Little Dipper

Hit

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel cried as she ran into the hospital with Gideon.

"Are you Mabel Pines?" A nurse asked.

"Yes, I'm Mabel Pines! Is my uncle okay?" Mabel asked.

"He's in the OR right now, can you sit and wait here?" The nurse asked.

"O-Okay." Mabel nodded.

"We'll call you when he's out." The nurse promised.

"Come on, over here." Gideon said, leading her to where McGucket was talking to Blubs and Durland, himself covered in more bandages than usual. "Mr. McGucket, did you see who hit you?"

"Well, I didn't get a good luck at the drivers, but Stan did!" McGucket admitted. "He saw them and started to panic, started going different ways to try to shake 'em! And they just kept drivin' after us! Then, when we thought we lost them, BAM, they hit us on the driver's side! Then they backed up and started to do it again, so I climbed over, slammed my foot on the gas pedal and got us out of there! We ended up stopping with half our car hood in the lake and no sign of the other car! My boy Tate called 911 while I used my Gobblewonker-bot to get the car out of the water!"

"Gideon, do you think you could help us identify the driver?" Blubs asked him.

"Stan's in the OR, I'll have to work with McGucket's memories." Gideon raised a hand up. "May I?"

"Well, sure, if you can find it!" McGucket shrugged. "My brain's a bit scrambled, y'see!"

Gideon placed his hand on McGucket's head, focused his powers. The amulet gently glowed as he worker, and the cops turned to Mabel. "We best let him work. Where's your brother?"

"He's with Bill." Mabel grabbed a lock of her hair and ran her fingers through it anxiously. "Officers, was...was it bad? Is he okay?"

"I'm not gonna lie to you, he wasn't pretty." Blubs admitted. "We'll just have to hope the hospital can help him."

The door opened and Bill came in with Dipper. "We're here, Shooting Star. Is Stan alright?" He walked over to her and set Dipper down.

"He's in the OR." Mabel's eyes started to water up. "Oh, Bill...what if he doesn't make it?"

"He'll make it." Bill pulled her close. "He's gonna make it, don't worry. You know Stan, this stuff can't beat him. He's too strong for that."

"B-But, Officer Blubs said it was...was bad." Mabel clung to him.

"Is Grunkle Stan going to die?" Dipper asked, tears forming in his eyes.

The nurse came out. "Mabel Pines?"

"Yes?" Mabel looked over.

"Your uncle's been moved out of the OR. Would you like to see him?" She asked kindly.

"Yes, please!" Mabel turned to Blubs. "Uhm, could you let Gideon know--"

"I will, go on." Blubs nodded.

"Come on, Star." Bill offered her a hand.

"Are you family?" The nurse asked him.

"Practically. I'm a family friend, he left these kids in my care." Bill told her.

"Alright, come along." She nodded and motioned for them to follow her.

–

Stan was lying in bed, all sorts of tubes and wires hooked up to him and bandages all over his body. He was unconscious, but alive. Mabel walked over and gingerly took his hand as Bill hung back to talk to the nurse.

"At this point, we don't know when he's going to wake up. The car took a massive hit, the other driver must've been in a much bigger vehicle." The nurse said, watching Dipper go over to join Mabel. "He was bleeding pretty bad, and it's likely got some major brain damage. His body will heal, but I'm not sure when he's going to wake up."

"Thank you." Bill walked over to Stan, looking down at him. "Stan...who did this to you?" He murmured. "We need you to wake up and tell us."

Gideon came to the door with another nurse. "McGucket didn't have enough to work with. All I got was a name, 'Rico'."

"Rico?" Mabel frowned.

"Someone Stanford knew, apparently." Gideon walked over to him. "I don't detect any thoughts from him."

Bill looked at the nurses. "Can we have some time alone?"

"Sure."
"Of course."

They left and closed the door behind them. Bill placed a hand on Stan's head. "We're going in."

"What?" Mabel frowned.

"Uh, how?" Gideon asked.

"I'm taking us in. I'm a Mind Demon, remember? I think that Stan is withdrawing in himself, and the only way to both wake him up and find out who hit him is to go in his mind." Bill looked at them. "Are you all with me?"

They nodded. Bill nodded and held out his other hand. "Everyone, grab my hand. We're going in."

"How long will this take?" Gideon asked.

"As long as it has to. Come on." Bill nodded.

"Alright." Gideon grabbed his hand. Mabel and Dipper did the same.

"Alright, then. Hang on." Bill focused on Stan and chanted to himself before they started to glow and the next thing they knew they were in a monochrome space, outside the Mystery Shack. There was a broken swing-set nearby and the Shack looked damaged.

"Where are we?" Mabel asked.

"We're in Stan's mind." Bill replied. "Come on, the memories will be inside."

They nodded and followed him in. There were doors everywhere and bats flying around with Stan's head. "Heh, there's bats in his belfry." Bill remarked as they saw one fly by.

"Let's find the memories." Gideon walked on. "Where would Rico be..."

"Maybe Regrets?" Bill shrugged.

"Maybe." Mabel sighed. "I just wanna find Stan..."

"That might be easier than finding the memory. A mind-form feels differently from a memory, so I can track him down." Bill assured her.

Dipper walked over to a door. "I wanna open this one."

Bill walked over and opened it. "Alright, what's in here?"

It looked like Stan was in prison, orange jumpsuit and everything, he was talking with his cellmates. Bill listened closely and gasped. "Gideon, found him!"

"You found Stan?" Mabel asked, coming over.

"No, I found Rico." Bill pointed at the memory. "He was someone Stan knew from Columbia prison."

"Must've known him longer than that, McGucket's memory had Stanford looking pretty terrified." Gideon walked over to look at the memory. "I'll keep an eye out for other memories with this guy, try to figure out what their connection is."

"Good idea." Bill nodded. "I guess I'll locate his mind-form and see if he'll answer some questions. Let's split up. Shooting Star, you go with Gideon." He grabbed Dipper's hand and led him away.

"Be careful, minds are tricky things." Gideon said as they walked away.

"Hah! You know who you're talking to?" Bill asked. "You be careful, too!"