What You Don't Know Can't Hurt You

16

Mabel blocked the door to the dressing room, smiling nervously at Stanley. "You can't come in here! Dipper wants it to be a surprise to you two."

Stanley groaned. "We didn't even get to see him when we got here! Can't I just say hi to him?"

"Not until after." Mabel fixed the flower on Stanford's suit. "Now go."

Stanford put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Come on, Stanley, let's get our seats."

Mabel sighed as soon as they were out of earshot, stepping back into the room. Mason was pacing the floor of the room, muttering to himself as Jill and Allen tried to calm him down.

"It's going to be okay, Mason." Allen tried to say. "Just calm down, and take deep breaths."

Mason shook his head. "What if it's too early for this? What if this is a mistake? What if-"

Jill grabbed Mason by the shoulders, shaking him. "Pull yourself together, dude! Everything is going to be okay! This wedding is going to run smoothly, and everything will be perfect. Okay?"

Mason took a deep breath, nodding. "Okay."

Mabel took Jill's arm. "Good, because we have five minutes. Come on, let's get in our places!" She and Jill left, racing out of the room.

Allen smiled at Mason. "Everything will be great. Listen to me and believe it. Okay?" Mason nodded, and Allen nodded back. He grabbed a nearby pillow that held two gold wedding rings on it. "I'll wait for you outside." He left the door, closing it tightly behind him.

He heard piano music and smiled- it started. He listened intently for Mason to make a sound, but there was nothing. A few moments passed, still nothing.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash. Allen quickly turned and threw the door open. Mason was no longer in his dress- instead, he was in the robe and sweatpants he was wearing earlier. He was shaking as the two agents, Powers and Trigger, held him from behind. Allen dropped the pillow, reaching out for Mason, before the agents jumped out of the open window and disappeared.

Allen stood still for a moment before shaking himself out of his daze. There's still a wedding going on.

He raced out of the room and to the crowd of people sitting in the open space of the shrine. Everyone looked at him, staring as he stood in the middle of the aisle.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he started. "There will only be a moment. Mason is just... having a little issue right now, and it needs to be resolved. He'll be out soon."

Bill, standing at the end of the aisle, widened his eyes. He sprinted to Allen, then turned to face Jill, Mabel, Bill, Stanley, and Stanford. "Let's go."

The group ran to Mason's dressing room and stopped short. Allen hung back as everyone else slowly entered the room. The broken glass of the window crunched under their feet.

"What happened?" Mabel asked.

Bill glared at Allen. "Where is Mason?"

Allen's lip quivered. "I-I'm sorry, sir, but it was too late. They already had him-"

"Who?" Will asked.

"The agents- Powers and Trigger. I came into the room, and they were holding Mason. When I reached out, they jumped out the window- they were gone. I couldn't do anything-"

Bill ran to the open window. "There was definitely something out here." He moved to climb out of the window.

Jill quickly grabbed him. "And where do you think you're going?"

Bill stared at her. "To get my soulmate back."

"And where would you go? Where would you look? They could be anywhere by now, how would you find them?"

"I can track them using Mason-"

"They're government agents, Bill. They're trained for this kind of thing. They would've figured something out by now."

The determination left Bill's face, until all that was left was sadness and despair. "I won't get him back, will I? I promised him this wouldn't happen. Now look at this place..."

"...well, there's always one place we could look." Everyone turned to stare at Stanford. "Gravity Falls. That's where their investigation started. It's where all their equipment is. They can't go anywhere else."

"It's worth a shot." Stanley commented. "Plus, it's where Dipper and Mabel are supposed to be for the summer. They can't take him anywhere else without his parents' or guardians' permission."

Bill's eyes hardened. "Allen, go back out there. Tell everyone the wedding is off. There's more pressing matters at hand." He turned to everyone else. "Let's go get Mason back."