WTTR: Side Stories

Forever Young Potion

It was the middle of Summer in 2013, Dipper and Mabel's second Summer in Gravity Falls. Everyone was happy to see them again after last year when Weirdmageddon happened, and a few things have changed since they left. For one, Ford and Gracie are dating, and so are Stan and Blythe. Twilight's hair has started to turn brown as the months went by, through research Ford was able to find out that staying in this dimension was slowly turning her human.

Mabel was ecstatic to hear that her Grunkles were dating and bombarded the two girls with questions, which they were happy to answer. Once they got settled in, the adventures came like they never left.

One day Ford and Gracie were in the forest, trying to perfect a potion they recently discovered. Their family were nearby having a picnic while the two worked. Gracie handed him the ingredients they brought for him to drop in the small cauldron as he stir the concoction. After the Scientist added a wing of a fairy, she spoke up.

"So Ford... You never really told me what exactly what the potion we're making does. Mind telling me what it's supposed to do?"

"Oh, sorry. I got so caught up in making it that I never told you. Well for starters, it's a youth potion. From the name alone you can immediately tell what it's meant to do." Ford replied.

"A youth potion... Are you suggesting we make ourselves younger?"

"From what I've read about it from the scroll I found, we can change how long we want it to last. How young we get depends on how much we drink of it. But just in case something goes wrong, I've added a password system so I can immediately reverse the effects."

Gracie nodded, knowing earlier that she volunteered to drink the potion. At first Ford was against it since he didn't want anything bad to happen to her, but she assured him that she would be alright.

"And to answer your question, not forever. If it works, we can use it to make ourselves young enough to have children."

The elderly woman felt her cheeks light up when he said that. He... wanted to have children with her? But it was impossible to do considering they passed the age of fertility long ago. A feeling in her chest started growing, one that she hadn't had in a long time. She was starting to feel unsure about the whole having children thing... but this must be the second chance she was waiting for. She wasn't going to let this pass through her fingers like sand.

"Gracie?" Ford asked, snapping her out of the trance she was in.

"Sorry, I was thinking... Let's do it."

He nods, pouring some of the potion into a small cup.

"According to my calculations, a sip of this should de-age you down a year. You should do that to see if it actually works."

"Alright... here it goes."

She followed Ford's instructions and sipped some of the potion. It tasted like watermelon and nostalgia, trailing down her throat and in her stomach. She looked down at her body, trying to find and feel any sign of getting younger.

"Well? How do you feel?" Ford asked, placing a six fingered hand on her shoulder.

"I... I don't feel any younger." She admitted.

"Hmm... maybe you should try drinking a bit more for it to actually take effect."

She took a bigger sip, trying to see if she actually got younger. Ford noticed the look of uncertainty on her face and ran his hand through his hair.

"I don't understand! I followed the instructions, you should be a few years younger already! Did I not add enough-?"

Suddenly the ground beneath them started to shake, causing the pebbles and rock to look like they're jumping in the air. They were wondering what was causing the ground to shake until they heard the unmistakably loud and deep voices nearby.