She was heavily breathing as she adjusted her gaze to her surroundings. She became aware that she was in Ford's room and in his bed. The dark, heavy curtains draped over the windows, preventing any light from entering. Despite the darkness, she could see that Ford's room was completely cluttered, as one would expect from someone like him. He used to be very organized, but due to the portal project, he became so engrossed in his various tasks that he neglected to clean. He can remember where he had placed a specific item the previous time.

Y/n was curious as to how long she had been sleeping. The last thing she remembered was doing the test with Ford and F, but she had no idea if it had been successful because her memory had become hazy since then. She didn't want to think about it anymore because her mind always went blank when she tried to recall that moment.

She tried to search for a nearby calendar, or anything. Is Ford still even in Gravity Falls? He wasn't here when she woke up. Was the portal test successful and he's already on his way to tell the world about his groundbreaking theory? Did he just up and leave without waking her up or saying goodbye?

Finally standing up from the bed, she told her quick-beating heart that no, he couldn't do that. He wouldn't just throw away all their time together. She could deduce from the faint light seeping in through the curtains that it's day outside, but she still couldn't tell what day it was since the test.

Still, she remembered that her birthday was a week after the test. She was about to turn thirteen. She may already be thirteen now or even older. But it wouldn't be a birthday without celebrating it with her closest friend.

She slowly pushed open the door and took a look around. The corridors were dark, and it appeared that the room across from her was unoccupied and basically abandoned. She assumed F had left once the portal test was completed. She frowned at the prospect of not being able to celebrate the achievement with the two of them, but her heart was filled with hope at the prospect of Ford and F reuniting as close classmates.

"Ford?" she called out to nothing. She wanted to give it a try, maybe he'd shout back.

Y/n walked out to the living room, and it had changed drastically. Gone were the stacks of calculations and blueprints of the portal. The floor was bare, but there was still the occasional dust and dirt, hinting that the room wasn't cleaned for months now. She couldn't even remember the last time anyone cleaned this place. Walking to the kitchen, she was surprised to see so many coffee pots and mugs. What was he doing with this much coffee? Is he pushing himself over a new project again?

"Ford!" she shouted again. "It's my birthday! I don't know if it still is, but we can still celebrate! A belated birthday party or something!" Where is he?

Perhaps he was in the portal room? She retraced her steps and found herself in the elevator; she remembered riding this thing up and down all the time, with the shrunken up portal parts. The height-changing crystal had its advantages. She stepped inside the elevator, which opened to a dark hallway. The portal remained intact. The surveillance room remained. There had been no change.

He wasn't in the upper ground, attic, or portal room, either. So she went to the only other location she knew he'd be.

Returning to the elevator, she pressed the number two button, and the mechanism lifted her up to the second level of the basement's second level. The elevator door opened. It was red and gold, and when she touched the knob, it was cold.

"Ford? " she said as she entered the dimly lit room. She noticed Ford slouched on the chair in one corner, which was surrounded by candles. He appeared to be writing something with zeal. "Ford! It's my- birthday..." she'd trailed off when she heard him mumble incoherently.

She walked close enough that he didn't even notice her. She only realized his appearance when she looked closer. His hair was unkempt, his eyes were so red they could have passed for black eyes, and his clothes were a mess. She could tell he'd grown some facial hair. She had just noticed him frantically writing with a black light as his light source.

"Ford?"

***

∆ PLAY THEME SONG ∆

https://youtu.be/X2DUpDxFJyg

***

The sudden sound of her voice startled him. He immediately slammed his journal shut and turned off the black light. "Y/n! " He was overjoyed when he saw her. For weeks, the only thing that kept him sane was attempting to care for this little girl when he couldn't even care for himself. "You're awake! I didn't see you come in."

"Yeah, but how long was I-"

It happened too quickly for her to blink. Ford suddenly craned her neck and flashed her a harsh light. He spread her eyelids apart with his other hand to get a better look at her pupils. "What are you doing?! " she said. The bright light blinded her, but it did not harm her eyes.

"I apologize for my outburst," Ford replied as he let her go. "I was just making sure..." he cleared his throat.

"Making sure of what?"

"That you were safe. And you are," he averted his gaze as he adjusted the collars of his coat. "I'm also glad that you are doing fine."

She tilted her head in perplexity, but she decided to ignore it. "How long have I been gone? "

"It's been... a couple of weeks." He couldn't tell either. "Almost a month." He hadn't been out in the sun in a long time. He had to constantly check behind his back the last time he went out for food to see if anyone was after him. He's seen mysterious men in cloaks with a crossed-out eye symbol. And he couldn't seem to get this monster out of his thoughts..

Ford has been left alone to fight his battles for the month that Y/n has been sleeping. But he believes he deserved it because he put himself in this situation in the first place. It was his fault that he shook Bill's stupid hand. As a result, he had to train himself not to fall asleep, and if drinking coffee wasn't enough, he'd splash himself with hot water. He'll go to any length to keep Bill out of his head.

And if he ever passed out and Bill took control of him for a night, he wouldn't remember it because Bill can also corrupt his dreams and manipulate his thoughts.

He had to cling to Y/n. She not only keeps him sane, but she is the only other person he can trust. He had to keep his guard up, though. Bill could still be lurking around without his knowledge. "Y/n, I'm sure you know a thing or two about ciphers."

She does, but she was still puzzled as Ford scribbled something on a piece of scrap paper. When he showed her a word jumble, she immediately deduced that it was a Caesar cipher because the first three letters wouldn't make sense as an Atbash code.

L kdyh wr klgh doo pb uhvhdufk.

"What?" She was confused. Why did he have to hide his research? "What exactly is going on?"

"It's hard to explain, but I have made a grave mistake and I can't turn back now. F was right and I was a fool."

"Oh, speaking of F, where is he? Was the portal test a success?"

She shouldn't have asked because something had changed in Ford's eyes. A dark shadow had fallen over him, and he couldn't speak. She had no recollection of anything? Ford had deliberated internally. It had to be a side effect of entering the portal.

"He... had to leave due to a family emergency. His wife became ill..."

Y/n didn't want to probe any further because F's departure could have been a sensitive subject for Ford to discuss. Maybe they had a fight before he left?

"Anyway, here are the additional pages from my journals. Keep it hidden and don't show it to anyone else. I have already hidden the second and third books," he said as he paced back and forth, brows furrowed in concern.

She looked down at the ripped papers that had been handed to her. They were crammed with notes and codes that she would have to decipher later. "How about Journal 1?"

He paused for a moment, debating whether this was the right decision, but he had no other option. "I'm going to make a postcard."

That was an unusual plan, but she remained silent as she followed Ford back to the elevator and pressed the button. She kept looking up at her friend the entire way to the higher ground. What had happened in the weeks she had been sleeping for him to act this way? He's becoming increasingly paranoid and cautious, his hands jittery like F when exploring outside.

Ford must have gone through those trials, and Y/n felt sick at the thought of him going through them alone while she slept. He must have gone insane now that Fiddleford was gone as well.

The elevator door opened, and they were now in the living room. "Hey, Ford," she said. "It appears that you are forgetting something..."

Ford grumbled before saying, "what did I forget?"

"Something important..." She let a smile stretch her lips.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he replied, rummaging through his bags until he found it. A Gravity Falls postcard, untouched and still in mint condition. "Gotcha," he said, quickly pulling a pen from his pocket and placing it on a clean surface - a tiny free space on his living room work table.

Before he began formulating for something to say, Y/n popped in his vision. "Ford! It's my birthday! I'm thirteen now!"

"Oh, yes. Happy birthday, Y/n," he blindly reached over and nonchalantly ruffled her hair like he always did. That never changed and that made her smile. He was still himself.

Ford focused his attention on the back of the postcard. He had just written his full name and address, and now he was writing the name of his intended recipient. He hadn't heard that name in years. He can't deny that this guy has been bothering him since that fateful day. Below that name was an address provided by his mother, whom he had called a few days before. He lives there, she told him.

At first, he was really considering giving the third journal to Y/n, but he knew she couldn't leave Gravity Falls because of its weird law of magnetism. He wanted to get rid of these journals. They were too valuable to destroy, but the information contained inside is too dangerous.

And, ironically, the only other person he can trust to do the job (which is to get as far away as possible and bury it somewhere no one can find it) is the least trustworthy person he knows. When Ford thinks of S, he thinks of a thief and a charlatan, to name a few adjectives. But he decided to give him another chance at redemption. Perhaps he can still prove his worth to Ford.

There was a blank space beside the names and addresses where he could write whatever he wanted. Ford had so much to say, but the moment the tip of his ballpoint pen touched the paper, he retracted as he sighed quietly.

He looked up at Y/n, who was keeping a close eye on him. "Can you find me some paper?"

"Um, okay," she said awkwardly before proceeding to scout the entire living room. She found an unused table napkin from the diner and handed it to him after a minute. The last time they went to the diner, it was to celebrate the completion of the portal. "You don't have a lot of spare paper in your pockets for someone who writes a lot."

"Maybe because I ran out of paper writing a lot," Ford replied, eliciting a small laugh from Y/n. He didn't give her a single glance the entire time he was working on the portal, except when she needed her for something. They didn't make small talk because their sole focus was on completing the portal. Everything had truly changed.

Ford wrote down on the napkin until there were no more blank spaces. He took a deep breath before writing on the postcard. "Please... come... Ford..." he said aloud as he scrawled the words in big, bold letters. "How about that?"

"I couldn't have written it any better myself!" Y/n remarked, albeit sarcastically. "Perhaps use an exclamation point instead of a period. To make it sound more urgent, you know?"

He stroked one long line on top of the dot. "Like that?"

"Yeah..." she nodded approvingly.

"Okay, right after I put this in the mailbox, I have to go back and hide the rest of my research," Ford said as he marched to the front door.

Y/n stepped beside him. "Ooh! Can I come with you?"

"No!" he exclaimed. "It's too... risky. I can't let you near them. It's fortunate that I saw you or you would've seen..." Ford trailed off, remembering the... items. Why did he even buy them in the first place?

Him suddenly staring off into space had suddenly worried her. "See what?" she asked, but he didn't answer. "Ford, tell me!"

"Y/n, I... I can't-"

"Don't lie to me! You've been hiding stuff from me for a long time now and I've actually gotten sick of it," she said as she crossed her arms. "I've been here ever since you came here, Ford, and for years! We've been there for each other, relying on one another. What made you stop? Out of everyone, don't I deserve the truth?"

It seemed that her reasoning had fallen on deaf ears. "Y/n, you don't understand. I was just-"

"Maybe I do!" Y/n countered. "This is about that dream demon, isn't it? I don't even know his name, but I've seen-"

"Y/n, keep your voice down, shh!"

"I've seen what he did to you. He'd been controlling you, helping you with the portal-"

"And he manipulated me!" Ford shouted in the same tone as her. "I was a fool, blinded by all his flattery and games! He was the one who proposed the portal gateway to me. I trusted him so foolishly, and now look at what happened." his voice dropped into a low sound. "These voices in my head could not go away. I always have to look over my shoulder to see if someone's watching me. Now I have to watch your back too. I have to protect you, Y/n, because I know that this is all my fault. None of this would have happened if I hadn't shaken that hand."

Ford had collapsed in his chair, placing his head on his hands as he let out a heavy sight.

"Hey," she said as she approached him. "You're not alone in this. You'll always have me." she frowned a bit. She hasn't been fulfilling that promise, but she's willing to prove that to him. "Well, hey, if you want me to blame you or something, guess I have to blame you for one other thing."

"What is it?"

"You found me and gave me a home," she replied, shrugging. "Because of you, you're stuck with me forever and you will have no choice. No take-backsies!"

At that, she drew him to a tight embrace, eliciting a light chuckle from him. She'll take a small laugh. At least he smiled. She pulled back and expected the smile to still be there, but he was looking directly at her eyes, her pupils.

"Well, come on Ford! It's still my birthday! We gotta go celebrate with food in Greasy's just like we always do!"

Ford was quickly back to frowning, "Y/n... we can't. We can't go outside. It's-"

"Dangerous? Yeah, I know. Figured you would say that. That is why I remembered ripping this number off the poster from that wall. Call for a delivery service!"

He was still unsure, but he was also getting hungry. Although his paranoia was causing him to imagine a slew of bad outcomes from this delivery service, he also had to consider Y/n's health.

After a half-hour of calling and waiting on the old-fashioned phone, the food arrived on the porch. But before Y/n could open the door, Ford drew her close to him, pushed her back into her seat, and shielded her with his arm. He shushed her and reached for the crossbow, despite her protests. When on earth did he get a crossbow?

"Ford!" she harshly whispered, but Ford ignored her, tip-toeing as he sternly placed a finger to his lips as if signaling her to remain silent.

Another set of knocks were heard and a voice from outside said, "delivery from the Greasy's Diner!"

Ford waited for a second, subtly clearing his throat before gruffly shouting, "Leave it by the door!"

The other side was silent for a moment. "Uh, sir? What about the payment?"

He slipped a fifty dollar bill on the small space under the wooden door. "Keep the change and scram!"

"Sheesh, fine." the voice spoke before leaving. It was clearly a teenage boy from his sarcastic remarks. Ford listened intently on the fading footsteps. Eventually, he opened the door slightly ajar before snatching the paper bag from the wooden porch. Y/n had caught a glimpse of the door that had a sign that said, "No Trespassing!" she felt really bad for him.

Ford inspected the bag thoroughly, looking for some explosives or something. Everything he was doing was making her kind of annoyed. This is ridiculous. "Is it safe now?"

"Yes." he looked so serious, before retrieving a small cupcake from his hand. The design was clearly a flower, with white frosted petals and a yellow fondant for the bud. A daisy. "Huh, it matches your necklace."

Instinctively, Y/n reached to her collarbone where her necklace had rested. The medium-sized daisy pendant was still there and suddenly, she was taken back to the time Ford had bought this for her. She wanted to go back.

She gratefully took the cupcake from him, and Ford rummaged through the paper bag some more until he took out two candles that looked like the number 1 and 3. Looking at the size of the candles made Y/n laugh, as Ford realized that it wouldn't even fit the small cake.

He grumbled at the diner's incompetence and stupidity as he placed the candles upright on the table and retrieving matches before lighting it up. Y/n looked at the glowing candles in joy as she carefully carried the cupcake.

She looked up at him expectantly. Ford sighed before smiling a little. "Happy birthday to you~"

It was a short tune, but it still made her happy.

Closing her eyes, she made a wish. She might be an "official teen" and she shouldn't be doing childish stuff anymore, but there's really no harm in wishing. She blew out the candle as Ford smiled at her before stopping momentarily. He looked directly in her eyes again. "I have to go and hide my research. I'm downstairs if you need me. Meanwhile, enjoy your birthday, Y/n," he said, patting her hair comfortingly.

She helplessly watched as Ford retreated to the elevator and then he was gone. She bit her lip, fiddled with her fingers as she looked down. She watched one of the candles, the number 3, tumble down. She sighed, taking the daisy cupcake.

"Happy birthday to me."

***

The next few days, Y/n awoke with a start. She had wanted to take the couch for the night, but seeing the stacks of books laid there, she was too lazy to pick it up and clean it, so she just settled on Ford's bed. He insisted he stay on the second level of the basement, as he was still not done removing some of his important research.

She made a beeline towards the kitchen, and she just remembered the numerous unclean mugs that just laid in the sink. She groaned as she had no choice but to clean up one of the mugs if she wanted to enjoy coffee. It had been weeks since she had one, and they ran out of tea which was unfortunate.

The coffee she had was bland, while Ford had... nothing. After countless hours of persisting, she finally convinced him to come up for some natural sunlight, but it wouldn't even matter since it had begun SNOWING! HARD!

"Ford? Wanna make us some hot cocoa? You know, like you always do every snow day?" She asked the man constantly pacing around the living room. She tried but clearly, it didn't work. They didn't even have enough ingredients to make one cup of hot cocoa.

Ford was too busy thinking about - well - everything. He felt like the whole word lies on his shoulders, or, the shoulders of his twin brother. He wanted to write his thoughts, but his journals were hidden now, and he had nothing else to do but wait for S.

Y/n quietly watched him. She couldn't even get through to him. Every word she said just fell on deaf ears. He might just punch a hole on the floorboards from pacing too much. If he looked bad yesterday, he just looked worse now.

"I'm going to your room."

She left Ford to his devices as she reached the bedroom door. She turned it over and pushed it open, revealing the mess and where they would usually be. The prism placed on the table, the pile of books on the chair, Ford's shelf of achievements, and who could forget about Experiment 78? The electric blue carpet that switches your body with someone after creating enough friction. She remembered her and Ford switching conscience and then immediately switching back because it had felt so uncomfortable. Seeing herself from a taller perspective, and just seeing her actual self not from a mirror and having a voice of a young man is very off-putting to say the least. Getting to actually feel physical pain was a state that she didn't want to be in and it had gotten her to be thankful, while Ford just got up and took every chance he got to hurt himself. That was an experience.

Y/n heard a knock on the front door but did not go up to answer it. Ford would deal with it with his trusty crossbow. He wouldn't even trust her near the front door in the first place. She'll only come out to help if he screams for it.

Ford had been a constant source of concern for her. Heck, she's been worried about the portal since its inception. She'd just learned that the dream demon was the mastermind behind Ford's decision to build it in the first place. Why had she never heard of him? Ford never even gave it a name. Was it a name that should never be spoken aloud? Is the demon always present in this world, or does he need to be summoned? If it's the former, how come she's never met him? How did it target only Ford? So many questions, but none of them are answered.

When she remembered how Ford had looked into her eyes, she frowned. It was neither fond nor amused. He just kept staring. Was it a test to see if she had demon eyes? To see if he was possessing her now?

All of her thoughts made her shiver, or was it just that it was getting extremely cold around here? After all, it was snowing heavily.

From the outside of the room, she could hear loud voices. That must be S that Ford has been mentioning. Speaking of S, was he Ford's brother that was in his stories? They haven't seen each other for years now, and she wondered how they would react to seeing each other again.

Suddenly, the ground shook. It didn't feel like a natural earthquake, so her mind boggled into an immediate panic when she realized that it was the portal opening up. The portal!

As she rushed for the elevator, she was lifted off the ground slightly. Y/n frantically pressed the buttons until she reached the final level. When the door opened, she plunged forward until she reached the portal room's wall opening.

The portal had emitted a bright light that temporarily blinded her. "AH! "

The light dissipated and the noise became a long hum, and a man was laying on the ground. He sat up after a moment. "Stanford?" Stanford? A pair of glasses landed on the ground. "Stanford, come back! I-I didn't mean it!" He dashed to the portal and banged on the metal but nothing happened.

Y/n stood motionless beside the machines. Everything was shutting down, the lights were turned off.

"I just got him back- I can't lose him again!" The man begged, forcing all his might to pull the lever. "STANFORD!" he screamed into the empty portal, but no one screamed back. Not another response, just empty nothingness.

Finally, with shaky breaths, Y/n let herself known, stepping inside. "Ford is... gone?"

The man stood up after stopping sobbing and was surprised to see a child standing there. He stood frozen. "Oh no, I just murdered this child's father!" I hadn't even considered Sixer having a daughter, but-"

"Woah, woah! No. I'm... just his close friend. But where is he? Where did he go?"

"Kid, I don't know! We were fighting, and I accidentally pushed him into the portal. My brother's gonna die and it's all my fault! This is why I'm the dumb twin."

In that moment, Y/n realized that she had to act strong for the both of them, which should be the opposite considering he is twice her age. "I... never knew you were twins."

"Huh," he looked at her apprehensively. "Ford didn't tell you anything about me, did he? That's expected."

"No, no. We did talk about our families when we got stuck into the bottomless pit. Well, it's funny because I never had a family. Never had parents."

"Oh, sorry kid-"

She frantically waved her hands, "no! I- well, biologically - never had parents. Weird, huh? Heh, welcome to Gravity Falls," she said, and when he didn't say anything, she continued, "Anyway, Ford did tell me about how he didn't get to his dream school but he still worked twice as hard... but he didn't mention any names. He just refers to you as "my brother" or S... I'm sorry." she didn't have to include other nicknames such as 'knucklehead of a brother', 'bonehead', 'dumb brother', 'idiot'...

"It's alright," he replied. "Well, what's your name, kid?"

"You can call me Y/n... and if he's Stanford, then you're...?"

"Stanley. My dad wasn't all that creative."

She chuckled a bit. "I see,"

Stan smiled before looking back up at the portal that was turned off. His frown returned. "I'm guessing you've worked with Ford? Is he gonna be alright in there?"

"Uhm..." Y/n was really unsure. "That portal leads to multiple dimensions, but I'm sure Ford could handle himself. He's the smartest guy I know."

"Me too."

"But we can still get him back!" she encouraged him before walking back to the surveillance room.

"We do?" Stan's eyes lit up a bit, "Tell me, let's do it! Let's bring him back."

"Uh, okay. So, you see... I only really helped with coding and some of the calculations; the physics, the environment... But uh, F and Ford really did the mechanics and the materials and the whole rest of the scientific formulas. The blueprint is written in the journals."

Stan picked up Journal 1 from the ground. "Oh boy, and I almost burned this... I'm such an idiot."

Y/n's eyes widened slightly in fear, but she said nothing. This guy was about to wipe out all of her and Ford's research. Perhaps that was the source of their conflict? Stan approached her as she pushed certain numbers. Eventually, the backup generator kicked in and everything came back to life.

He flipped through the pages of the journal until he came to a specific page. "There." Clearly, the blueprint for the portal takes up one-third of the first journal. "Uh... the other two journals have the rest."

"Where are the other two journals?"

"I'm not sure. Ford had them hidden somewhere, but he didn't tell me where. He hid almost all of his research except for a few extra pages he left for me, but I'm not sure if it'll be useful-"

"Go get it. We need every information we can get. I just want him back."

Y/n wanted him back as well, but she's worried that having just one journal will get them nowhere because the portal requires all three journals. But Stan's determination persuaded her, and she resolved to assist him. It felt a little like a sense of deja vu.

Y/n wanted to go upstairs and just get out of the portal room for a while. That room makes her feel uneasy in some way. And Stan, even though he had proven to her that he was harmless, it was difficult to believe that Ford had vanished and that he looked so much like him. Except for the glasses.

She decided to clean the untidy living room to distract herself. Stan, she knew no haste, would almost certainly stay in the lab because the rebuilding would take a long time. She sighed and tossed all the trash into the garbage bag. She went into her room and took out a spare pillow, which she placed on the couch. Speaking of her room, she needed to clean it as well.

She suddenly heard loud whirring noises and before she knew it, she was already down the elevator again. She even tripped her way through the halls that she would've scraped her chin but she was unhurt and unfazed, since one of her abilities is invulnerability. "What happened?" Oh, no. Is he gone, too?

But Stan was still standing there, looking up to the portal. He was unharmed, but unfortunately, the generator must have lost all the power.

"What happened?" she asked again, slightly upset.

"I wanted to try something-"

"Well, you clearly did something!"

"You do it then! We both know you're smarter than us! I'm always the dumb one, I always screw things up! So just do your thing and get my brother back! Please!"

Y/n crossed her arms, unimpressed. "Flattery will get you nowhere, you know." He didn't respond, prompting her to continue, "and like I told you. We can't. Not without those other two journals," she said. "Why don't we sleep it off this one night and think of a game plan tomorrow. I'm sure you're tired from today."

Stan hesitated at first, but eventually compiled. "Hng. Fine," he said before walking past her back to the lift. She sighed deeply before following, not before leaving a glance behind her.

Coming back up, she saw Stan on the couch, sitting somberly. It was still snowing wildly outside, so she made sure to give him extra blankets.

Nonetheless, he had been unable to sleep for several weeks. Y/n was concerned, but who could blame him? She, too, was unable to sleep. Every day, she thought about Ford. She had just returned from weeks of slumber before he was sucked into a portal. But she simply needed to be stronger. For Stan's sake. He just lost his brother after a decade of not seeing each other.

It was countless nights of hard work that brought her back to F and Ford. This time, she was repairing the portal with someone less knowledgeable, but she couldn't refuse Stan's perseverance. While he fixed the lever with a random screwdriver he found, she tried inputting stacks of codes she could barely remember. She gave him a thumbs up after pressing a few buttons. Stan yanked on the lever once more. The portal emitted a few sparks before dying again.

Stan slouched against the lever, reminding her of Ford once more. Stan had been a constant reminder of who she had lost for the past few days. Their demeanors are nearly identical, as is their vocabulary, and they share the same facial features (especially the nose). When it came to differences, Y/n noticed that they had different types of smarts. Stan possessed street smarts, whereas Ford possessed book smarts.

She glanced at the table filled with papers of cracking codes and other notes. She had already figured out codes she was familiar with, but it is a known fact that the portal wouldn't work without the other two journals. It was hopeless.

***

"Say, kid, you got any money?" Stan asked one day.

"What? No."

"Well, we're gonna die of hunger if we don't buy any food soon. We just ran out."

Y/n huffed, "don't you have a business? No earnings?"

"Ya think this mullet earned any money?" Stan pointed at his long hair, making her deadpan. He gruffed. "Be right back. Gotta go buy something. Guard the house for me."

She rolled her eyes. He annoys her sometimes.

After nearly an hour, Y/n found herself wanting to brew a cup of tea, only to discover that they had run out. They also ran out of coffee. She groaned slightly in unpleasantness, and her stomach rumbled as well. When will Stan be back?

Finally, she heard the door being burst open. "Step right up, folks! On a world of mystery or- whatever."

Her footsteps lead to the other room, where Stan walked inside followed by many people in tow. "Wha- Stan!"

"That's Uncle Stan to you, y-young lady!"

She didn't know what came over him as questions marks sprouted above her head. With his sweat trickling down his face and his fake smile, he was clearly posing as her so-called uncle, but she's not about to call him that.

From her observation, these people have dollar bills in their hands, looking curious and excited. Stan was obviously putting on some sort of act as a tour guide of... the lab?

"Oh, yeah!" one of the people in the crowd had expressed. "I forgot this man had a little girl. Never knew she was his niece," he said, and Y/n figured that they were talking about her and Ford.

"What's your name, little girl?" The woman up front asked her. Y/n glanced at Stan and he signaled that she had to play along, making her sigh internally.

"You can call me Y/n," she said. With her quick wit, she added, "I'm not his niece, I'm just a family friend. We're totally not related, but I just call him Uncle out of respect and tradition."

The people crowded her with intrigue. "What a nice, young lady!"

"Even though you're unrelated, you must be as smart as him! Him being obsessed with spooky inventions and stuff."

"Uh-" she stuttered. "Yeah-!"

"Speaking of which, we have an invention right here!" Stan cut off, and she was thankful. It was getting suffocating. "Behold: The- uh- Nerdy... Science... Box."

Y/n wanted to facepalm at that point. Couldn't Stan come up with a more believable name? It was just a simple transmitter, but she realized at the same time that the townsfolk are far too stupid for their own good. She'd known for years that the townspeople were unaware of their surroundings, because if they weren't, the mysteries of Gravity Falls would've been revealed to the world by now. She guessed they liked the peace and quiet of the place.

Susan, the daughter of the owner of Greasy's Diner, leaned down to take a closer look at the transponder. Oh, she wouldn't do that if Y/n was her...

One of the antennas had produced a string of electricity that sparked until it spat out in her eye. "Ow!" she yelled in surprise. "My eye!" Her left eye had gotten unresponsive, paralyzed.

"Uh- I can assure you; that is, in no way, permanent," Stan nervously assured.

"I paid fifteen dollars for this?!" Susan yelled angrily, and the townspeople followed, shouting their own thoughts, which jumbled into this incoherent mess.

Stan had to look for a way to resolve this. "You're lucky you weren't part of the last tour group!" he said, quickly dressing the nearest skeleton with his clothes from his opened briefcase. Y/n grimaced at the neon-colored pineapple shirt. "They never made it out aliveee!" Stan creepily wriggled his fingers.

Everyone had gotten silent, until they burst into laughter. "That's funny," Susan remarked, pointing a telling finger with her other hand on her hips.

Y/n couldn't believe how easily they handed over their money to Stan — well, she could, actually. She thought it was hilarious how easily they could be duped, and her smile only grew wider when she noticed a sparkle in Stan's eye. They say that when a person is attracted to someone, their pupils dilate, and Stan only proved that he was in love with money.

When the people were completely, Stan stepped forward and raised his palm as he faced her. It was a high-five as F would teach Y/n. But in Ford's case, it was a high-six. With a smile on her face, she raised her own hand and smacked it against Stan.

Y/n stepped back after the elating high-five, but before she could say something, Stan was already looking at her in panic. "Y/n! Your arm!"

"Huh?" the girl questioned, glancing down and seeing the transmitter's antenna continuously buzzing as it produces electricity that can clearly reach her elbow, but she didn't feel anything. "Oh."

Stan only narrowed his eyes in utter confusion. "No offense, but I thought you're human. What are you really?"

"Welp. I am human; I have human blood, human organs, human senses – it's all in Ford's DNA test – but I am kinda invincible... that's my ability."

She was prepared for Stan to feel weirded out by her. He was technically the first man (outside her and Ford) to find out about this – since, well – F would've just freaked out.

"What?!" he exclaimed as he ran his fingers through his dark brown hair. "You could have shown them that instead of this lame trinket!"

"Stan, I'm not letting them treat me like some sort of zoo animal. Besides, they'll... freak out. Please don't tell this to anyone?"

That was one of the first secrets they promised to keep between them. The second was Stan informing her that he had been impersonating Stanford and had been living here since then. She didn't agree at first because they could easily come up with the excuse that Stanley was just visiting his brother and friend in Gravity Falls, but Stan quickly told Y/n that he's been banned in 32 states and imprisoned in a total of three countries.

"You're... you're kidding, right?" Y/n deadpanned.

"Nope. That's what happens when you tryna prove something and want to make a living."

"Just – scamming people, faking identities, committing illegal crimes? Sounds like a dream."

Stan pointed her a bread knife filled with raspberry jam. "Hey, it's only illegal if you get caught! And I'm always one step ahead of the law."

He spread the jelly on the other sandwich before smashing it together and biting off a piece. She inhaled deeply. "Okay. Fine. But I'm not going to call you Ford."

"I wouldn't call me Ford either. Just call me Stan, sweetie."

"Okay..." Y/n trailed off. "But... I apologize for being intrusive, but what about your parents? Wouldn't they come looking for either Stan or Ford and realize that one of them is nowhere to be found?"

Stan swallowed the sandwich before gazing at a distance. That was the same look whenever he had an idea. Sometimes, good, most were bad ones that he'd urge her to join.

"I have a plan."

"Oh, boy."

She should have woken up when Stan barged into her room at midnight, but she was still groggy after a short nap to make up for many sleepless nights spent fixing the portal. This had been a long week of planning for a plan that Y/n didn't even agree on at first.

Faking Stan's death? Seems a bit too far.

She had asked him where the idea had come from. He explained his side, and little by little, Y/n had come to understand. "I mean, I've been changing identities for the past how-many years now, and no one from my family has come to look for me, so what's the difference between killing off this one?"

"Are you sure you're ready for a world without Stanley Pines? It will be really complicated to go through the consequences," she tried to reason.

"Well, there isn't a Stanley Pines without Stanford."

Although his words were sporadic and overly dramatic, Y/n could tell that they were genuine. Stan speaks without even considering his words or how to phrase them; he simply says them. Y/n realized at that moment that Stan had a bigger heart than anyone she'd ever met.

He was a good person, and he had been doing a good job of maintaining the 'mysterious' act with folks, providing tours without Y/n (because she'd just point out the real name of each invention or she'd explode from the amount of loud sounds of stupid chattering).

"Y/n, let's go."

"I'm coming," she replied, standing up from the bed before stretching.

It was cold when she and Stan went out. They walked the whole time until they reached a highway and from a distance, Y/n saw a car on the side of the road.

"Perfect. Just like we discussed," Stan remarked, placing his hand on his hips.

"With whom?"

"Just one of my many connections. I'm not stupid to use my car in this. It's my baby."

She rolled her eyes, walking towards it. "Let's just get this over with."

He unbuckled his backpack and set it down on the ground. They got to work, trying to make the car look as occupied as possible, as if he'd been driving it for years. He had keychains from various states, polaroids of the sea, and the car had been punched and kicked until it had dents. This vehicle screams Stan.

Stan stood there watching as Y/n entered the car. She adjusted her gloves before placing them on the steering wheel, which was already covered in Stan's fingerprints. "Ready to drive this thing?"

Her grip on the wheel tightened. "You never once taught me how to drive."

"And that's exactly what we need," he replied. "A drunk driver."

Y/n deadpanned. "I'm going to let you have your final moments." He was basically killing off his own identity after all. All proof of him being a twin was all kept hidden from anyone who could find out.

She gave him a brief moment of silence. She couldn't see his face above the roof of the car, but she could tell he was crying and didn't want her to see it. Stan closed the door after a brief pause before crouching down to look at her through the window."You ready, kid?"

She nodded, her hands on the steering wheel. "Are you?"

He averted his gaze, but it was no longer melancholy. "The world is ready to say goodbye to Stanley Pines," he said as he stepped aside, and Y/n turned the key forward until she heard the engine roar to life.

Y/n inhaled deeply. Welp, that was the only thing Stan taught her, so she had no idea what she should do next. Because of her short stature, she had to stretch her legs to reach the pedals below her.

She attempted to press the pedal on the far right, but the vehicle did not move. "What..."

"Move the joystick!" Stan shouted over the noise of the engine.

"Joystick?" she wondered aloud. She had to search for the particular item. "Oh, you mean this one?" Y/n reached for the clutch next to her and drew it to the back before stepping on the pedal without thinking. The car abruptly reversed, causing her to scream. She immediately pushed the clutch forward, and the car was moving straight again.

Fortunately, Y/n was a quick thinker. Despite the difficulty of turning the heavy steering wheel, she managed to maintain control of the vehicle. The adrenaline was pumping, but she couldn't scream. She was afraid she was getting too far ahead, so she frantically pushed the other pedal, causing the car to skid off its tracks. As Y/n attempted to maneuver it, the tires squeaked loudly against the road.

She braced herself for the impending impact of a large tree. Her nose collided with the steering wheel as a result of the impact. Glass shards flew everywhere, pricking every inch of her body.

But she didn't feel anything.

Eventually, she heard footsteps and Stan stood beside the car, breathing heavily. "Boy, you were crazy back there! Are you hurt? God, I just realized I made a kid do this!"

"Relax, Stan, I'm already thirteen," she reassured, sweeping away the glass from her arms and face. He winced as she did it so casually. "I'm fine. Come on, let's do the plan!"

Y/n jumped out of the car as Stan pulled out a pair of pliers. He went around the vehicle and cut the brakes. When she pulled out a gallon of gas, the front car was unrecognizable, and the engine was already spewing black smoke.

Stan poured out the rest of the flammable liquid and wiped his wet hands on his shirt when he was done. He took a matchbox from his coat pocket and took a single match before striking it ablaze. "So long," he said, tossing the match inside the car, where the seats were already on fire.

Y/n wanted to watch, but Stan grabbed her wrist and bolted for his life. She caught up to him, and the car behind them had finally exploded, causing strong winds to push them away.

It made a loud boom before falling silent. The two stood there, staring at the still-burning car and the black smoke billowing into the sky.

They were unable to move. Stan was speechless as he imagined what his parents would say after hearing the news. He can already see the headline of the newspaper he'll pick up at the store in the morning.

"Stan?" Y/n spoke up after a brief silence, jolting him out of his reverie and making him look down at her. "I told you there would be consequences. But... I promise I'll be there with you to face them together."

She could see the corner of his lips lift up a bit. "Heh," he said, placing his hand on her hair and scrunching it affectionately, reminding her of someone. "Thanks, kid. Let's go home."

Home. It was the first time that Stan used the word when referring to the lab. The last time she heard that term was when Ford said it, but honestly, no matter who said it, it was music to her ears.

"Okay," she said, smiling. "Let's go." And as the two of them walked away, Stan never looked back.

He never looked back.

***

CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 7!

kimmiepines
originally published: july 19, 2022
7773 words

HGZMULIW KRMVH, NI. NBHGVIB