When one by one, the Pines family start falling asleep from of a mysterious illness, Ford and Dipper must venture out into the Oregon wilderness to find a cure. But when things take an unexpected and unplanned turn, another Pine must takeover.
A Ma...
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Ford lay in his tent, his mind racing at the speed of light. Thoughts of all sorts flooded him, but one, the most recent one refused to leave him.
He felt awful. How could he have said such things to her? Mabel had told him a simple goofy joke. A joke that she and Dipper would always laugh over. They were twins after all. Siblings make fun of each other and annoy each other so much that they grow numb to it all. It's a sibling thing that only the other would get. And Ford for sure hadn't. He could barely remember the last time he and Stan had joked like that.
He had called her things she wasn't. Unintelligent, a bragger and even wished she had been the one laying in the hospital instead of Dipper. He did not know how he could mend his relationship with Mabel now. He might have done so in the past with the whole apprenticeship thing. But not this time. He had hurt her too much.
As Ford was thinking this, a beeping noise went off. It was the thermometer. He had been told by the doctors to check his temperature every 2 hours to make sure everything was okay. It had now been 5 hours since he last checked it. In all the excitement and joy he had felt journeying with Mabel, he had forgotten.
Ford pulled the thermometer out and looked at the results. Up until now he was used to seeing the same old normal level of 98F or 99F, so he thought it'd be the same. His eyes widened when he saw the temperature reading this time.
97.5F.
It was dropping. Ford knew what this meant. His immune system was losing the fight. At this stage he knew that the right option was to turn back, fast and get to the hospital. But they were so close, they had to keep going. If his immune system could hold off the virus this long, it could keep it at bay until they got what they were looking for. But time was now running out. If he was going to get that herb, he needed to try and get some ground covered right now in the middle of the night.
But what about Mabel? She was still heartbroken, sitting in her tent perhaps. Ford knew he could not avoid the confrontation any longer. He wanted to wait until the morning but he knew he may not have a chance if his health started to fail. He had to make up with Mabel. It was now or never.
He got up, thankfully he did not feel dizzy. He was in the early stages after all. He began to walk towards Mabel's tent. But something didn't seem right. The zipper on the entrance was wide open. Ford approached the tent and looked in. To his shock, Mabel was not in it. Neither were any of her belongings.
"Mabel," he yelled. Ford grew even more concerned. Did Mabel run away? Heartbroken about how he had yelled at her? Or did something else happen?
He could not even begin to imagine that. But he had to look for her. She could be in danger. He ran back to his tent and grabbed his bag. He knew it contained items he may need. He then raced off into the woods.
