Gravity Rises (S2)

GL: Part Ten

Three hours, endless dances, and way too much punch later, Mabel sat on the couch (which they'd dragged from the living room to the gift shop) and let out a deep, contented sigh.

The last of the guests had just left the party. Melody was putting her DJ equipment away, and Dipper was gathering up what was left of the food. Mabel had been put in charge of pulling down streamers and bunches of balloons, but she needed a moment to rest first.

The party had been pretty fun. Robbie brought all of his friends who brought all of their friends, so there were a lot of high schoolers, but there were a fair amount of middle schoolers too. Mabel had mostly stayed near Dipper, who was always with Candy and Greyson but also made time for his other guests. At one point, though, Robbie had called her over, and Mabel had actually gotten to dance with teenagers. It was terrifying. And amazing. And exhausting.

"Tuckered out?"

Mabel opened her half-closed eyes to see Ford looking down at her. "Yeah," she said. "I don't know how you guys are still on your feet."

Then again, Ford hadn't done much dancing. Or any, really.

"I'm going to go start cleaning up our ghost mess before Melody sees it. Come find me when you're done in here, alright?"

Mabel was surprised. Based on all the cleaning she and Dipper had done, on top of the work Melody did to keep the Mystery Museum running, she had assumed Ford had never lifted a spray bottle in his life.

"O-oh, um, I made the summoning circle. I can clean it up."

"No, it's alright. Stay in here and help Melody and your brother."

"Okay."

Ford left, and Mabel sat on the couch for a few more minutes before forcing herself to her feet and starting her chore. It was already late, and the clean-up took another hour (with some of the mess still left when Melody declared them done for the night), but Mabel soon felt wide awake as she remembered what came next.

Answers.

Once the twins were released from their chores, Mabel grabbed Dipper by the arm and raced to the door. "Come on, come on, come on! Ford's finally gonna tell us!"

"Woah, Mabel, wait a sec!" Dipper twisted out of her grip. She looked back at him in confusion; he ignored her and turned around. "Melody, Ford agreed to tell us what the whole basement thing is about. Come here!"

A minute later, Mabel, Dipper, and Melody all sat around the fire in the living room, waiting for Ford's explanation.

Ford took a deep breath.

"To begin," he said, "I hope you all understand why I've been so reclusive these past few days. Before Mabel returned my Journal to me, I had. . . forgotten much about my past. All I knew was that I was in a backwards town with a plethora of things to research, but no interest in researching them. It wasn't until this week that I remembered why. And so I needed a few days, to remember, and to process everything. I wasn't sure if I could trust any of you with this information, but. . . now I have reason to believe I can."

"It's okay, Grunkle Ford," Mabel said. "I shouldn't have been so impatient about it all."

Ford accepted her apology with a nod, and then continued. "I care about all of you. I want to keep you safe." His tone was smooth and level, but Mabel had a feeling the words were hard for him to say. She cherished them because of that. "But after what happened with Pacifica Pleasure, I'm not sure if my vain attempts to keep you safe will have any effects. Just know, however, that I've lost much because of my own folly. I've taken risks I shouldn't have taken. And I don't want to repeat those mistakes with all of you."