The Things We Leave Behind (Gravity Falls Fic)

Chapter 40: Not What He Seems

***Changed the title***

Okay, so I can now write this after seeing a Tale of Two Stans.

Let's do this, nanoda~

Saige's POV:

It was around ten in the morning when the twins burst through the door of the cabin, yelling frantically, "Saige! Saige, we need your help!"

I stopped what I was doing with my research to send the Ooolanders home, looking up in surprise, "What? What is it?"

They raced over to me, panting, both spouting broken phrases such as "Water balloon fight," "Secret agent guys," "They took Waddles," and "He's innocent, we swear!"

"Woah, woah," I interrupted, "Slow down. Who's innocent? What secret agent guys?"

Dipper explained as quickly as he could, "We were having a water balloon fight at the Shack when these government dudes showed up and arrested Grunkle Stan! They tried to take us to child services, but we escaped. We have to prove Grunkle Stan's innocence, and, well, we thought you could help."

"Well, of course I'll help!" I exclaimed, "What do you need me to do?"

Dipper and Mabel led me out of the cabin and through the woods to the treeline, where we would have plenty of cover when trying to see the Mystery Shack, and they pointed out where they planned to zipline in from using Mabel's grappling hook. My job was to distract the guards on the ground, just in case.

They got into position and I pulled out my X2Alt, setting it to "Big Loud Noise" mode, which was the most straightforward of the modes. I pointed it at the sky and pulled the trigger, my free hand blocking at least one ear.

The gun let out a colossal sound that could only be described as a steamroller crashing into a bubble wrap factory. There was not a single agent that was not fixated on me.

"Oh crap," I muttered, shoving the X2Alt into my hoodie as a couple of the agents detached from the main group and started straight for me. I spun on my heel and took off into the woods, taking a random, unused path that branches off from the one that leads to my cabin. I had no idea where it would take me, I just knew that I didn't want to take them straight to my home.

I dashed down the trail, deftly dodging low-hanging branches and roots and rocks. No matter what twists and turns I would take, I couldn't lose the agents. They must be highly trained for it to be so difficult for me to shake the tail.

I heard a shot from behind me and a bullet whizzed by my ear, making me gasp. They're actually firing at me?! I took a sharp right, flashbacks of a fast-approaching cliff and the sound of rushing water arising from my subconscious. I shook the bad memories from my head and focused on not dying, two more bullets flying past me.

I took a left, running smack into... someone, I wasn't sure who. All I knew was that they immediately wrapped their arms around me and lifted me off the path and through the canopy of leaves overhead, out of harm's way. I looked up, expecting to see Riley, but instead it was Bill, smirking at me.

I blushed but tried to ignore that, "Where's Riley? Isn't this his job?"

Bill's smirk faded and he rolled his eyes, "That winged freak is down there, taking care of the agents that were following you."

I blinked, "Oh... so... you two are...?"

"Working together, yes," he says in a bored tone, "He didn't trust me to handle this on my own. He was too afraid that I'd kill the agents."

He chuckled, whispering, "He was right."

The sounds of gunshots and surprised voices below them stopped, and Bill returned me to the ground, where I promptly pushed him off of me, turning around to see Riley looking relieved, "Oh, good, Saige, you're alright."

I crossed my arms, "You know, I had it sorted. I mean, help is always appreciated, but you didn't have to completely remove me from the situation."

He shrugs, "My job is to keep you safe. Sorry if you felt patronized."

"Where have you been, anyway? I mean, I don't mind that you weren't around, it was just sort of weird how you disappeared so suddenly without explanation," I inquired.

He looks away, "It was... family matters."

I nodded, "Well, whatever the case, it's nice to see you again."

I hear a jealous huff from Bill behind me and Riley smiles, appreciatively.

Bill speaks, obviously irritated and impatient, "Look, weren't you supposed to be helping the Pines Twins? You should get moving."

He was right. I shot Riley a kind smile and then started off, but then paused, noticing the crestfallen look on Bill's face. I sighed, walked over, and gave him a hug, whispering, "I didn't need your help... but thanks anyway."

I could feel how shocked he was by the way he froze, and then heard his response, "N-no problem."

I immediately let go, giving a short wave good-bye and disappeared into the underbrush in the direction of the Mystery Shack. Making my way into the Shack unnoticed wasn't easy, but once I did, I was instantly greeted by Mabel and Dipper fighting with Soos in front of that mysterious vending machine.

I blinked, watching the twins' futile attempts to get by Soos. I was completely confused, but then, in a moment of weakness, Soos gets distracted by Mabel just long enough for Dipper to slip past and punch in a code on the vending machine. The machine swings outward, revealing an opening behind it.

"Well," I say, announcing my presence, "That explains why it was always out of order."

The three glance at me, and then start to head through the passageway down a long staircase. I hurry to catch up, "Hey, wait for me!"

Soos looks around at the old, weathered walls, "It's like something from a videogame..."

"Or a dream," Mabel adds.

Dipper corrects her solemnly, "Or a nightmare."

I swallowed, not sure what had gone on when I was avoiding being killed and definitely not sure what to expect. We reached the end of the staircase, where we are confronted by an elevator of questionable safety. Naturally, we all climbed aboard without asking any questions and started our descent.

"How deep does this passage go?" I ask, surprised at how far beneath the Shack we must be at this point.

When the elevator door opens, we all step out into what appears to be some kind of lab covered in buttons and levers and blinky dials.

Mabel looks around, "Guys, are we dreaming? Somebody wake me up..."

"Somebody tell me what's going on," I say, annoyed at the lack of explanation.

Dipper quickly tells me how he found the code and the passports and IDs in Stan's office that led us here.

"Wow," I said, "And I thought I had the biggest secret in this town."

I pause, then add, "Actually, I do have the biggest secret in this town. But this is still pretty big."

Dipper walked over to a control panel, saying in a disbelieving tone, "This can't be real."

Soos was obviously just as confused as the rest of us, "I don't understand... why would Mr. Pines have all this?"

I nodded in agreement, inspecting a large lever jutting out of the wall, "Good question."

Dipper reminded us of that one time that we ran into a shape shifter, "It's just like that bunker in the woods."

Soos blinked, "But what is it doing under the Mystery Shack?"

Mabel tried to rationalize or at least comfort herself, "Okay, okay, so he's got a huge gigantic lab. That doesn't mean anything bad! Everyone's got secrets! Right, Saige? You told us that." She picks up a photo of Stan and them, "It's still Stan, and he loves us. And... we love him, right?"

Dipper didn't seem to hear her, as he was too preoccupied with something laid out on the main control panel, "It can't be... it's impossible." He's staring at two books set out in front of him, and he pulls out Journal 3, "The other two journals? All this time... all this time, Stan had them?! I can't believe it! Was anything he said to us real?!" He kicks the desk in anger, "Why would he have those journals?!"

Soos tries to put an optimistic spin on the situation, "Maybe he's the author."

Dipper immediately trashes the idea, "Or maybe he stole them from the author! Maybe the reason he has all those fake IDs is because he is a master criminal, and this machine is his master plan!" He opens the journals to the page with the portal on it, shining his handy dandy blacklight on them to reveal a disturbing secret message.

The three of us walked over to join him and take a closer look.

"Woah," Mabel whispers.

Dipper reads the message aloud, "I was wrong the whole time. The machine was meant to create knowledge but it is too powerful. I was deceived, and now it is too late. The device, if fully operational, could tear our universe apart! It must not fall into the wrong hands. If the clock ever reaches zero, our universe is doomed!"

As if on cue, we all looked up at the countdown clock which read one minute and thirty seconds remaining.

"Well," I said, in a defeated tone, "We're done for."

Soos gasps, "It's the final countdown! Just like they always sung about!"

I groaned, "Thanks, Soos, now I'm gonna have that song stuck in my head for the rest of the week."

Dipper frantically flips to a page in the journal reading "Manual Override." He points at the instructions, "The agents were right! We have to shut it down!" We all rush into the portal room, the ground beginning to shake with tremors of the portal's growing intensity.

Dipper gestures at three keys sticking out of another control panel, "There! Quick! Turn these, together!"

Soos and the twins run off to do that, and I stay where I'm standing, spellbound by the machine standing in front of me. Something tugged at me from the back of my mind as I stared into the portal's opening.

The three turn the keys and a button reveals itself in the middle of the room. Dipper and Mabel rush towards it, Dipper's hand braced to slam down on the red button, "That's it! The shutdown switch! This all stops-"

He was interrupted by Stan's voice booming from behind us, "NO! DON'T TOUCH THAT BUTTON!" We all turn to look at him, "Dipper, just back away."

Dipper's hand remains inches from the button, not backing off, but not making a move, either.

"Please don't press that shutdown button, you gotta trust me," Stan pleads.

Dipper yells back, angrily, "And I should trust you why?! After you stole radioactive waste? After you lied to us all summer?! I don't even know who you are!"

"Look, I know this all seems nuts, but I need that machine to stay on! If you'd just let me explain-" His watch beeps and the ground shakes again, and he warns us, "Uh oh... oh no, brace yourselves!"

Gravity seems to disappear from existence, and we all start hovering in the air. Dipper grabs onto a wooden support beam, and Mabel has her foot stuck on a wire near the shutdown switch.

Dipper calls to her, "Mabel! Hurry! Shut it down!"

Stan's voice is panicked, "No! Mabel, Mabel, wait! Stop!" His protests are interrupted by a flying, attacking Soos.

Dipper yells at Mabel again, "Go! Mabel, press the red button! Shut it down!"

Stan struggles against Soos, "No, you can't! You gotta trust me!"

I was observing all this from the rafters above the four of them, and had a strange sensation that Stan really was to be trusted. I called down to Mabel, "Listen to Stan! I know he's told lies and kept secrets, but so have I! We have to give him the benefit of the doubt!"

A computer's voice adds to the pressure of the situation with an irritating time update, "T-minus twenty seconds."

"Not helping, Siri!" I yell at it.

The portal pulses powerfully, thrusting Dipper, Soos, and Stan against the wall. Mabel is latched onto the button's post and I'm wrapped securely around a rafter. I see that Mabel is preparing to hit the switch.

"I wanted to say that you're gonna hear some bad things about me, and some of them are true, but trust me. Everything I've worked for, everything I care about, it's all for this family!" Stan yells over the noise of the room.

Dipper opposed him, "Mabel, what if he's lying? This thing could destroy the universe! Listen to your head!"

Stan ignored Dipper, "Look into my eyes, Mabel! Do you really think I'm a bad guy?!"

"He's lying!" Dipper screamed, "Shut it down now!"

"Mabel, please!" Stan cries, desperately.

The computer's voice starts up again, "Ten... Nine..."

I shout, annoyed, "WE KNOW!"

Seven seconds left.

Mabel lowers her hand to the button, "Grunkle Stan, I..."

Five seconds left.

Mabel lifts her hand and lets go, floating away from the button, "I trust you."

Dipper exclaims in protest, "Mabel, are you crazy?! Now we're all gonna-"

"One."

One moment, I'm staring down at a family falling apart. The next, all I see is white.

The blinding flash of light fades to reveal the twins, Soos, and Stan all scattered around the room and a figure standing in front of the portal. I was still clinging to the rafters, suddenly realizing how high up I was, and how bad it could hurt if I fell, now that gravity was functioning normally again.

Dipper sees the stranger in the trench coat, "What...? Who is that?"

Stan looks up at the man, who picks up the journal off the ground with a six-fingered hand and places it in his pocket, "The author of the journals..."

"My brother."

---

DUN DUN DUNNNNN

Alright thats it, thats where the episode ends, so thats where the chapter will end.
Yay.