused as she thought for a second. "I've heard things about your dad from Dipper, but I never heard about your mom."

Derrick's expression clouded over, a hint of pain in his eyes. "I don't usually talk about her. Not even to Dipper. She's not well. She hasn't been for a while."

Mabel's gaze softened with sympathy. "I'm… I'm sorry to hear that. But how come you didn't spend the summer with her like you planned?"

"Because she's getting worse," he replied, soon narrowing his eyes. "And according to my idiot dad, 'legally speaking', she's unfit to be my caretaker from a hospital bed. Which means I can't stay with her. And because he doesn't care about anyone but himself, he won't take me to see her."

"That's horrible," Mabel said, her eyes filling with hurt on his behalf.

"You're goddamn right it is." His hands clenched into fists at his sides as he stood up, his voice raw and tight as he began to pace restlessly. "So I took my anger out on his fancy new car that he spent money on for himself instead of a plane ticket for his own son. Trashed the everliving shit out of it with his equally fancy golf club. And can you guess what my punishment was?"

"He sent you here for the summer…"

"And took my phone. Sent me to live with his dad – my grandpa – whose brain's so old and scrambled, I swear he forgets I'm even staying with him some days." He stopped pacing and sighed heavily. "Still, he's nowhere near as bad. Staying with him for the summer is still three months of not having to put up with my dad's crap. At least, that's what I thought until last night."

Mabel looked on at him with growing concern. "What happened last night?"

Derrick sank back down onto the ground, his shoulders slumping. "I thought that being sent away for the summer meant I could still see my mom without my dad knowing. I remembered the birthday and Christmas money I had saved up this past year from her, so I started planning a trip to see her in secret. After Dipper came over last night, I was actually about to head to the bank to pull my money out from my account. But then my dad called last night to remind me how much I don't miss him…"

---

[The Night Before]

"What the hell do you mean you spent it?!"

An enraged Derrick stood in the middle of his grandpa's kitchen as he held the home's landline telephone up to his face.

"Don't act surprised," an impassive voice spoke to him over the phone. "You know what you did to my car. You should've been prepared to pay your share for the damages."

Derrick clutched his fist to the point of shaking. "Are you freaking kidding me?! That's MY money! In MY bank account!"

"The account that I set up for you."

"Mom sent me that money! Y-You can't just…"

He slammed a fist down violently on the kitchen counter.

"...YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" he screamed, voice scratching.

"It's already done," the voice told him coldly. "These are called consequences, son. Maybe this time, you'll finally learn."

With the phone still held to his ear, Derrick's face dropped as he stared ahead. His wide eyes began to well up with tears as the gravity of his father's words began to truly crush down on him.

"I hate you…" he spoke into the phone through gritted teeth before slamming the phone right back onto its base, hanging up.

But that wasn't enough for him.

He picked up the phone from the base again and slammed it back down even harder..

Then he did it again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And he would keep going until both the phone and its base were completely obliterated, as pieces of both chipped and broke apart further and further with each consecutive slam. Once he was finished, in his hand was nothing more than half of a landline phone, which he carelessly tossed onto the floor as he started breathing heavily, nearly desperate for air.

Right outside the kitchen, coming slowly down the stairwell, was Derrick's grandpa, who caught the final slams of his once-working landline phone.

"Who was that, Derrick?" he casually asked. "Was it another prank caller? Boy, how I hate those fools too. Don't worry, I probably woulda done the same."

At that moment though, Derrick felt too emotionally and physically disoriented to even pay his grandpa any mind. His head was all over the place while his ears rang, and his stomach felt stuck in his throat. If he stuck around the house any longer, he had the feeling he would collapse. Therefore, he started making his way toward the front door with slow, sloppy steps like he was on the brink of falling.

"Derrick?" Mr. Mendez raised an eyebrow in concern. "Derrick, where ya going?"

Derrick opened the front door and took a step outside before stopping in place, head barely turning to face back inside. "I'm going to check the mail. I'll be right back."

Slam!

Without thought or remorse, Derrick slammed the front door shut as he stepped fully outside to catch the very end of the setting sun, with the night darkness slowly beginning to creep in overhead. Glancing to his right, on the front porch, was his skateboard leaning against the wall. While his head was still a mess at that moment, one idea seemed clear to him.

Thus, he grabbed the skateboard, threw it down on the sidewalk, and took off on top of it down the street.

"I didn't check the mail though. Instead, I took my skateboard and went to the bank. Part of me was hoping that my dad was bluffing or that I still had something in my account to pull, but the teller said there was nothing left. Everything was gone. After that, I ended up just running off into the woods. I kind of didn't really care what would happen to me anymore. I just knew I wanted to be alone. So I eventually found a spot where I was completely alone. Or so I thought…"

Somewhere in the middle of the woods, Derrick sat curled up at the trunk of a tall tree. Though his eyes had certainly gotten misty numerous times that night already, he couldn't bring himself to full-blown streaming tears. Instead, he just sat and tried his absolute best to just empty his mind so he could feel absolutely nothing.

Unfortunately, feeling nothing proved challenging when all he could do at that moment was feel.

"I had enough for a plane ticket… Now I don't even have enough for a pack of gum," he said to himself, shaking his head. "What am I supposed to do now? Get a job scrubbing toilets at Yumberjacks? I'd be lucky if I got the money I needed before I had to go back home to that asshole. That is if he doesn't just take that from me as well." He sighed, hugging his knees even closer to his chest. "I wish I could just get all my money back now..."

"Well, perhaps I could help ya with that."

Derrick's eyes lit up at the voice for a moment as he looked straight ahead. He was enveloped in darkness, so it was hard to see anything at all, but he still managed to make out a figure creeping out from the shadows toward him.

The figure then popped out underneath the moonlight rays that shone between the shadowy trees above. Standing ahead of him was a very small anthropomorphic pig-like creature with stitched eyeballs. He wore a rugged olive green jacket, a red tie, brown pants, a brown bowler hat, and a devilish smile.

Derrick just rolled his eyes. "Oh, right. I forgot. There are other things to worry about in these woods than just bears."

"Ah, don't be like that. Ain't nothing to worry about with me, kid," the pigman said, holding his hand out toward Derrick. "The name's Ligpin."

"I didn't ask."

"Ha! No, you certainly didn't,' Ligpin cackled, retracting his hand. "Anyway, I mean you no harm. Not up here at least. We usually bag humans like you and put 'em up for auction down in my space. But up here, I'm in your space. And I don't like to be rude in another man's home, so don't stress about me. I'm a non-threat!"

Derrick just stared at Ligpin blankly for a moment. "I have no idea what you're talking about or what you are."

"Call me an entrepreneur. Or better yet, an intermediary."

"Still doesn't help."

"Look, kid, I make deals," Ligpin explained. "Being upfront, in my line of business, the end goal is profit."

"Is that not the end goal of literally any business?" Derrick asked.

"Ha! I like you! You're annoying, but smart! So I won't waste too much more of your time here," Ligpin said as he jumped on top of Derrick's bent knees, looking him straight in the face. "Here's what I got: among my hustles is a digital platform called The Space Between, which, to put it simply, is a sort of marketplace where us weirdos can buy your human stuff, and you humans can buy our weirdo stuff. And by 'weirdos,' I mean folks like me— the gnomes, wizards, witches, manotaurs, and so on. Making sense so far, Stripes?"

Derrick gave him a look. "Don't give me a nickname. We're not friends."

"So you follow. Good!" Ligpin nodded. "Anyway, my role in this is to facilitate those exchanges between humans and us weirdo folks, so both parties can receive what they want from the other in secrecy. Be it human or weirdo goods."

"Okay? So?" Derrick shrugged. "I don't want any goods. Unless you can give me a teleporter to Chicago or some fairy dust for me to fly across the country. And for free, considering I'm officially broke right now."

"Unfortunately, we might just be sold out of both those things right now. But believe me, whenever they restock, they certainly ain't gonna be free. Buuuuuut… if fast money's what you need, we can still work something out…"

"What, like a loan?"

"More like a job," Ligpin corrected. "You see, for a weirdo like me, getting a hold of human goods for customers without exposing myself can be… a pain in the arse. But for those types of cases, I personally think there can be a real benefit to something like a human intermediary helping me out. And that's exactly where you come in. So, if you use your human mobile device to access my application and take part in brokering a number of exchanges for me by a certain time tomorrow, I can pay you handsomely for your work."

Derrick raised an eyebrow. "And what if I say no?"

Ligpin let out a quick chuckle as he hopped off of Derrick's knees, starting to walk off. "Well, then I'll continue my search around this crumby surface world 'til I find one of you fleshwalkers who actually cares about getting paid. I really thought it would be you though. But, guess I was wrong. And to think that for a moment, I actually thought you wanted to see your mom again."

Derrick's eyes widened as he shot up to his feet. "What the…? How the hell do you know about-"

"Don't ask me stupid questions now, kid. They don't matter to me," Ligpin dismissed, stopping in place to look back at him. "The only question that matters is: are you going to do this job for me and make your money back tomorrow, or not?"

The choice bounced around in Derrick's head for a moment as he narrowed his eyes. "Only one problem – you mentioned needing to use an app, and I don't have a phone right now. So how exactly am I going to be able to-"

"Here," Ligpin cut off as he pulled a device from his jacket, holding it out to him. "Take this one. People around this place drop and lose them all the time. Then I come around to swipe and reprogram 'em for my needs."

Derrick looked slightly surprised and skeptical for a second before taking the device in his hand. As he examined it, he realized that it really was nothing more extraordinary than a regular smartphone. At least, that's what it seemed.

"Reprogram how?" he questioned.

"This one already has a list of all of the desired human items I need you to snag and sell. I need you to complete the whole list or else you get nothin'," Ligpin explained just as Derrick started to read it over. "You have until six o'clock tomorrow evening to get them all done, since that's when I count all of the day's profits. And I have it so the device short-circuits at six on the dot, so don't you think about sneaking off like I'm only here to give you a brand new phone."

"Fine," Derrick accepted with slight annoyance, feeling as though his mind had been read. "But how am I supposed to get all of this stuff anyway?"

"That's up to you. Neither me nor the buyers care how you get 'em as long as you got 'em. Though you already said you're broke, so it ain't like you're gonna go shopping for anything. So, perhaps this is where you gotta consider a more… unethical means of retrieval…"

Derrick heard the implication in his voice clearly, to which he looked back down at the phone in his hand with sudden reluctance. "Yeah, yeah… I gotcha."

Ligpin raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong? Already catching cold feet? Don't think you're qualified for the job?"

"No. Not at all," Derrick shook his head. "Unfortunately, I might just be the most qualified person for this."

"Unfortunately?"

"You wouldn't get it. I just told my friend I wasn't gonna do stuff like this anymore."

"I see," Ligpin nodded. "Well, if you want my opinion – and I'm sure you don't – then if this friend of yours ain't here helping ya get your money back, then they don't matter either. Now, do you wanna see your mom again or not?"

Despite his much shorter size, Ligpin did not hesitate to offer his hand to shake again. Derrick, however, was caught off guard once again by Ligpin's apparent knowledge of his personal dilemma. It wasn't directly clear to him whether Ligpin was a literal mind reader or was just creeping around, stalking him long enough to know what he was going through.

Maybe it mattered more than he thought, but at that moment, he only had one thing in mind, and Ligpin seemed to be the closest chance he had in getting it as soon as possible. Glancing down at the list of items on the phone again, he began to look at it intently. Turning back to Ligpin, he knelt down to his level and shook his hand, which brought a pleased smile to Ligpin's devilish face."

"And so, I got right to work gathering what I needed from the list. Luckily, it was already late at night, which made it much easier to sneak around town stealing things from folks rather than doing so in broad daylight."

Back on Chambrot Drive, the only activity that took place on the barren street in the night was Derrick using a jack to lift up his neighbor's vintage blue convertible. Once it was lifted high enough off the ground, he used a tire iron to loosen the bolts. Pulling the tire off the car, he put it over to the side before lowering the car again. He then lifted the separated tire on the ground and started rolling it down the street, leaving his neighbor's convertible with only three tires.

Later in the evening, Derrick made his way over to the Gravity Falls Public Pool. Climbing and hopping over the fence, he made his way right to the pool supplies door. He pulled out a pin from his pocket and used it to pick the lock, unlocking it with ease. However, as he opened the door and looked inside, he was immediately spooked by the sight of Mr. Poolcheck sitting in the closet itself, staring right at him with intense, wide eyes.

Derrick immediately thought he had been caught and had the first thought to run away. However, Poolcheck had absolutely no reaction, which Derrick was quickly confused by. But as he listened closely, he soon heard what sounded like loud snoring. That was when he learned that despite his eyes being completely open, Poolcheck was actually asleep.

The last thing Derrick had any desire to do was entertain someone like Poolcheck, who appeared very unstable to him. So while looking him dead in his deep sleep open eyes, he quickly crept a hand inside the closet and nabbed one of many inflatable duck floats that he spotted on the wall inside. With one comfortably in his possession, he slowly backed out of the closet, his eyes still glued to Poolcheck, before silently shutting the door again.

Even later into the night, he made his way over to a lone house closer to the center of town. Circling the entire house for an easy entrance, he lucked out upon noticing an open back window. Hopping inside through it, he landed on the carpet floor of the room before hearing an instant snore. Scanning the room, he realized he was in the bedroom of Lazy Susan, who was knocked out for the night on top of her bed and still in her work uniform.

Across from her bed was a dresser, and almost immediately, he spotted what he was looking for. Tip-toeing over to the dresser, he picked up a necklace made of elegant white pearls, holding it up to the moonlight that pierced in through the window. He examined it for a moment with a slight smile, figuring how easy it was to grab.

However, a few different angry, ear-piercing meows suddenly erupted all at once from the side as a bunch of cats suddenly ambushed him, jumping onto him at every angle. As a result, he fell backward onto the floor as he tried to defend himself while the cats clawed away. Despite all of the noise, Lazy Susan remained sound asleep the entire time.

After a fierce cat fight, he finally managed to escape the house back through the same open window he had entered. Exhausted and covered in scratches, he leaned his back against the wall outside as he took a breath. He then held his open palm out in front of himself, looking at Lazy Susan's pearl necklace as it was still held within it. The longer he gazed at it, the guiltier he began to feel.

"I didn't feel good about doing any of it though. But I kept reminding myself what I was doing it for."

His shameful eyes soon narrowed as he continued to look on at the necklace. He then gripped it tightly in his hand before pocketing it in his hoodie. He then returned to the front of the house where he left his skateboard, hopping right back on top of it before taking off into the night once again.

"Of course, I had to finish the job first. The last item on my list was a museum painting. And here in Gravity Falls, there are only two main museums. The first one I tried was the Museum of History. I tried the backdoor first, but it was locked. So then I went to the front door, and well…"

Derrick circled around the side of the Gravity Falls Museum of History, a large white limestone building that was a staple town attraction. He kept close to the bushes as he made his way toward the front of the building. The front entrance slowly came into view with its chiseled limestone pillars, perched owl statues, and a flight of steps that led up to the front door.

However, just as he prepared to head up the steps, he looked up ahead and his eyes widened. Immediately, he ran back behind one of the two perched owl statues to hide. After a minute, he peeked his head back out from behind it to look at the top of the steps. His mouth was agape in utter disgust as he looked upon one of the worst sights his eyes had ever witnessed.

Sitting at the top of the museum steps was an adult woman wearing a casual hooded sweatshirt, making out with none other than Toby Determined, who just so happened to be dressed in his punk, spikey blue mohawk Bodacious T getup at that very moment.

The two went on for a good bit until the woman suddenly pulled away, shaking her head.

"God, what am I doing? I can't keep doing this!" said Shandra Jimenez as she held onto the sides of her head with remorse.

"What's wroooong?" Toby innocently asked. "I thought you liked Bodacious T!"

"It's not Bodacious T that's the problem. It's you, Toby!" Shandra pointed frustratedly. "I want to settle down! I want a family! But I can't be seen with you in public! Do you know what that would do to my reputation? To my career?"

"Then whyyyy did you text me asking to meet here at the front of the history museum? Anybody could see us!"

"Because this is the only time of day I can actually be with you in a public place and not have it be a risk," she bluntly told him. "Besides, no one else in town is up at four in the morning to go to the history museum. It doesn't open for hours!"

"So what do you wanna doooo then?"

Shandra sighed as she turned away from him. "Look, even though I'm not proud to admit it, this has been fun. But maybe it's time we put an end to this."

"Oh…" Toby said, immediately dejected as he looked to the side. "Well, okay. If that's what you want…"

After a moment of silence, the two slowly turned back to one another, looking right into each other's eyes.

"Ah, what the hell?" Shandra said.

Immediately after, Shandra grabbed Toby's face and pulled his lips back to hers, much to his delighted surprise. They pulled apart once again.

"Hot diggity dog!" Toby cheered with a raised fist.

"Just so you know, if anyone ever finds out about this, I will stop seeing you," Shandra threatened.

"No need to remind me, baby. Bodacious T knows what's on the table," Toby said confidently while caressing her face. "Now lay one on me!"

Shandra gave him a look of utter disgust. "God, I hate you so much."

Nonetheless, she pulled him right back in, and they continued making out at the top of the stairs like a pair of teenagers who just rediscovered their youth.

Much to their lack of awareness, however, Derrick continued to look on at the two from behind the perched owl statue with persisting revulsion.

"…let's just say the front door wasn't an option."

Despite the whole exchange being like a trainwreck he couldn't look away from, it was eventually too much for him. He suddenly gagged, which finally forced him to take off away from the museum with his skateboard in hand.

"Anyway, the other museum was the Cheapstake Museum, a place where everything is literally worthless. But the shop listing didn't say the painting had to have value, so screw it. I gave it a shot anyway. But for whatever reason, despite everything there being worthless, the place's security was stacked. I guess some people must've robbed the place a few weeks ago or something? No idea, but anyway, I didn't feel like risking it. So since neither museum was an option, I had to figure something else out. But that didn't take me too long."

Just off to the side, Derrick spotted a bunch of wooden signs in the shape of arrows hanging on trees that pointed in a certain direction. Big words handwritten on each of them, such as "BEHOLD" and "AMAZING". Eventually, he landed on one that read "TO THE MYSTERY SHACK", followed directly by another that read "HOME OF THE MUSEUM OF MYSTERY".

Derrick's eyebrows raised, realizing this was another chance for him. As such, he dropped his skateboard back down and hopped on, rolling his way in the direction the signs pointed.

"Believe me when I say that the Shack was the last place I would've wanted to steal from for obvious reasons. But the night was almost over, and I was getting desperate. Also, you guys left your window open, and sneaking in was basically effortless."

Derrick reached his hands up to an open window above him at the side of the Mystery Shack, gripping the edge. He pulled himself upward, lifting his whole body up to it so he could crawl inside.

"I can't lie though. It was at this point in the night that I was really starting to feel the lack of sleep set in. And, well… let's just say my stealth skills aren't quite as graceful when I'm tired..."

As Derrick climbed through the window, his foot caught right at the bottom of the frame, causing him to flip over as his body entered the house. His entire body did a complete vertical flip as he tripped, which sent his foot colliding with the nearby sculpture of a woman with no arms in the center of the room, knocking it over. The sculpture came crashing down, cracking the torso clean off and shattering parts of the head as it hit the ground.

Derrick flinched as he lay on the ground, glancing around frantically as he tried to trace where the shattering noise came from in the darkness. "Crap," he said quietly to himself. "What the hell was that? It's so dark in here…"

In an attempt to pull himself back onto his feet, he put his hands on the wall beside him and reached around for a surface to grab onto. As soon as he found something tangible, he pulled on it.

However, instead of pulling himself up to his feet, he pulled a painting from the wall onto his face. His entire head punctured the middle of the painting, sticking in place.

"What the…?" he reacted before immediately putting his hands on the frame, attempting to pry it off, but to no immediate success. "Seriously?" He tugged harder on the frame, using greater force to pull it away. "Get… off!"

Eventually, the painting finally flung off his head, flying out of his hands as it launched across the room. It made impact with another wall of paintings in the darkness, causing them to fall off the wall and smash violently on the ground as well.

With all the noise he realized he was making, Derrick backed up anxiously, eyes still not fully adjusted to the darkness. "Oh god… what did I break now?"

His back made an unexpected impact with another wall, shaking it and prompting another lineup of hung paintings to drop and loudly break on the ground next to him.

"FFFFFFFFUUUUUU…" he quietly exhaled. Before he could let his frustration get the best of him, he stopped in place and took a deep breath. "Okay. Stop moving. Nothing else is gonna break if you just… stop… moving…"

Crack. Puff.

Right behind him, in the corner of the room, the marble white statue of an old lady in her chair suddenly broke apart, crumbling into a giant pile of dust. Derrick turned around with his mouth agape, utterly dumbfounded by the sight of the dust that he could barely make out in the darkness.

Along the same wall, he soon noticed there was a living old lady sitting in the other corner of the room in a chair of her own. However, to his surprise, despite all the destructive noise he had made, she was still locked in deep slumber, snoring away. To him, this seemed like a sign of the only grace he was going to be given that night.

"I need to just take something and leave," he finally settled.

Taking the quickest gander around the room for something viable to use, he found the outdoor moonlight shining directly upon a lone painting hanging from the one wall he hadn't touched. He walked over to it, eyes drawn to the innocent, familiar pig bathing in the mud right in the center of it.

"Sure. Why not?" he accepted with a careless shrug.

He gripped the sides of the painting and pulled it down from the wall, tucking it securely under his arm.

Across from the room from the window he had entered were thick curtains that appeared to section off the part of the museum he stood within. He pushed his hand around the curtain, knocking it around until he found where it went through. Pulling the drapes aside, he poked his hooded head out, glancing around for any sign of anyone else coming. When it seemed like he was in the clear, he broke out into a sprint toward the door with the glowing exit sign above it.

"I ended up running out through the front door so I didn't risk breaking the only good painting that was left by going back through the window. Then I just hopped on my skateboard and left."

---

[Present]

Derrick leaned his head back against the wall of the drainage tunnel, shutting his eyes and sighing tiredly. He opened them again and simply looked ahead with an empty gaze as he continued to think over everything.

"In case the police were made aware in the morning, I didn't want them finding the evidence at my place, so I kept the painting and most of the other things I stole in a secluded spot in the forest. And since this morning, I've just been going back and forth between that spot and meetup locations with customers from the app to sell the items." He turned to Mabel for a moment. "Your painting was supposed to be my last job for the day. But I guess that's not getting done now."

He dug a hand into his hoodie pocket and pulled out the phone that Ligpin had handed to him. The screen lit up with the time, and he watched just as the time went from 5:59 to 6:00. A second after, the phone screen blacked out with a sizzling noise as smoke started emitting from the device's crevices. He stared at the device in his hand, not even fazed at that point. The most he could do was shake his head disappointedly at it.

Ligpin had been clear earlier that if he hadn't completed the full list of items by six, he would get nothing. Why that was the case wasn't even fully clear to him. The thought of finding him anyway and threatening him to cough up the money for all of his work came to mind, but at that moment, it didn't even feel worth it anymore. What good would that have even been, to have to demand payment from a devilish pig person for stealing and selling other people's stuff?

Mabel, on the other hand, was still in the middle of processing everything he had just told her. While she understood everywhere else he was coming from, her mind remained stuck on the art museum. Remembering that the security footage showed him emerging from the museum and how full of rage she was afterward, only to now learn that despite the destruction being his cause, nothing about it was intentional. Not targeted. Not meant to get to her.

"So… you didn't break my art collection on purpose," she thought aloud. "It was just another accident… like everything else you did to me."

"Yeah. I guess so," he nodded. "Except for that one statue in the corner that just fell apart for no reason. Don't know what happened there, so don't blame me for that."

"And you didn't even know the painting was mine…" she added upon realizing again.

"I didn't even know your pig's name was Waddles until today. You kept screaming 'painting of Waddles' at me, and I honestly just thought you were talking about a penguin or something."

"I just can't believe this," she said, grabbing onto the sides of her head. "All day, I've been so… angry about you, this painting, and my art collection. I really thought you went out of your way to hurt me, but all along… and even after all these years… you never meant to hurt me."

There was silence for a beat as Derrick just continued to stare ahead blankly, not having any type of reply to give. All the while, her eyes simply gazed at the ground for that moment as she continued to think.

"But… I guess the one thing I still don't understand is… why did you never apologize to me for any of it?" she asked. "I mean… I get all of the accidents, and I get all of your reasons for why things happened, but if you had just said sorry for any of those things, I feel like I wouldn't have held so much against you for so long. But you never did. So all this time, I just thought you didn't care."

"The way my dad raised me… he always told me that apologies are useless," he began. "That when you apologize, all you do is say that you did something wrong. And words can't undo the wrong you've done. An apology can't change the fact that the past happened, and whatever you've done is already done. 'Don't say you're sorry. Just don't do it,' he would say to me. The only thing to do is to move forward and not mess up again. But of course, I kept messing up. So what good would saying sorry have done if I was still gonna make the same mistakes anyway?"

Mabel shuffled a few inches closer to him, folding her hands in her lap and twiddling with her thumbs. "You're right that saying sorry doesn't erase the past. It doesn't fix what you did wrong. But it at least shows that you care enough to admit you did wrong and that maybe you're willing to try to learn and be better. Maybe for people like your dad, that means nothing. But for others, it's enough."

He turned to her skeptically. "Even if you repeat your mistakes?"

"I've repeated mistakes too," she admitted with guilt in her voice. "Even this summer. And I might still repeat some mistakes in the future. And if I do, then of course I'll say sorry again. That doesn't mean I didn't mean it the first time I said it. And it doesn't mean I didn't learn anything the first time either. Sometimes, it just means there's more to learn. And sometimes, there's always more to learn."

"And what exactly am I supposed to learn from this?"

"Maybe that taking from others to help yourself isn't the way to handle things," she suggested. "Your dad might've taken your money, and you're right to be upset about that. But that doesn't make it right to go around town stealing and selling other people's stuff just to get your money back."

"You see – you're right. But I already knew what I was doing was wrong," he disputed. "I felt the guilt with every swipe I made. And I feel it even more now, knowing that it was all for nothing in the end."

Mabel frowned as she watched him curl up again, drawing his knees to his chest and putting his head on top. She looked to the side for a moment before another idea sprang to mind. Digging a hand into the neck hole of her sweater, she soon pulled out a check before holding it out to him.

"Here."

Derrick turned to her again, suddenly looking at her weirdly as his eyes landed on the check. "What's this?"

"It's a check for five hundred dollars. Pietro Pizzazz gave it to me the other day for a painting I made," she explained. "And now I'm giving it to you so you can get that plane ticket and see your mom." She thought for a moment. "Or at least, I'm trying to give it to you. I don't know how checks work; I've never gotten one. Don't we need to go to a bank or something?"

Derrick pushed the check away with the palm of his hand. "No. No way. I'm not taking that."

"Why not?"

"Why not?" he repeated questionably. "That's your money. Your hard-earned money. You shouldn't waste it on me. Go spend it on yourself."

"But spending it on myself would be the real waste!" she said with a lighthearted smile. "Do you know the ridiculous things I'd try to buy myself with five hundred dollars? I could buy a human-sized hamster ball! Or maybe even a jetpack for Waddles… Actually, that's starting to sound really tempting. Derrick, I'm gonna need you to take my money now before I change my mind."

"No."

"Oh, come on! I'm really trying to help you here!"

"Well, you can save your help this time."

Mabel stared at him, completely dumbfounded, as she tried to figure out his mental logic. "You went through all this trouble today—stealing all those things from people to sell for money—yet you're turning down money that's being directly given to you? Why? Is it just because it's coming from me?"

"No! That's not it!" Derrick shook his head. "It's because… I don't deserve anyone's charity. I stole from a lot of people today – good people – all to try and make a quick buck off some stupid monster market app."

As he spoke, he tossed the blacked-out smartphone into the shallow stream of water that slowly flowed at the bottom of the tunnel.

"This whole mess is my fault," he continued. "And I don't want to be rewarded for it because of your pity. I do appreciate you trying to help, but I've already taken a lot from people today, including you. I don't wanna take anything else from anyone, given to me or not."

"So… what are you going to do then?" she asked, retracting the check.

"Only one thing left to do now," he said, rising to his feet again. "Thanks for the talk, Sparkles. But it's time for me to face the music."

He stuffed his hands back in his hoodie pockets as he walked past her and the painting down the middle of the tunnel, heading back toward the entrance where the setting sunlight shined in. Mabel looked on at him with slight worry as she took in the implications of what he meant.

Just as he exited the tunnel, she picked up her painting and gazed at it, noticing once again how remarkably unscathed its condition was despite all it had been through over the past day. As that sat with her, she glanced around the tunnel itself before tapping her chin contemplatively.

---

Right outside the forest, the sheriff's car was parked right on the side of the road next to where it had last stopped after nearly running into Derrick. In the passenger seat, Durland sat with his arms bent at the elbows to his sides, flapping them like wings while he bobbed his head. In the driver's seat, Blubs sat, studying Durland's movements while holding the back of his phone to his forehead with the screen facing forward.

"Am I a chicken?" Blubs asked.

"Nope."

"A pigeon?"

"Nuh-uh."

"A western meadowlark?"

"Nay."

"Gosh dang it! What is it?!"

Bzzz.

A buzzer sound came from the phone, to which Blubs pulled it down from his forehead and looked at the screen.

"A dinosaur?!" he questioned, looking up at Durland weirdly. "Why on earth were you acting like some type of bird?!"

"I was told birds come from dinosaurs," Durland shrugged.

"What? Dinosaurs don't act like that!"

"Well, how would you know? You ever seen one?"

"As a matter of fact, maybe I have!"

"...wait, what?"

Knock, knock.

Both of them immediately turned toward the driver's window, where Derrick stood directly outside, pulling his hand away from the glass. Blubs grabbed the handle and then rolled the window all the way down.

"What do you want, boy?"

Derrick gave him a look. "Uhh… weren't you guys just chasing me not long ago?"

Blubs scratched his head curiously. "Were we?" His eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh yeah! You're that kid who was stealing everything, right?"

"Yeah, sure. Something like that," Derrick shrugged before holding his wrists out. "Anyway, I decided I'm done running, and I'm turning myself in. So, if you guys wanna, like… you know… take me to jail now and stuff."

Blubs looked up at him in slight surprise. "Huh. Never has a criminal made it so easy for me to arrest them. Not that I'm complaining." He turned back to Durland. "Okay, Durly. Fun's over. You got the handcuffs?"

"He's a teenager, so do you want the lil' child ones or the big adult ones?" Durland asked, pulling out a pair of really small handcuffs and a pair of very large ones.

However, as Blubs looked on at Durland, something else seemed to grab his attention. He took off his sunglasses for clarity, revealing his fearful eyes as he stared up at Durland's hat.

"Durly… what's that on your head?" he calmly asked.

Durland's eyes glanced upward, to which he noticed what looked to be a small, fuzzy spider sitting on the front of his hat.

"Looks like a cute lil' spider," he casually replied.

A brief silence ensued.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! SPIDER!" he suddenly screamed in absolute terror as he began patting himself down. "GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF, GET IT OFFFFFFF!"

"DURLY, CALM DOWN!" Blubs shouted, quivering in fear himself as he took out a nightstick. "HOLD STILL!"

WHACK. WHACK. WHACK.

Blubs used the nightstick to strike the top of Durland's head three times, aiming right for the spider on his hat. Despite taking three hard whacks to the head, however, Durland had no real reaction. Instead, he continued to glance around the car in panic.

"DID YOU GET IT? DID YOU GET IT?!"

"I-I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T SEE IT!" Blubs admitted, looking around the car in panic as well. "MAYBE IT JUMPED OFF! IT COULD BE ANYWHERE!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Durland ferociously screamed as he started jerking the passenger door handle, trying to escape. "UNLOCK THE CAR! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUUUUUUT!"

SMASH!

With one forceful kick, Durland shattered the glass of his already partially open passenger window. He then pried himself out of the car, crawling through the window and falling to the ground on his back. Pulling himself back to his feet, he then ran off into the woods while screaming for his life.

Soon after, Blubs emerged from the car by just opening his door, looking off in the direction Durland ran.

"Durly?! Where you going?!" he called out before immediately running along after him. "DON'T LEAVE ME WITH IT!"

Both of them soon cleared the scene, completely disappearing into the depths of the woods. Meanwhile, Derrick continued to just idly stand by the vehicle on his own, staring into the woods without a single conscious idea in his mind about what he had just witnessed.

"Welp, I guess you don't gotta go to jail anymore."

Derrick glanced to the side, spotting Mabel standing on the passenger side of the car with a telling smirk on her face as she looked at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "That… was that you?"

"I maaaaay have found a baby tarantula in the tunnel we were in, and I maaaaay have snuck it in through Durland's open window while they were focused on you," she admitted with a cheeky smile.

Derrick was still more confused than entertained. "Why would you do that for me?"

Mabel's humored smile slowly faded as she took his more serious tone into account again.

"You've been through a lot, Derrick," she told him earnestly. "And you're my brother's best friend. Even after the mistakes you've made today, the last thing either of us wants is to see you go to jail on top of everything you've already had to put up with. You don't deserve this."

Derrick understood everything she was saying, but still found it difficult to process the fact it was coming from her, of all people. Even despite the long talk they had just finished, her coming through for him in any capacity was still a genuine surprise. And she seemed to realize that as he continued to look on at her in silence.

"And look," she continued. "After this, I know we're still not exactly friends or anything, but… maybe that's something we can both try to work on going forward. For real this time."

It took a moment for those words to settle in with him. But once they did, she could see him grow a slight smile. A genuine smile. And one directed toward her.

"I'd like that," he told her with a nod. "Thanks, Mabel. And I'm… I'm sorry. For, well… for everything." He started to appear uncertain as he looked to think over what he had said. "I don't know if that sounded insincere, but-"

"It didn't. Don't worry," she cut off, smiling warmly right back at him. "And I forgive you."

With his uncertainty cleared, Derrick's smile returned. He had no idea how to answer her further beyond that, but he didn't feel like he needed to either. And beyond that, even he could admit that there was some good feeling to come out of burying the hatchet with someone who he had used to butt heads with for ages.

Mabel glanced at the forest and then back at him as the current situation came back to mind. "Now, get out of here! Go home! Arachnophobia can only distract those two for so long!"

Derrick looked hesitant. "But… what about all the stuff I stole? Shouldn't we try to get it back?"

"Dipper's already handling it. Trust me, we've got things. Now go!"

It wasn't the detailed explanation he would've liked, but he had no reason not to take her word for it. He knew what they were both capable of, and cleaning up his mess was nothing. Not that he felt good at all about them cleaning up his mess for him, because he didn't. But clearly, he was being given an out this time, and considering the alternative, he may as well take it. Besides, it didn't need to be said how he owed them big after all was said and done.

So he gave her a quick and grateful nod before turning around and running off in the direction of home. Mabel simply stood back, watching him head on his way.

This was farthest from the outcome she was expecting hours earlier in the day, but she can't say she had any major issues with how things turned out. In the end, she had not just her painting, but a potential new friendship.

If not yet that, then at least a new understanding.

---

At least an hour had passed since sunset, and Mabel had already settled in for the night back at the Mystery Shack. Up in the attic, she stood up on her knees on top of her bed, hanging up Waddles: A Moment In Time on the slanted wall beside the bed. Fixing the angle and locking the painting into place, she pulled her hands away and stood back to view it from afar, admiring its placement among the rest of her posters and personal decor.

"There we go, Waddles," she said, glancing over at her pig as he sat on the floor beside her, looking up at the painting. "Now we have a moment in time… forever in mine… uhhh… room. Mine room." She thought for a moment. "Eh, it kinda works."

Right off to the side, the bedroom door suddenly flew open as Dipper appeared at the doorway, visibly exhausted.

Mabel looked over at him. "Hey."

"Hey…" he replied softly, walking over to his bed and sitting down.

Mabel dropped down on her bottom on the edge of her bed with a small bounce. She kicked her feet back and forth a bit awkwardly. "So, uhh, how did it go? Did you get everyone's stuff back?"

"Yeah, just about," Dipper shrugged. "The wedding ring was Rosanna's, and Derrick had sold it to the gnomes for them to propose to a new queen. Instead of fighting them for it, I just traded them a red ring lollipop and called it a ruby ring, which they bought. Then I found out the hairspray was Gideon's, which was sold to the unicorns. However, they couldn't even use it because of their hooves, so they just let me have it... after trying to kick me in the face a bunch of times. After that, I returned the inflatable ducks to Poolcheck, which was an uncomfortable reunion, to say the least. The only thing I couldn't get back was the tire, which the Manotaurs were using for a bonfire. Apparently, they just love the smell of burning rubber, I guess? Anyway, I just paid Derrick's neighbor out of pocket for a new one."

"Yeesh. You shouldn't have had to do that."

"No, I shouldn't have. But after all he's done, I don't expect Derrick to do it himself. Regardless, it's over now, and I got everyone to drop their charges." He looked up across at her bed, noticing Waddles: A Moment In Time hung up on her wall in what looked like near-perfect condition. "And it looks like you even got your painting back."

She looked up at her painting again and smiled proudly. "Yeah. I guess I did!"

"Did you… have to deal with Derrick?"

Her smile immediately flipped. "Yeah… I guess I did…"

"And how did that go?"

"We… had a bit of a scuffle over it… But he ended up giving it back to me. Honestly, I was kind of surprised it ended up staying intact the whole time, but hey! I'm sure not complaining."

"Well, I'm glad it all worked out," he told her emptily before lying back in his bed.

She frowned again, knowing their earlier exchanges had not escaped him. "Dipper… look, after I fought with Derrick, we sat down and talked about everything, and… I was wrong."

Dipper slowly sat back up as he raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… you were right. He's not a bad guy. He's just going through a lot of really, really terrible personal stuff, and even though that's no excuse for him to do the things he's done, I get where he's coming from now."

"I've told you before that his home life's not great."

"I know. I just never considered just how bad it might've been. Which was stupid of me, I know," she admitted, looking to the side remorsefully. "I was too angry about my art collection and every other thing he'd done to me before, but even then, I always assumed the worst with everything he did. And by now, after everything we've done and everyone we've met, I should've known better than to assume anything about others in the first place, so… I'm done assuming. And I'm sorry for making you feel bad about defending your friend."

Dipper looked at her for a moment, growing a slight smile. "Thanks, Mabel. But what happened to Derrick?"

"Oh, yeah. He tried to turn himself in, but Blubs and Durland got scared by a spider and ran off in panic. So I told him to just go home," she casually explained. "And if you say the others dropped charges against him, then hopefully that means they won't go after him anymore."

"Hmph. Here's hoping, I guess," he said, lying back in bed a second time and staring up at the ceiling before letting out a sigh. "And Mabel, I'm sorry for leaving you on your own like that earlier. I was just so… frustrated with everyone talking badly about my friendship with Derrick, and just… not getting why this whole situation was so conflicting for me. And Ford calling the cops on top of everything else? Just… ugh…"

"It's okay. I get it," she nodded. "If it helps, I already cleared everything up with everyone else before you got back. So tomorrow morning, you might be in for some more apologies at least."

"I appreciate it. I just wish things had never escalated the way they did in the first place, but… I guess it's all over and dealt with now, right? So not much use in staying upset about it." He flipped over on his side, facing the wall next to his bed as he began to slowly doze off. "At least it'll be nice to go back home at the end of the summer and still have one friend to spend senior year with."

His words caused Mabel's eyes to look upon him more sullenly. Thoughts of an earlier conversation came back to her mind.

"Dipper, you never answered me earlier," she began, kicking her legs around again. "I know you're my brother, and I'm your sister, and Mystery Twins and all that. But… do you not think of me as a friend? Because even with all the friends I've made in my life, I've always thought of you as my real best friend. But the way you talk about Derrick makes it seem like back home, he's all you have. Do I not count?"

There was a brief silence as she was left staring at his back as he lay facing away from her. A few seconds into that moment, she even started to get the feeling that perhaps he had simply fallen asleep.

"Of course you count, Mabel," he eventually answered. "More than anyone, including Derrick, you are and always will be my best friend. But because we're siblings, what we have is also… different. I mean, with all the friends you have, surely you get what I mean."

Mabel glanced to the side with uncertainty. "I guess…"

"So you get it then. Derrick's not all I have because I still have you. And we'll always be there for each other, whenever possible. The same way it's always been. And I don't think it will ever change."

The words were meant to be comforting and reassuring. And yet, Mabel was anything but, frowning as she thought those words over.

I don't remember 'whenever possible' being part of that sentence…

Still, Dipper wasn't technically wrong. Being siblings automatically made their relationship different from most normal friendships. But to her, that difference was a strength, a deeper layer of understanding and unwavering support that she hadn't found in any other friend. It wasn't a qualifier that diminished their bond; it amplified it. She wanted to believe his words, desperately so, but the way he'd phrased them left a small seed of doubt planted in her heart. Did he truly see their sibling connection as enhancing their friendship, or was it a way for him to subtly place her in a different, perhaps less significant, category than Derrick?

And the fact was, this wasn't always the case either. At least, she didn't think it was. So what changed over the years to alter his mindset in that fashion?

The thought pricked at her, and she couldn't help but think further about their earlier conversation in the truck, which led to another loose thread coming back to mind.

"...and about Sophomore Homecoming…" she mentioned. "Since you brought it up earlier, I thought I should tell you-"

"Mabel… please," Dipper quickly cut off, glancing over his shoulder at her. "Look, I only brought that up earlier as an example. Right now, it's kind of the last thing I wanna think about after everything that's happened today."

She paused with a look of understanding, feeling immediately regretful for having brought it back up at all. A misread of the moment on her part, she figured.

"Oh… yeah, you're right. I shouldn't have mentioned it…" she guiltily acknowledged. "Let's just call it a night, huh?"

She leaned over toward the lamp on top of her nightstand and turned it off. Lying back in her bed, she pulled her covers over herself as she rolled over to face her own wall. She stared at the wall in the darkness for a moment, feeling too uneasy to shut her eyes and sleep right away, despite how long and exhausting a day it had been.

After a minute, she glanced over her shoulder back toward Dipper on his bed. Still, he lay in the same position as before, facing away from her toward his wall. And like before, she couldn't entirely tell whether or not he had fallen asleep yet. But somehow, she imagined he was just as awake, staring at his own wall reflectively.

She wanted to bid him good night like they always did for each other, but tonight, the mood just felt wrong. Even though the day's conflict had been ironed out, there was still the lingering feeling that he was somewhat upset with her at that moment. Not that she couldn't understand why, but maybe for a moment, she had hoped things would be back to normal for them much more instantly. Perhaps that was selfish thinking on her part, not fully considering how frustrating it might've been to be in his position the whole day.

But regardless, it was one rough day, and they were still siblings. Plus, they've had worse fights over pettier issues before. So she figured by tomorrow morning, things would blow over, and they would surely be back to their usual rapport again. No real reason to worry, right?

So why it was still so difficult to fall asleep, she had no idea. But alongside the lingering remorse over the day's events, echoes of the past began to creep into her mind.

---

[Nearly Two Years Earlier]

The full moon continued to shine bright on the night of the school Homecoming dance. A trio of teenage jocks in suits stood just outside the main school building at the top of a small flight of concrete steps. They lingered in silence for a moment, two of them drinking from cups of punch while the other was scrolling through his phone, all while loud music continued to thump distantly from the ongoing dance taking place inside.

The jock who was on his phone suddenly widened his eyes as he watched something on his screen.

"Damn! Dante, check it! A clip of you pantsing that Pines kid is already going around!" he said, snickering as he showed his phone to the others. "Ha! Semester's hardly begun, and that nerd's already gonna be the laughingstock of the whole school year."

Dante looked over the clip as it was played for him. It was exactly what it was said to be- him pantsing Dipper Pines in front of the whole dance, not even an hour beforehand.

"That's what he gets for trying to dance around with Angie," Dante said, not even cracking a smile before taking a sip from his cup.

"So what? Angie still said yes to going with that nerd," the second jock mentioned. "The fact he got as far as he did means you should be getting back at her, not him."

"I basically got back at her too by embarrassing her tonight," Dante shrugged.

"I thought you wanted her back?" the first jock asked.

"Angie? Nah," Dante shook his head. "I just found it offensive that she thought going out with that loser was a step up from me. I mean, losers like Dipper Pines don't get popular girls like Angie. The world just don't work that way, so I had to step in and fix it myself."

"Well, you better watch yourself now, Dante," the second jock warned. "The kid might try to get you back."

"That Pines kid is a chicken. He ain't gonna do nothing," the first jock brushed off. "I'd look out for that dirty emo kid that always be sticking up for his ass though. You know he's the one who's probably gonna try to get back at you for him."

"Pfft. Yeah. Might even try to pants you."

"Yeah, right," Dante rolled his eyes. "I got my dad's dress belt keeping these trousers tightly buckled around my waist. If that kid wants to pull up and pants me, he's welcome to try. But he's gonna get a knuckle sandwich afterward."

The other jock cackled. "Oh, man. We gotta make sure we clip that too!"

"Hi, boys!"

Dante and the two jocks tightened up upon the sound of a female voice suddenly popping up behind them. As they turned around, they saw Mabel Pines approaching them in her sparkly pink dress with her usual bubbly smile, her hands folded behind her back.

"Oh, shit," the first jock said under his breath.

"Oh, uh… Mabel," Dante acknowledged.

He cleared his throat while glancing at the other two jocks, which was their cue to leave. They did as such, walking down the steps and leaving the two alone.

Dante straightened up his tie, thinking over how to explain things. "Look, I'm guessing you know about what I did to your brother."

"What, you mean pantsing him in the middle of the whole school dance?" Mabel asked. "Yeah, I saw, and man, you really got him good!"

Dante raised an eyebrow. "You're… not mad?"

"Mad? Of course not! I mean, him and Angie Michaels…? PFFFT! He had it coming, am I right?" she asked. "He should've known better than to mess around with a tall, strong, and hunky quarterback such as yourself."

She slowly approached him even closer with a coquettish sway while she spoke. Dante was already caught off guard by her apparent lack of anger toward his actions, but he was finding it difficult to maintain composure as he suddenly grew flustered by her body language.

"I-I-I… agree," he nervously stuttered. "Say… I thought I saw you walk in tonight with someone else."

"Oh, do you mean you were looking at me tonight?" she teased, fluttering her glittery eyelashes.

Dante's face instantly reddened. "No. Yes. I-I mean… uhhhh… Y-You just look very different from how I'm used to seeing you in class."

Standing on her tippy toes to reach his height, she leaned her face up toward his with a flirty smile. "Is it a good different?"

Reading her very forward vibe, he started to get an idea about what they were about to get into. He cleared his throat again before giving her a more confident grin.

"Maybe…" he said, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

She smirked. "Yeah? Well… you can look… but you can't touch."

Snip!

Dante's grin was wiped away as he glanced down from her eyes to her hands, realizing she had just snipped his belt at his waist with a pair of scissors that he had failed to notice beforehand. As he felt his trousers loosen from his waistline, Mabel followed up by grabbing hold of them and pulling them all the way down to his ankles before he had a chance to properly react.

Revealed under his trousers were purple boxers with the beautiful faces of each of the five members of Sev'ral Timez - Creggy G., Greggy C., Leggy P., Chubby Z., and Deep Chris.

Looking back up at Mabel's face, Dante could easily tell now that her former flirtatious vibes had been completely dismantled and replaced by her true rage.

"And that's what happens when you mess with my brother, you creepy jerk!" she scolded.

She then charged her elbows back before shoving him in the chest with both of her hands. With his trousers pulled to his ankles, the shove caused him to trip backwards from the top of the few concrete steps. With a short scream, he landed painfully on his backside before sprawling his body on the ground, groaning as he tried to sit back up.

Click.

A quick, bright flash of light suddenly blinded him overhead with a short, digital click. Looking right ahead of him, he saw a teenage girl with straight black hair in a blue Homecoming dress holding her phone out as though she just took a photo. Following right behind her to the scene were a blonde girl with glasses and a brown-haired girl, who wore red and green dresses, respectively.

"Wow. Sev'ral Timez boxers?" Angela snickered as she looked over the photo she took on her phone. "Sev'ral Timez are soooo two years ago now. Not very chic if you ask me."

"I don't know. I'll always have a soft spot for Deep Chris," Sammy admitted.

"Okay, well, it's Deep Chris. He's always the exception."

"Meh," Gretchen shrugged. "I always preferred Chubby Z."

Angela gave her a look. "Gretchen, you are so close to being dead to me."

"I will not change my tastes for validation."

Not giving their banter an ounce of thought, Dante scrambled to pull his pants back up while on the ground in front of a bunch of girls. As soon as he held them back to his waist, Mabel stepped right in front of him, to which he narrowed his eyes.

"What the hell is your problem?!" he asked, shooting up from the ground and getting in her face aggressively.

"You're the one who's gonna be having problems soon," Mabel said, unfazed as she pulled out her phone. "I already sent the clip of you pantsing my brother to your football coach, who might've said something about that 'potentially affecting college scholarship opportunities'..."

Dante's eyes widened in horror. "You did what?"

"Also, I have a picture of you in your embarrassing out-of-style boxers on my phone now, which I can easily share to my 2,934 Instagrab followers if I wanted to," Angela added. "But that's tacky, so I don't really want to, and I won't unless you do whatever Mabel tells you not to do."

"Don't mess with me or my brother ever again!" Mabel shouted, sternly pointing her finger at him.

"Yeah, that," Angela nodded.

A silence ensued as Dante just glanced between each of the four girls rapidly, overwhelmed with growing panic. However, without another word to give, he simply turned away and bolted off down the sidewalk into the night darkness, holding his pants up by his waist the entire time while the girls watched.

"That was fun!" Sammy said innocently, breaking the silence. "Can we do that again?"

"Meh. I've already hit my 'blackmail a jerky boy' quota for the month," Angela said. "And I'm saving next month for my ex."

"Soooo… Christmas then?"

Angela tapped her chin ponderingly. "Maaaaaybe…"

While the two spoke, Mabel was still just staring off in the direction Dante had taken off running with an empty face. From behind her, Gretchen approached, putting a hand on her shoulder with concern.

"Are you okay, Mabel?"

Mabel looked back at her with a clear lack of contentment and sighed. "Yeah, I just… I need to go find my brother."

"You want us to help look for him with you?" Sammy asked, stepping up to her along with Angela.

"Yeah, we can help," Angela nodded. "Even though I hate his guts, I'll still search around just for you."

"Thanks, girls, but you helped me enough," Mabel said with an appreciative smile. "I'll do this myself. Just stay and enjoy the rest of the dance."

"Are you sure?" Gretchen asked.

"Positive," Mabel nodded, looking back at them as she began hurrying back up the steps. "I'll see you girls again Monday!"

As she turned back ahead of herself, she took off through the school double doors, running back through the halls to start her campus-wide search for her brother. Angela, Sammy, and Gretchen simply watched as the same double doors slowly came to a close before exchanging looks of genuine concern with one another.

---

After a long and eventful Saturday night, Sunday morning had arrived. Although this time, it wasn't nearly as peaceful as they usually came for Mabel.

She sat at the living room dining table in her oversized sleep shirt and pajama pants in front of a full bowl of multicolored cereal. Waddles sat at the dining table in the seat to her left, simply watching as she anxiously picked at the bowl with a spoon.

Her eyes wandered toward the seat to her right, where Dipper usually accompanied her for breakfast most mornings. This morning, however, it was completely empty, just like her stomach.

"MehHhHhHhHhHhhh…" she groaned, smacking her face down upon the table with a thump. "I'm way too anxious for Fruity Fribbles today. Here – you can have them."

Without even looking up, she used her hand to lightly push the bowl of cereal across the table toward Waddles. Normally, he might go all in, sloppily devouring the bowl while making a gross mess all over the table. But this time, he just gave the bowl a moderate whiff through his snout before hopping down from his seat and jumping onto Mabel's lap.

She sat back in her chair, frowning as she glumly stroked the top of his head. "You too, huh?"

A few seconds later, there was a click at the front door as it was unlocked. The two then turned their heads toward it as the door knob turned, opening up. There, a very visibly exhausted Dipper stood in his loosened white dress shirt and slacks from the night before with his undone tie hanging from his neck.

Mabel gasped. "DIPPER!"

Waddles launched from her lap as she shot up from her seat. She then sprinted all the way over to the front door, catching Dipper by surprise with one of the tightest bear hugs she had given him in a while.

"Woah! Hey!" Dipper exclaimed. With his arms caught under her constricting hug, he used his hand to pat her gently on the back in return. "It's, uhhh… good to see you too, sis."

"Oh my gosh… I was so worried!" she said as she pulled away. "Where did you go last night?!"

"Oh… yeah, I, uhh… left the dance early," Dipper said as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Ended up staying over at Derrick's place."

"Oh. Well, sorry to hear about that," she remarked. "But you should've called or something at least! You never came home, and I could hardly sleep last night, wondering what might've happened to you. I almost told Mom, but I didn't want her to worry even more and then try to get Dad involved, so I covered for you. But even then, I-I wasn't sure where you really were and just…"

"Aw, man…" he said, face scrunching up with clear remorse. "Yeah, no, you're right. I'm sorry. I should've used Derrick's home landline."

"Ugh… Mom reeeeeally needs to just get you a phone already. A simple text message could've solved everyone's problems."

"You might be right there. But honestly, I just got caught up. I mean, we played video games all night. It was awesome! Well… until his dad came home from his trip early, and I had to leave right before the screaming session over all the snacks we ate from his stash. Yeeeaahhh… Derrick might be grounded for a while…"

"But… you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Really," he nodded with a smile. "Very tired though. And I went several hours without blinking, so that doesn't help either." He let out a yawn, feeling ready as ever to pass out. "Good thing it's a Sunday. I'm gonna sleep in."

"Dipper, wait!" she called out, stopping him as he began walking toward his room. "I'm really sorry about what happened last night… with you, Angie, and her jerky ex, Dante, and-"

"Oh, God," he immediately cringed. "Mabel, I just spent a whole night trying to clear that stuff out of my head. I don't need you bringing that up again now."

"No, yeah, I figured you wouldn't," she said before smirking. "But trust me, you gotta hear this-"

"No, no… I don't," Dipper instantly refused, almost ready to cover his ears. "Look, yes, I know there's a clip of it going around. No, I don't need the reminder. Mabel… it was a bad night. One of the worst of my life. I don't wanna talk it over. I don't wanna know what people are saying about it online. And I'm sure you had a great night with your date and all, and maybe you can tell me all about that another time. But right now… I just wanna forget about everything and move on with my life." He sighed. "Well… at least until I gotta hear all about it again at school tomorrow. But can you at least respect that?"

Mabel opened her mouth to speak. None of what he mentioned was anything she planned on bringing up to him. After he had been done so poorly the night before, she thought it might bring him some genuine joy to hear about the justice she had gotten for him afterward.

But looking into his eyes, she could see they were starting to shine with tears that seemed to well up. She knew that he had had some rough days and nights before, but it had become clear to her in that moment that the night before was a completely different story, and one that he wanted to leave behind entirely.

And that was something she knew she had to respect, no matter how badly she wanted to tell him what she did.

She sighed. "Yeah, okay... I'm sorry. I… I won't talk about it ever again."

A small but appreciative smile formed on his face. "Thank you," he said gratefully. "Well, good night or… good morning or… whatever. I'm going to bed. I'll see you later."

He turned back around and resumed walking toward his bedroom, closing the door behind him as he entered.

Mabel simply stood in place beside Waddles, staring at Dipper's closed door with a mix of conflicted emotions. She really wanted to tell him what had happened. There was the genuine feeling in her heart that him knowing would help him feel better about himself. At that point, he could've used any type of motivation, right?

But he was already so upset about it, the last thing she wanted to risk was making him feel worse by just talking about it. So, perhaps another day would come where they might be able to look back more comfortably, and she could properly tell him what she had done for him that night.

Spending hours searching every corner of the school for him.

Reporting, pantsing, and blackmailing Dante.

Ditching her date.

Having to walk all the way home because she ditched her date, who was also her main ride.

Coming up with an excuse on his behalf so their mom wouldn't worry when he didn't come home.

Going so far out of her way for him on what was originally meant to be a special night, just so he would know that no matter what, she would always have his back, even if she wasn't always right there beside him. That much, she felt he deserved to know.

But again, perhaps another day.

Or perhaps never at all…

---

[Present]

There was no drama for Derrick getting back to his grandpa's cottage. No sign of Blubs and Durland or anybody else on the streets paying him any more attention than he was used to receiving. The only issue was having to walk the whole way versus skating, which took him a bit more time than it normally would've.

By the time he actually reached the cottage, it was already a little past ten in the evening. A single glance at the windows, and it looked like the lights were already out for the night, which was a good sign to him that his grandpa was out for the night. If he had to return home, his hope was to be able to sneak right on inside and back to his room without any interaction.

He pulled out his key from his pocket and unlocked the front door. Turning the handle, there was a creak as he cautiously opened the door just a crack. He peeked inside for a moment, verifying that the place was completely lights-out, making it hard to see anything. Not even the TV was on, which was the best sign that his grandpa had to be asleep.

After creeping inside as silently as possible, he slowly shut the door behind him, resting right up against it. With the click of the closed door, he immediately felt home free, finally letting out a sigh of relief from a long, sleepless day.

Click.

The living room lamp suddenly lit up, startling Derrick enough to freeze in place as the whole room filled with a low-level light.

"Derrick, is that you?"

His eyes then darted to the recliner right beside the lamp, where he spotted his grandpa sitting and staring back at him curiously while his finger held onto the lamp's switch. Even though the TV wasn't on, he was absolutely sitting in the chair across from it the whole time.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Hey, Grandpa," Derrick casually waved.

"You've been out all day. I was starting to worry about ya," Mr. Mendez said, getting up from his chair.

"Yeah, well, I-"

"And the police even stopped by earlier asking about ya."

Derrick's heart sank further into his chest. "They… they were?"

Mr. Mendez raised an eyebrow. "What's going on, boy?"

Derrick gulped nervously. "I…"

His eyes wandered around from side to side for a moment as he tried to mentally debate what he wanted to say. Knowing his grandpa, it felt easy to just make up some nonsense excuse to him that could be easily disregarded. He wouldn't think much of it.

But looking straight into his grandpa's eyes, there was a guilt that started to eat at him. Usually, it would be easy to just lie to get out of things clean, but after everything he's already been through, was it really worth it anymore? He may not think much of whatever lie he told, but he didn't even think much of him destroying his home landline the night before. It wasn't right to disrespect him even further by lying to him within his own home, even if he could get away with it.

If he was willing to face the music with Blubs and Durland earlier, then he knew he should be willing to do the same with his own family.

He hunched his shoulders shamefully as he let out an uneasy sigh. "I did a lot of bad things, Grandpa.*

Mr. Mendez gave him a weird look. "Eh?"

"I stole a lot of things from a lot of good people and sold them away to make some quick money, but never made anything. I probably beat up a kid harder than I should've. And… I messed things up with my friend." He shook his head guiltily. "I'm a mess, Grandpa. I… I shouldn't even be here. I'm sorry."

"Huh. I see," Mr. Mendez said while scratching his head. He checked the time on his watch. "Oh well, we best be getting on then."

He suddenly turned around and walked back into the living room while Derrick stood in place, somewhat confused.

"W-What?"

Mr. Mendez rolled out a gray luggage from behind the recliner. "Here! I already packed your things for ya!"

Derrick raised an eyebrow. "My things?"

"Hurry then, boy! We don't wanna be late for the bus." Mr. Mendez rolled the luggage in front of him before walking toward the front door in an apparent rush.

Derrick frowned. "Oh… So, I'm guessing you're sending me back home to my dad now…"

Mr. Mendez turned back to him with a funny look. "What? That poor fool? Pfft! Of course not! We're going to the airport!"

"Wait, what? Why?"

"We're catching a plane to see your mother!"

Derrick's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?! Seriously? B-But… h-how did you…?"

Mr. Mendez cut him off as he set a firm hand on his shoulder, looking him right in the eye.

"Look, boy. After that phone call of yours last night, I had a weird feeling it might've had something to do with your father. So I called him on my other phone earlier today to find out what happened, and that fool told me all about the money he took from you, and how he stopped you from being able to see your mother early this summer. So I hung up on him and had the neighbor's son help me buy two plane tickets to Chicago from that thing they call the inter-web."

Derrick's eyes shimmered in the low light as he continued to look up at him. "You're… you're serious?"

Mr. Mendez smiled. "Since you and I ain't done much together this summer but sit here cooped up in this lil' house, I figured… why not the two of us take a lil' trip for a few days? Besides, a boy deserves to see his mom again."

Derrick had tried his hardest to suppress his tears, but that proved impossible at that point. He threw his arms right around his grandfather, burying his face in his shoulder, sniffing quietly while the tears came streaming down his face.

"I love you, Grandpa," he shakily got out. "Thank you… thank you…"

The hug caught Mr Mendez by surprise, as it was the first time he had been hugged by him all summer. Not that he had any sort of problem with it happening now. Instead, he wrapped his own arms back around him, patting his back.

"Heh. I love you too, son." He pulled away after a moment, just holding onto his shoulders. "But I wasn't kidding about that bus. It's the last one of the day. And we sure ain't gonna miss it or else we're walking to the airport. And Lord knows I'm too old for that." He marched back toward the front door, grabbing another bag that he had sitting right next to it. Opening the door wide, he stood to the side while gesturing outside for his grandson to go first. "So c'mon now!"

Derrick stood back for a moment, mentally still processing everything. But soon enough, he wiped his face in his hoodie sleeve as an eager smile grew. He grabbed onto his luggage's handle before rushing up to the front door.

"Yes, sir!" he gladly replied as he stepped out the front door with his things.

As Derrick ran from the cottage, he began to cheer loudly through the streets and throw his fist in the air with nothing but pure elation and without any possible regard for any of his sleeping elderly neighbors. Despite the severe bags under his eyes from not having properly slept in over a day, he still had just enough energy to keep pushing through. At least until they reached the airport.

Mr. Mendez simply watched the boy from the doorway. Similarly to the hug, he had never seen the boy like this the whole summer. It was clear that he had needed something like this. And to be the one to be able to provide that for him – that alone was enough to make him glad to have him that summer, even if they hadn't done much together as family before that point.

Of course, that was about to change. So with a smile of his own, he finally stepped outside and closed the door to his cottage right behind him, joining his grandson under the stars of a night sky finally made clear after a long, cloudy day.

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SUHSDUH IRU WKH IDOO RI GLSSHU SLQHV

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This fic, to me, is a Dipper and Mabel story at its core. But this season's story arc is all about getting to the center of that. This episode has gotten the ball rolling on a significant part of the season's story that will continue to deepen as things move along for the rest of the season. That might not become immediately apparent, as there are still a bunch of other things and characters to focus on this season as well, but it will all come together in time.

Just about every episode after this includes some of the stories I've been dying to write for YEARS, and barring any more real-life setbacks, my writing drive is higher than it's been in ages, and I cannot wait to get to these episodes with you.

Next episode, things change with the start of a new story arc. So, I'll see you all next time for… Mabel and the Beast

- Absolute Rift