The Things We Leave Behind (Gravity Falls Fic)

Chapter 44: Closed For Repair (part 1)

**BASED OFF OF Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons (S2, E13)**

Saige's POV:

My gaze was settled outside the Shack's kitchen window at the dense trees and thick forest beyond, listening to the soft bubble of the coffee machine as it did its job, the only person in the building that was awake. Unless Ford was awake in his lab, but if that was the case, I couldn't hear him.

The kids - Cassie, Mabel, Grenda, and Dipper - were all passed out cold in the attic when I last checked on them. The twins had invited Cass over for a slumber party, and I had come over to "chaperone." At least, that's what I told Stan. Truth was, I was afraid to be on my own in the empty cabin again. So I came over here and slept on the couch like a coward.

With a soft sigh, I propped my head up via an elbow on the counter and my chin resting on the heel of my palm, wondering at which point I became so dependent on company, when only a few years back I would have given anything to be alone.

The sound of Ford opening the kitchen door startles me, the creak of the hinges shattering the quiet like a sledgehammer on a mirror, cracking my reflections and forcing me to look away. He greets me with a weary and slightly confused stare, "Oh, um... Saige, is it? I didn't know you were here."

I run a hand through my messy, tangled hair and turn to him, awkwardly, still unsure how to talk to him, "Y-yeah, I came to... watch the kids. I was the first one up and thought I'd make some coffee... I didn't wake you, did I?"

He shakes his head, sitting down in one of the old wooden chairs by the dining table, "No, no, I set an alarm so I can come up here when no one else is around. But I suppose that backfired."

"Oh... sorry," I apologize, although I'm not sure why I was sorry, and then I clear my throat, heading to the coffee machine, "Would you like some warm, brown liquid that is primarily caffeine?"

He chuckles quietly, "That would be great, thanks. And then I should get back to work."

I fix him a cup and then slide it across the table top to him and then prepare myself some, stirring in the creamer and the sugar until the beverage was a nice, light, cacao color.

"I heard about your friends, and what you did for them..." Ford says to my back suddenly, "I didn't know you were-"

"-not from around here," I interrupt, finishing for him, turning around with the mug in my hands and leaning against the counter's edge, "What about it?"

He leans back in the chair slightly, "Well, you may not have noticed, but I kind of have a bit of a fascination with that sort of thing. I was also trapped in another dimension for an extensive period of time, so you can imagine my interest in your experiences."

I hold off on correcting his use of the term dimension as I wasn't quite sure if he was wrong or not. I hadn't looked into his science yet so I wasn't certain if he actually went to a different dimension or a different universe or what, so instead I say, "My experiences... Like which ones? What do you want to know?"

"Like how do you open and close a portal so easily without any consequences?" He asks, "We can start there."

I set the mug on the counter beside me, responding with a single word, "Magic."

His eyes widen slightly, "Can you really use magic?"

"Yes," I respond, quietly, "Not well, but... who else do you know that can use magic? Well, actually, you probably know quite a few people... Point is is that's how I do it. And there aren't many else who can do it the way I do it."