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“I’m sorry, Mabel, but I’m staying,” Dipper said, a little coldly. “This is where I belong, and I’m tired of sacrificing everything that makes me happy for you.”
“C-c’mon, Dipper, we can work this out!” Mabel tried. “I’ll make it up to you! I promise!”
“Just like you promised to help me with the laptop’s password?” Dipper hissed. Stunned, Mabel spluttered, “T-that was a month ago, Dipper! And I said I was sorry!”
Dipper glowered at Mabel. “I think you should go now. Go back to the shack. Ask Grunkle Stan to call mom and dad to take you back home.”
“Wouldn’t you miss them?” Mabel asked. Her voice broke when she continued, “Wouldn’t you miss me?”
Before Dipper could answer, somebody spoke up. Ford. “Dipper, my boy, we really should focus on our mission. The rift is only going to become more unstable if we don’t patch it.”
Mabel blinked, confused. “The rift? What’s that?”
“Nothing!” Dipper exclaimed. “N-nothing at all. Don’t worry about it!”
“You seem to be pretty worried about it, Dipper,” Mabel pointed out. “Why didn’t either of you tell me about this?”
“We…we didn’t think we could trust you,” Dipper muttered. Mabel felt like she’d been punched in the stomach.
“How can you say that, Dipper?”
Dipper didn’t answer, instead turning his attention to the bag laying against the tree Mabel had been sitting under. “You left your backpack behind and took mine. Please, just hand it over.” Dipper’s expression was neutral, but Mabel could sense the underlying fear.
For some reason, curiosity got the better of her. Walking over and retrieving the backpack, Mabel unzipped it and looked inside. What appeared to be a snow globe rested at the very bottom, among a few chewed up pens. This must be the rift her brother spoke of. Gingerly, she pulled it out, turning it over in her hands, and she almost dropped it, a huge mistake.
Her uncle exploded, “THIS IS WHY I TOLD DIPPER NOT TO TELL ANYBODY!”
Eyes wide, Mabel whimpered, “You couldn’t trust your own family?”
“I couldn’t trust anybody. Least of all you, Mabel. It’s your fault the rift even exists. If you had just shut down the portal, our world wouldn’t be in jeopardy!”
“I’m sorry!” Mabel cried. “I-I had to trust Grunkle Stan! I just had to!”
“And look where it’s gotten us!” Dipper snapped. “You should’ve trusted me, but no. You decided to trust a conman instead.”
“You’re really gonna leave me over that?” Mabel questioned. She felt sick just thinking about it.
“I might as well.”
Then, all of her emotions curled up into a ball of rage, and she slammed the rift to the ground, shattering it.
Both her uncle and brother looked horrified by her actions. It didn’t take two seconds for Mabel to realize what she’d done.
Mabel looked at her hands as her entire body trembled. Dripping from them was a black substance resembling a starry night sky. At her feet was the broken rift. “I…I…”
The wind howled, and the sky split apart into an X, all the while Bill Cipher rose high into the air. He met Mabel’s wide and fearful eyes. “Thanks for the help, Shooting Star!”
“You did this!” Dipper and Ford screamed. Their angered shouts blended perfectly with Bill’s cackling as he tore reality for her and her family apart, piece by piece-
‘Mabel, wake up!’
Mabel awoke, soaked in sweat despite the cool October night. Dipper sat on the edge of her bed.
“I woke you up again, didn’t I?” Mabel said guiltily, burying her head in her knees and wrapping her arms around them.
“I was already awake,” Dipper informed her. “Was it about Mabeland again?”
Mabel easily recalled another nightmare she’d had about a month ago, regarding her fantasy bubble and replacement brother. She shook her head. “No. We were out in the woods. Us and Grunkle Ford. You ended up telling me about the…the rift…and you both said you didn’t trust me. After that…I-I just got so angry, and…and…” Sobs began wracking Mabel’s body, and she tried to stifle them, not wanting to wake her parents.
Mom and dad didn’t even know about Weirdmageddon. Mabel and Dipper promised each other they wouldn’t talk about it. Ever. Not that that would be an issue.
“I broke the rift! I broke it! I-I don’t know what came over me! And Bill…he thanked me for it. The world…it ended because of me.”
“Hey, hey, shh,” Dipper hushed. “That didn’t happen, Mabel. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know what you had. We should’ve told you about it.”
“The rift wouldn’t have existed if I’d just pressed the button to shut the portal down. Grunkle Ford was mad at Grunkle Stan for restarting the portal, but shouldn’t he be mad at me too? All of it was my fault.”
“Mabel, listen, we can’t change the past. Of course we can’t. But you’ve learned from your mistakes, haven’t you?”
Mabel sniffled. “I guess so.”
Dipper smiled, wrapping one arm around his sister’s shoulders. “I’m proud of you.”
“What? You’re proud of me? But why? I’m not the one who saved everybody…Grunkle Stan is.”
“And he wouldn’t have been able to if you hadn’t fired spray paint into Bill’s eye,” Dipper reminded her. The memory of it came back to her.
Don’t you toy with me, Shooting Star! I…see…everyth- augh, not again! Why?! Every time!
Nice shot, pumpkin!
I just regenerated that eye!
I know that hurts because I’ve accidentally done it to myself! Multiple times!
“I…I know that, but…but all of it could’ve been avoided if I hadn’t been so stupid. Blendin Blandin was the last person I should’ve trusted!”
“Mabel, you were tricked. Just like Grunkle Ford was. Just like I was. He manipulated you.”
“B-but I should’ve known better! I- I’m so sorry, Dipper…”
“It’s okay, sis,” Dipper murmured, hugging her tightly. “It’s okay.”
“Dipper?” Mabel asked after a few moments of comfortable silence.
“Yeah?”
“What would I do without you?” She asked, pulling her twin into a real hug.
Dipper smiled softly, and replied, “What would I do without you?”
Dipper had a point there. A quiet laugh escaped Mabel.
THE END