Gravity Falls: Pushing Rewind

[7.]

For the seventh time in a row, Mabel's eyes shot open as her body automatically sat upright in her bed.

Mabel's heart was racing. This was her last chance. Whatever she was going to do, she had to do it before it was too late. Mabel quickly tossed her bedcovers aside and hopped out of bed. Time was already flying by.

Mabel had to get to Ford's 'Time Tracker'. Now. Otherwise there would time would shorten to the point where every day is just a single second. No one would move from their positions. The day would just repeat, heck, there wouldn't even be a day. There'd be no day, no night.

There would be just nothing. And when enough seconds went by, the humans (and any other living organism) would parish because of the lack of water and food.

Mabel inhaled deeply.

So yeah. No pressure.

Mabel's hand reached for the doorknob and she went to yank it open when she heard Dipper tiredly mumble, "Mabel? Where-" He was cut off with a sleepy yawn. "Where are you going?" He groggily asked. Mabel didn't know what to do. Her whole body froze. She was standing at a crossroad. She could make up some excuse and lie to him or tell him everything.

Mabel needed to make a choice. It was already almost noon.

That's when Mabel broke. Mabel didn't know what did it, but something inside of her finally shattered. Mabel fell to her knees and tears rapidly cascaded down her cheeks like never ending waterfalls. Upon seeing this, concern flashed across Dipper's eyes as he too, hopped out of bed. "Mabel, Mabel what's wrong?" Dipper frantically pressed as he ran to her aid and knelt beside her.

Mabel couldn't seem to form words. They were caught in her throat. She couldn't stop crying.

Dipper wrapped an arm over her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. She gladly accepted it and the two stayed like that, with only the sound of Mabel's sobs to be heard. Mabel didn't know how long they had stayed like that, until her eyes traveled to the alarm clock and she gasp. She pulled away from Dipper's embrace and quickly stood up to her feet.

"Mabel? Mabel, what's going on?" Dipper asked, the slightest bit of fear laced in his voice.

"Dipper, we need to get to the basement. Now. I don't have time to explain. Please, just trust me." Mabel practically pleaded her brother. Dipper frowned, looking like he wanted to ask questions but once he saw the fear in Mabel's eyes he nodded and the two silently agreed to head for the basement.

They descended down the rickety, old wooden staircase and made their way to the merchandise part of the Shack, where the Vending machine awaited them. "That's weird." Dipper noted when they ran towards the machine. "What is?" Mabel questioned back as she punched in the code. "Usually Stan's awake and Soos is running the Shack by now. After all, it's-wait, two o'clock?! How is that even possible?! I never sleep in that late!"

Dipper exclaimed in confusion as the twins hurried down the stairs to the elevator. Once the elevator opened, the twins hopped inside and Mabel pressed 'level 3' on the panel. "Mabel, Ford's never shown us level 3! I don't think we're allowed to go there..." Dipper's voice trailed off as the elevator shook and began to move downwards to the level. Mabel exhaled deeply, trying to keep her emotions under control.

"Just, just trust me Dipper. Please. This is my last chance to save you. I-I don't want to loose you Dipper!" Mabel wailed as she hugged her brother again. Dipper awkwardly hugged her back and replied, "Mabel, I-I'm not going anywhere? I'm fine. See? Look, I'm right here. Everything's going to be okay." Dipper tried to assure her as the elevator reached their destination and the doors dinged open.

Mabel sniffles and dried her eyes.

"That's what you think." She murmured under her breath, out of Dipper's earshot for she was already making her way towards the room where Ford's 'Time Tracker' was. "Mabel, wait up!" Dipper called after her. Mabel had no time to wait.

She pushed open the door and entered the room where the 'Time Tracker' awaited her. As she neared it, Ford's voice rang in her head. 'Time is very delicate.' She resisted the urge to scoff. As if she didn't know that already. Kneeling beside the machine, Mabel's eyes scanned over the various buttons and levers.

"Dipper, if you were Ford and you wanted to make a machine that would reset the day, what button would you use to do it?" Mabel asked her brother, not taking her eyes off of the machine. Dipper frowned and sat down beside her. "Mabel, what is this? Ford never showed me this before." He replied, not answering her question.

"Dipper, please, work with me, Bro-Bro. Time is short. What button would you use to reset time?" Mabel repeated herself sternly. Dipper blinked, surprised by Mabel's tone of voice but shook it off and scanned the machine with his eyes again. Mabel knew that look on his face. It was what he did when he was trying to focus really hard. His eyebrows would furrow together and he would purse his lips in thought.

"Maybe...this one?" Dipper's statement sounded more like a question. That wasn't good enough. Mabel needed him to be positive. "Are you sure about that? This is serious Dipper! Like the world's-fate-depending-on-this serious!" Mabel exclaimed. Dipper swallowed hardly before nodding his head.
"Y-Yeah. This button. I would use this button to reset the day."

Mabel frowned.

Why would he choose a big red button? Weren't red buttons usually used for bad? For destruction?

Mabel let out a breath. She had no other choice but to trust Dipper. "Dipper, what time is it?" Mabel asked slowly, not averting her gaze from the machine, knowing that Dipper almost always wore his wrist watch. "Um...whoa! It's four o'clock already?! What is happening?!" Dipped exclaimed frantically.

Mabel swallowed hardly. She had some time to explain. But she had to make it quick.

"Dipper, if this doesn't work I'm going to quickly explain what happened, just so you know. Okay?" Not even waiting for his response, Mabel jumped into telling the story. She told him from their first argument, to him dying and everything that happened over the seven days, leading up to the moment they were now.

"Mabel, I-"

"No." Mabel cut him off, looking him in the eyes.

"This is all my fault, and I'm so sorry. But I couldn't live with myself, if I knew that you died because of me. You're my other half Dipper. I need to in my life. I love you more than anything. Please try to understand that. Now what time is it again?" Mabel asked softly.

Dipper really looked like he wanted to say something, but he reluctantly glanced down at his wrist watch again anyway. "Four fifty-nine." He answered back weakly.

Mabel swallowed hardly, praying to every god that she knew that this would work, and before Dipper could protest, she slammed her hand to the machine pressed the big red button.