Lost Time

Memory Hurts, Memory Heals

Dipper woke up the next morning to Mabel three inches above his face.

"Dipper, wake up!" She said brightly.

He nearly jumped out of his skin as he scrambled back. He screamed in an alien language, Kira's native tongue.

Mabel's eyes widened, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Dip! It's just me, it's Mabel. You're okay, you're safe," She quickly reassured him, rushing to his side.

Dipper felt his heart rate slow down, "God, Mabel. Don't do that," He panted.

"Sorry. Do you want breakfast? I'm gonna try to make rainbow pancakes!" She grinned.

Dipper felt himself smile, he really wanted to have some more time with Mabel. He missed their brother sister bonding, "How are you going to make them rainbow? We don't have any food coloring," He pointed out.

"Mabel grinned, "Simple things like that will never stop me from making rainbow pancakes!" She declared.

Dipper sighed, "I don't think you're supposed to put sprinkles, jelly beans, and glitter in pancake batter," He said.

"Boo! Glitter makes everything better! Besides, I know you'll eat them," She said.

He pretended to be offended, "I don't eat everything, Mabel," He said.

"Oh, right, I forgot. You're some kind of alien that only lives on coffee," She ribbed him.

He rolled his eyes, "Fine, fine, you win. Of course I'll eat the pancakes," He said.

"Sweet! I have soooooo many questions I want to ask you," She said.

Dipper was visibly uncomfortable, "If you want to know something about the future, then I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. Even if I did know anything about this dimension's future, I couldn't tell you. The Time Police hate me enough as it is," He said.

She shook her head, "I wanna know about the multiverse! Grunkle Ford never talks about it, so I hoped you would," She said.

At the uneasy look on Dipper's face, she quickly amended, "None of the dark stories. I just want to know what life was like for you. I'm sorry I asked, I get why you wouldn't want to talk about it," She said.

"No, no, no. It's fine. Ask me anything," He smiled.

Mabel's eyes lit up, "Really?"

"Within reason," Dipper quickly said, "Nothing about Earth's future, or anything about the last three years," He said.

She nodded, "Got it. Let's go downstairs," She said.

The two headed downstairs, and Dipper made a pot of coffee. He offered some to Mabel, but she shook her head, "No thanks! I'll make some Mabel juice after this," She said.

"What even is Mabel juice?" Dipper questioned.

"It's my secret formula. I can't risk telling someone in case it gets out to the public," She explained.

He shuddered to imagine a world where Mabel juice was a common beverage, "That's probably a good idea," He said.

She got to work on the pancakes, pulling out the batter ingredients, and her own special ones. He noted the presence of glitter, sprinkles, jelly beans, and a couple old things of food dye. Knowing his Grunkle Stan, the dye could very well be over fifteen years old.

"So. How would you describe the multiverse in general?" She asked.

He frowned and thought about it for a second, "Infinite. Overwhelming at times. Very weird. You have no idea how many times I've switched dimensions and just had a complete mental breakdown. It's not easy going through places that seem to be dedicated to giving the laws of physics the middle finger," He said.