Chapter Text
Mabel Mabel Mabel.
That name was all that seemed to go through his mind lately. How was it possible that a Pines would finally be the one to catch his attention, especially the one that could never seem to listen to him? A lot was riding on this kid, and she didn’t even know it. Mabel. It was a pretty uncommon name in humans, which he supposed was pretty fitting. This one was an uncommon girl.
The blonde grinned, leaning back in his chair. He could still practically see the hope in her eyes when he offered her his deal, no matter how much she’d like to deny it. The reaction was instantaneous, and gone as soon as it came, but oh-ho-ho, he had caught it. He shook his head with a grin, straightening his bow tie. She was still just as stubborn as she was when she was a kid.
Bill watched the Mystery Shack over every day, and he knew it wouldn’t be long now. He was confident she’d decide she was interested in what he had to offer. Stan just had to get worse, which he was definitely doing. Bill almost hoped she’d take his deal just so Stan wouldn’t succumb to something as simple as illness – if anyone was going to end Stan, the blonde preferred it be him. Bill glanced at the mindscape around him, frowning as the walls began to blur and haze together. He glanced down at his hands before letting out a sigh, then looked back in on Gravity Falls. Couldn’t Stan speed this up a little?
Curiously, Bill moved his gaze from Stan to Mabel. He had seen her not too long ago when he paid her a visit, and since then, he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of her. He had become enthralled with watching her, learning about what that wild little girl had grown up into. She would light up any room she walked into, and her smile would bring one to Bill’s face as well, although he never realized he was smiling. Bill had never seen a girl before that had captured his upmost attention – when he had first seen her back all those weeks ago, it was like someone had knocked all the air out of his chest. He leaned back in his chair, lighting a cigaerette and puffing a triangular ring of smoke above his head. So this was the girl who would catch his eye? A Pines? He could definitely have some fun with this and save his own ass in the meantime.
And then it finally happened. He felt the electric shocks go through his body as he was transferred from one place to the next, and he laughed as he realized that he was finally being summoned. He grinned excitedly, heart hammering in his chest, as he yanked his top hat onto his head as he got ready for show time.
Yes, it wouldn’t be long now.
Mabel slowly opened the door to Stan’s hospital room, Ford gently urging her inside. She gripped the edges of her sweater for dear life as she took a step in, now able to see her poor great uncle. Her heart felt like it was cracking when she saw him. He looked so….weak…so pale, eyes lined in dark circles from either lack of sleep or poor health, and even if the doorway she could see his frame faintly shaking. He looked worse than he ever had, and it broke her heart.
Mabel slowly made her way over to his bed, thanking high heaven that Ford was here with her, because she definitely wouldn’t have been able to do this without him. She missed Dipper so much it was dizzying – he was finally on his way down, but he still wouldn’t be here for a week or two. Not having him here in general was hard, and not having him here for the worst time of her life made it harder.
As Mabel and Ford reached Stan’s bedside, Mabel could see the tears already forming in the corners of Ford’s eyes, and she could practically feel her heart crack.
When had things gone so wrong?
Mabel had come down to Gravity Falls for her first summer as an adult, now graduated from Piedmont High, and able to stay in Oregon for as long as she wanted to. Dipper was checking out some far-away college with their dad, and even though Mabel was sad he wasn’t coming to Gravity Falls until later in the summer, at least she had some quality time to spend with her great uncles.
And the summer had been going exactly how she wanted it to. Whether she, Stan, and Ford spent their days solving mysteries or having a movie marathon, she was having the time of her life. By the middle of June, Mabel had so much summer to look forward to, and she couldn’t have been more excited.
It happened on one of the best days they’d had so far. It was a lazy day, and it was filled with laughter and bonfires and tons of Ductective and ice cream. Mabel faintly remembered Stan tucking her in, planting a kiss on her head, and then tiredly going off to his own room.
Only a couple of hours later, Mabel woke up to the sound of her uncle screaming. And when she rushed to his side, he didn’t remember who she was. Or who Ford was. Or his own name. The way he was looking at her…his eyes were blank and confused, and they were lacking whatever they usually had in them that made Stan Stan. The fear that was constantly in the back of her mind was coming true – something was causing Stan to lose his memories again.
Her great uncle was tormented with nightmares every night to the point where he’d sit in his lounge chair and refuse to sleep, making up half-hearted excuses about wanting to watch the Duchess Approves instead of going to bed. But he’d fall asleep, and wake up in a horrified panic. He began looking sick and pale all the time, and then he began actually getting sick. Mabel couldn’t remember how many times she’d be helping a terrified-looking Ford care for Stan when he had a burning hot fever and constant chills raking through his body.
The eyes that were usually so bold and confident were scared and confused, looking at her as if he had never seen her before. At first, he forgot them and or himself only a couple times a week. But then it became an every day thing that could last for an alarming amount of time. He’d get angry or frustrated with them, say something rude or get aggressive, and of course when he got his memories back, he had to live with the guilt of it, and that only made him feel worse. His mental pains didn’t stop there- he began remembering things wrong, like his memories were twisted and distorted. Mabel had no idea how many times he’s practically tacked her across the lawn, talking a mile a minute about remembering something terrible happening to her with tears pricking the edges of his eyes
Mabel ran herself ragged trying to take care of him. Bright vibrant sweaters and brighter smiles turned into dismal gray sweaters and weak, assuring smiles. She had to keep it together for both Stan and Ford – Ford was a worried wreck over this, and Mabel got the sense that he was blaming himself for some reason. She had hope he’d get better – that’s what she kept assuring them all – but as he got worse, her hope only seemed to dwindle.
And then Bill appeared.
He offered her a way to save Stan. Mabel stayed up at night thinking about the offer more nights than she’d like to admit. He was just using Stan’s sickness to get something from her – and she knew better than anyone that Bill made bad deals. He had possessed at least two of her family members, and having to wipe him out of Stan’s memories was probably the reason this was happening. Mabel flashed back to Blendin Blandin’s huge yellow eyes, to the rift dropping from his hands and smashing on the ground. She shivered, shoving the thought of Bill to the back of her mind. He couldn’t help, and even thinking about it at all was completely insane. She tried to convince herself the reason she now carried Journal 2 with her everywhere was for something else, not so she’d have his summoning incantation ready.
“Grunkle Stan?” Mabel asked gently, curling her hand around his. She nearly jumped at how cold and clammy he was. Her great uncle weakly turned to look at her, eyebrows knitting as he studied her face carefully.
“…Who?” Stan squinted at her through hazy eyes, voice groggy and disoriented. Mabel could hear Ford let out a miserable sigh behind her, and her stomach dropped to her feet. Mabel hadn’t expected him to sound so terrible, and she suddenly had no idea what to say.
“I’m going to talk with the doctor,” Ford patted Mabel on the shoulder, glancing at Stan worriedly before exiting the room. Mabel took a seat next to Stan’s bed, biting her nails as she twitched her nose. She could still so clearly remember Bill offering the deal to fix all of this…Mabel shook her head, trying to shove the thoughts of Bill away. He didn’t help, he made things worse…
When Ford came back into the room a long time later, Stan shallowly snoring in his bed, Mabel turned around to greet him, but the words got caught in her throat as she caught sight of his face. He had faint tear stains on his cheeks and was terribly pale, and the smell of cigarette smoke clung to his clothes.
“Grunkle Ford?” Mabel asked with big eyes as Ford rubbed his temples. He only made it about thirty seconds before nearly tackling Mabel into a hug, which she worriedly returned. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“The doctors….they don’t think…” Ford shook his head, letting Mabel go and grabbing onto her hands. “…Stanley is really sick…and really hurt…and th-they don’t think he’s…he’s going to make it much longer. He thinks we should start…considering the fact that…th-that Stanley is going to…”
Mabel gasped, heart stopping in her chest as Ford’s words sunk in. They didn’t think Stan was going to make it. What if he never saw another sunrise, or drank a Pitt cola, or got to go out on the Stan-O-War II? What if he never remembered what it felt like running through the sand on Glass Shard Beach, or holding her and Dipper when they were babies, or practically raising her as she came back every summer? Mabel looked from the sickly, pale face of Stan to the tear-filled eyes of Ford. There was no point in wishing there was something she could do, because she had something, even if it was a bad idea. She had one last try to fix everything.
“Grunkle Ford, please don’t cry, I’ll be right back,” Mabel promised, giving Ford a quick hug. He looked at her worriedly, opening his mouth to say something, but he didn’t have time as Mabel ran out of the room. She raced down the hall of the hospital, rushed through the front doors, and looked around hurriedly. If she was going to do this, she’d have to do it now.
It didn’t take long to get everything she needed, and it took even less time to get where she wanted to go. She wasn’t really sure why she chose this spot to do it – it’s not like she was expecting anything to be there.
Sure enough, when she reached the grassy clearing in the woods, she wasn’t surprised to see the statue was gone, and she vaguely wondered how he had gotten set free. She sat down in the grass, pulling Journal 2 out of her backpack, and flipped it open to the page on Bill Cipher.
Even if Stan wouldn’t want this, this was the only option they had left.