We Meet Again [Mabill]

Chapter 1

A sigh escaped her lips as they curled up to a smile.

The brunette watched as the city buildings passed by the window, instead with trees replacing her view, with a slight shiver that passed by as they entered the weirdness bubble, but felt nice to be back in the nature again.

Mabel glanced over at her sleeping brother, his blue and white cap now replaced with a beanie of the same colours, with said beanie covering his face as he slept.

A lot of things have changed ever since they left. Dipper got himself a pair of spectacles, and Mabel? Her lovely braces removed.

The female lightly chuckled at how stupid her brother looked before turning back to look out the bus window just as the 'Welcome to Gravity Falls' sign passed by. She squinted her eyes, awaiting to see the same gnome that she previously managed to catch the first day they came to this little town.

Sadly, no gnome was to be discovered. Not even when Mabel squinted her eyes and nearly analyzed the bushes passing by.

It was odd, normally at least one of them would stand by the road while on the hunt for berries and nuts that squirrels would drop. And the squirrels for bathing purposes, too.

Mabel couldn't even discover a single one of those, either...

None of the hopping frogs, gnomes, squirrels— not even Steve!

Weird. Even for the town known for all its weirdness!

Mabel huffed softly in disappointment, her smile dropping slightly, upon realising that there wasn't anything around, leaning her head away from the window and gently melting back into her seat.

..hm.

Should she be telling Dipper about it?

Nah.

He's smart enough. She was sure he'd find out that something was missing once they've arrived.

In the meantime, she thought over how her Grunkles have been after they left. Man, she misses them. It has been a few years, after all, since their schools have been taking up a lot of the twins' time, and they weren't exactly allowed to go on vacation because of it. But at least they stayed in contact through mail.

"Gravity Falls!"

Mabel's smile brightened as she shifted her way out from the window seat, her movement awaking Dipper with a shock.

"C'mon, bro-bro~ we're here~" she cooed, sliding her luggage along with her as she went on ahead without her brother, the latter yelling out for her to wait before he managed to catch up.

Their Grunkles should be waiting here somewhere...

Dipper and Mabel's great uncles were standing just a few meters away from them.

Both were already expecting them with open arms and preparing for hugs.

Stan was overjoyed and had to wipe away a little tear, because he missed his nieces so dearly. He had lots of stories to tell the two of them about their boat trip across the world. Fighting evil! Finding treasure! And finishing mermaids!

Next to him was Stanford with a little less of a smile on his face than his brother, yet he was still excited to see Dipper again.

"Grunkle Stan!" "Grunkle Ford!" Both yelled out at the same time upon setting their feet down on the ground and out of the bus, leaving behind their luggage once they pulled them out, immediately running to their respective Great-Uncles, Mabel embracing Stan with her famous bear hug, and Dipper giving Ford a quick hug, before pulling away.

"It's great to see you again, Grunkle Stan!!" Mabel's enthusiasm from about 5 years ago definitely still hasn't changed, her grip on the older man tightening slightly before it loosened, though she didn't let go.

"Grunkle Ford! Hey!" Dipper greeted with a grin. He definitely seemed to have changed, having become more enthusiastic just as his sister, though he tried to tone his excitement down.

"Woah! You got your braces off! Now you're all grown up!" Stan laughed, almost lifting Mabel off the ground out of sheer excitement. He ruffled her through her hair with a big grin on his face.

"We missed you two!" Stan exclaimed. "Ford over here, missed you two especially. Sixer began counting the days 'til you'd get here."

His brother was completely distracted with already rambling on about their adventures, discoveries and the different creatures they had come across on their travel.

"Yeap! I've got my braces off!" Mabel laughed, finally loosening her arms from Stan, allowing for her hair to get ruffled, though she did add a "Hey!" along with it, as if she was bothered.

"Aw, really? Hope we didn't take too long!" She chuckled, glancing over at the two now rambling pair, both of them going on and on about their paranormal research and what Dipper's been doing in school.

"How've you been? And, oh! Your boat trip! How was that?"

Stan began his epic story, talking about treasures they received from lost souls on the seas for helping them out with ghost problems in their cabin.

"There was that gigantic kraken! It latched onto the Stan o' War II and almost cracked it in half. You should've seen me fighting that beast! You would've loved it! Oh, and the mermaids! They sang such beautiful songs, but Sixer wasn't that big of a fan."

Ford on the other hand, was slowly drifting away from the travel stories and suddenly had a more concerned look on his face.

"Dipper, we might have a problem on our hands. I know you two just now arrived, but this is important. We traveled onto the ocean, because we were picking up weirdness there. That's clear. But what is worrying me now is that the weirdness here, in Gravity Falls, has dropped dramatically as we returned. It's concerning."

I need your help on research, Dipper."