Apparently Mabel had heard their whole conversation downstairs as she started yelling at Dipper for not staying with her. Her angry would die down to what she really wanted. "I just wish summer could last forever." Mabel said with tears in her eyes, grabbing her memories book.
"But it can't Mabel." He sat down with his sister, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Look, things aren't going to stay frozen this way. It's apart of growing up. Things change." He was gesturing with his other hand, hoping his sister would just accept it. "Summer ends."
That broke her as she slowly looked at him, only to suddenly take off running with tears flooding her eyes. Dipper ended up falling on his face, just to pop right back up. "Mabel wait." He watched as Mabel quickly grabbed a backpack and down the stairs. He tried to follow her, only to stop in the doorway. "I didn't mean it like that! Mabel, come back!" He yelled out to her.
Alma had left Ford to rest on the sofa. She could hear a commotion upstairs as Mabel came flying down the stairs at full sprint that nearly knocked her over. "Mabel. Mabel! Where are you going?" She cried out, only to receive no reply. "Crap." She whispered to herself.
She heard Dipper's shoes on the stairs as she looked up to find him standing there in utter disbelief. "Where'd she go?"
Alma gestured to the now wide open shop door. "She ran outside. I tried to stop her."
"Oh no, Mabel. I'm sorry!" He cried out the door with tears filling his eyes.
He started sobbing as Alma leaned down and pulled him into a hug. "It'll be alright." Her eyes were nailed to the sun setting through the door, creating an eerie red light upon the grass. She held Dipper as if he was her own. He'd get it out of his system eventually.
He finally would glance up at her with a sniff before pulling himself away. He grabbed his arm with his eyes to the floor as he wiped his nose. "Th – thanks. I needed that." A small smile formed.
Alma gave a nod. "I told you I would try my best." It occurred to him that she did say that – almost five days ago. She has kept her promise. And even if this summer was ending, he was hoping to have Alma around for the future. At least he hopped they did have one. His eyes went out the door as he worried about Mabel.
She will come back. She has to.
-
Mabel ran. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, until she had to catch her breath. She picked one of the many towering trees and collapsed under it. She pulled the backpack off and dug into it. "Only party chocolate can cheer me up now." Mabel said to herself, pulling out only notepads and broken pens. "Nerd books? Chewed up pens?" She sighed, throwing it off to the side. "Ugh, wrong backpack." She pulled her sweater collar up above her face and around her legs. That was how she hid from the world. "Not fair. I just want summer to last forever."
"That – might be possible." A familiar voice said.
"Sweater town is not accepting incoming calls right now." She said, muffled by her sweater.
"M-M-Mabel, its me." The voice said again.
This time she pulled her sweater down and skimmed the trees. "What? Who said that?"
"I-can help." Blendin appeared before her, messing with his blending device.
"The time traveler guy. What are you doing here?" She had her sweater completely down this time.
"You said you don't want summer to end, right? D-did I hear that right?" The guy never could talk very straight.
"Yeah?" She slide her eyes to side for a second. "Why are you asking?"
"Look, maybe its against the rules, but you once did a favor for me. I thought I could help you out." He had his arms stretched out before putting one behind his back. "It's called a time bubble. It prevents time from going forward. Summer in Gravity Falls could last as long as you wanted it to."
Mabel wiped her tears away with her sleeve. "Really? How does it work?"
"I just need you to get me a little gizmo from your uncle. It something small. He won't even know it is missing." Blendin said, showing a hologram of the rift.
"Huh, maybe Dipper had something like that in his nerd bag." She started digging through the backpack. She then pulled the rift out with a puzzled look. "Huh, that's odd. This it?"
Blendin got all excited suddenly. "Yes, that's it." He started to approach her. "Just hand it over and I'll do my thing. Unless you are ready to leave Gravity Falls."
Mabel are marveled by it, but only one thought was on her mind. "Just a little more summer." Without another thought, she handed it to Blendin, just for him to drop it a second later. The glass shattered upon the dirt along with the rift puddling under it.
Blendin started maniacally laughing before pulling off his googles, revealing a pair of yellow glowing eyes. It didn't take the Pine sister long to realize what she had done. She'd start backing away, only for Blendin to snap his finger and the world went black. Bill emerged from Blendin, dropping him hard on the ground.
"At long last!" He yelled out.
"Mabel? Where are you?" Alma had left the shack in search for her while Dipper had gone to Ford to fix the rift. She wasn't too far from the event, noticing Mabel passed out under a tree trunk. "Mabel!" She ran towards her.
Just as she was about to touch her sweater, her body was lifted off the ground by some unknown force. She turned around to find the infamous yellow triangle laughing. "Nice of you to show up, Cupcake!"
She narrowed her eyes. "Bill." She spat. "Why are you here?" She took a step forward to hear a sudden crackling sound under her boot. She glanced down, finding glass pieces scattered around a black like substance. It had specks of color and shine in it. It was what was left of the rift stuck to the bottom of her foot!
Bill just cackled. "You're too late, Cupcake." He sang song mockingly.
Alma let out a gasp of unbelief before her attention went back up to the dream demon. "You won't get away with this! Mark my words! We will end you!"
Bill just scoffed. "Ha, you and what army?" He lifted Mabel up next to him, creating a pink bubble around her and locking her in with chains. "Should of taken my deal." He said, floating down to her. "Cause man, seems to me you could be blamed for this."
"Screw you and your pathetic manipulations. I can see right through you." Alma fired back. He seemed unfazed as usual.
"Aw – Cupcake. Like father, like daughter." He teased, giving her a gentle tap on her cheek. He floated back up. "Now if you'd excuse me, I have a world to take over. And a few – friends to pay a visit to." He started maniacally laughing again just before snapping his finger and disappearing along with Mabel's orb.
Alma just stood there, the wind ruffling at her scarf. She suddenly fell to her knees and squeezed piles of dirt between her fingers as she started sobbing. She had failed once again. Bill was bound to kill Ford. Then he was going to take over this small town in Oregon. And there wasn't anything she could do about it.
"I'm sorry, dad."
