So Many Falls! A Gravity Falls AU Zine

She reached into her pocket and withdrew a packet of extra sugar filled pop-rocks. She was going to need the sugar rush, especially in her old age. The shack was coming into sight along the trees. Normally she’d have taken the main road, but for once, Mabel did not want to take that gamble. As the clearing of the shack grew near, she slowed down, no point in getting caught just before the finish line; and thank Moses not a single suited jerk in sight.

“Musta been called back,” she muttered.

The screen door was left open, not unexpected considering how quick the cars were to chase her decoy. This was the opportunity she needed.

“Alright,” Mabel whispered to herself, she tip-toed into the gift shop, “I've still got a minute or two. I can totally cook a welcome back cake in that-” She stopped in her tracks when she saw the vending machine and the door it hid wide open.

“Oh no.” Mabel ran for the secret door to the basement. “I’ll have to put the cake on hold.”

She ran through the door and down the stairs three at a time. Her joints ached as she jumped down the last few steps on her way to the elevator. There was a small ‘ding’ as it arrived. The pink carpet and stickers that decorated the wall were a small comfort as Mabel stared down her watch, willing herself to the bottom floor.

With another small ‘ding’ Mabel had arrived and ran out of the lift. “Don’t touch that button!” Mabel cried as she barrelled into the basement.

Of all days to have such horrid luck. It was only a few hours ago when she and the kids were playing with fireworks and water balloons. The government agents were one problem, the sheriff and his deputy were not, but what she found in the basement was the last thing she had wanted to deal with at that moment. Whoever was playing with their lives, whether it be fate, the roll of a cosmic die or Paul Banyan, they definitely had a twisted sense of humour.

Three pairs of eyes stared her down from across the room. Standing tall over them was the cold triangle shaped portal machine that Mabel had spent so long repairing. A cold blue glow the portal gave off from its centre was a small comfort when compared to the harsh red button that stood between the trio of Stanley, Stanford and Fiddleford. Stanley had his hand raised over the button, a hateful glint in his eye warned Mabel that he wasn’t playing some joke.

“Stanley, back away from the button. You gotta trust me.” She carefully walked towards the group.

“And I should trust you why?” Stanley spat. “After you stole radioactive waste? After you lied to us all summer? I thought you actually cared! But you’re just like the rest of them rotten adults!”

“Look I know this all seems cray-cray but I need that machine to stay on. If you just let me explain-“ a loud beep came from Mabel’s wristwatch. “Uh-oh. Brace yourselves.”

The blue light of the portal opened to reveal a vast and star-filled void. The portal crackled and sparked, shaking the support beams and equipment in the room. The feeling of weightlessness made everyone shout in shock as they were pulled up from the ground. In moments all four were thrown around the room.

“Stanley!” Stanford cried. His foot had caught on to a loose cable and was currently floating in the centre of the room.

“Stanford quick! Shut it down!” Stanley pointed.

“No!” Mabel cried, pushing off against the back wall, swimming her way through the air towards the boy as Stanford pulled himself down to the shutdown button. “Stop!”

Fiddleford tackled the old conwoman, pushing her off course from Stanford.

“Fiddleford what are you doing? I gave you an order!” Mabel cried, flailing wildly to try and throw the thin boy off her body.

“I got new orders now Mrs. Pines, if’n that is your real name, and that’s savin’ the world.” FIddleford cried, holding on to her for dear life.

“Fiddleford you idiot let me go!” Mabel struggled.

Stanley kicked off the wall and slammed into Mabel, knocking her off course from Ford.

“Sixer push the button! Shut it down-” He cried, shoving his hand into Mabel’s face.

Stanford looked between his struggling Aunt and his determined brother, his mind blank as he tried to calculate the optimal route. But with the blaring count down and loud deafening noise from the portal his mind couldn't find anything to grasp on to. The evidence against her was damning, but something was out of place. The arguments fit together as Stanley claimed but it didn't sit right, like when they would force a puzzle together when they couldn’t find all pieces.

“No you can’t, you gotta trust me!” Mabel pushed Stan back. The last 30 years flashed before her eyes as she reached out to her nephew.

“Grauntie Mabel, I don’t even know if you’re really my Auntie.” Stanford sobbed. His tears floated up off his cheeks, plinking quietly off his glasses which were floating above him. “I want to believe you but-“

“Then listen, Stanford, remember this afternoon? When I said I had something to tell the both of you?” Mabel’s sentence was cut off as another shockwave was sent through the room; throwing Stanley, herself and Fiddleford against the far wall.

Stanford blinked away his tears in time to see his twin brother splayed against the wall. With the countdown blaring overhead, He tightened his fist and aimed for the button.

“I was going to say,” Mabel coughed. “That you’re going to 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.”

“She’s gotta be lying.” Stanley interrupted. “This thing could destroy everything. You’re the smart one, think about it!”

“Look into my eyes Stanford, Do you really think I’d hurt you?” Mabel begged.

“She’s just like the rest. Turn it off now!”

“Stanford please.”

Stanford looked up to his great aunt, despite the tears that fogged up the edge of his vision, he could see her face. Mabel looked at him with a gaze he’d never seen her wear before. It was as though she was putting all her hopes on to him. He recognised the fear in her eyes, the hope, and the mix of many other feelings as she stared at him. Stanford recognised the face she wore, he’d seen it numerous times on his own brother’s face through all their adventures in that summer.

For once the mask his great aunt wore slipped, and what Stanford saw was someone in need of trust.

“Grauntie Mabel.” Stanford let go of the button. His body began to float into the air. “I trust you.

“Sixer have you flipped your lid? We’re all gonna d-“ Stanley’s cry was silenced by a deafening roar of the machine.

A blinding light filled the room.

There was a heavy silence in the air as Stanley rubbed his head; he could feel a fresh lump forming. He quickly surveyed the room and found that the basement was littered with debris and broken machinery that didn’t survive the portal opening. On the far side of the room was his brother fumbling along the ground. Stanley took a step forward, and heard a crack. Beneath his foot were Stanford’s rounded frame glasses.

“Stanley?” Stanford looked around. “I can’t find my glasses. Everything looks grey.”

“I get ‘em right here Smart guy,” Stanley walked over. He pulled out his own glasses from his pocket and handed them over.

The sound of heavy footsteps drew the attention of the twins to the portal. A man with greying hair and dark clothes stepped out from the wreckage of the portal into the basement. The other occupants of the room watched in stunned silence as he wordlessly walked through the basement. He stopped short of a blue leather bound journal. On the front cover was a silver sticker in the shape of the big dipper constellation with the number 1 draw. The man’s face reflected in the sticker as he stared down at the journal. He knelt down to pick it up, moving the reflection from his face to the big dipper birthmark on his forehead.

“Who is that?” Stanford asked.