Thank You For Being My Hero

Author's Notes: Not much to say here as it is a slight divergence one shot. Anyways, this was a story requested by Barbacar, in which Mabel gets pulled through the portal during "Not What He Seems" and to know what happens next, go ahead and read it. My main story will be delayed to this Friday, as we don't want to stress ourselves too much. We already have another story that we are working on that was requested by someone, so, we won't be taking any requests at the moment. Anyways, we hope you enjoy this one shot!

(Third Person P.O.V.)

Everything becomes silent, until the boy speaks once again.

"And I should trust you WHY?!" Dipper yells, backing away from the glowing red shutdown button and staring straight into Stan's eyes, with the most sincere look of disappointment, mixed together with tints of hope. Dipper WANTS to believe his Grunkle, yet, too much evidence points towards Stan being, well, actually evil. "After you stole radioactive waste? After you lied to us all summer!? I don't even KNOW who you are!' Dipper cries out once again, holding in his unnoticeable sadness and tears, staying confident with his words, standing by his claim.

"Look, I know this all seems nuts, but I need that machine to stay on!" Stan Pines responds, or so they thought he was Stan Pines. They really didn't know anymore, and they'd probably never get their answer by the looks of their current situation. "I-if you'd just let me explain!" the man stutters through his words, his mind flooded with fear of losing this opportunity in which he's waited for in 30 years. 30 years away from someone so very special…

As Stan stops talking, a watch that he seems to be wearing on his right wrist, the same limb with his hand bandaged up, starts beeping, causing his mood to change from concern for himself to concern for his nephew, niece, and best handy man standing right in front of him. "Uh oh!" Stan yells in panic. "Brace yourselves!" Just as he concludes his sentence, it feels and it is as if gravity just vanished, causing everything to be lifted into the air, and in the process, bolts of electricity flying out of the portal that is constructed before them. All four of them are lifted into the air along with everything else. They yell in unison and try staying on the ground, with no prevail. Judging by what is happening now, they all could only assume that the same anti-gravity scenario was happening outside-all throughout town and maybe even all across the world.

"T MINUS 35 SECONDS" a voice speaks, with a metallic ring to it, echoing out from the machine speakers. Dipper, Stan, and Soos are all slammed into a section of the wall, but Mabel appears to be missing, as Dipper hears her voice soon after the sudden realization. "Dipper!" the girl's voice echoes throughout the giant cave like structure, intertwining with the beeping countdown noises from before. The Pinetree boy looks at his sister, and sees that her foot got caught on a wire attached to the shutdown button. This was the perfect opportunity to shut down this death weapon. "Mabel! Hurry! Shut it down now!" he yells back in response, holding himself on a plank of wood while pointing down at the button. The girl soon after realizes what she must do.

She grabs onto the wire with all of her strength, not wanting to float away, as she continues to successfully climb her way to her objective. Stan quickly comes out of his dizzy state of slamming into the wall due to the mentioned sudden change of gravity, in which he tries floating himself towards his niece. "No!" he shouts. Mabel's attention is quickly grasped away from pressing the button. "Mabel, Mabel! Wait! Stop!" he tries reaching out to her, but is quickly pushed away and help stable by the handy man himself, Soos. "Soos, what are you doing!? I gave you an order!" he tries smacking Soos off of him.

He fights back the pain. "Sorry Mr. Pines!" the other man yells, but soon continuing his statement. "If that IS your real name, but I have a new mission now! Protecting these kids!" he declares, tightening his grip on the older man, not letting him reach out to Mabel.

"Soos, you idiot, let me go!" Stan demands, struggling to escape.

Dipper immediately sees Soos' actions and sees it being that best of all things he could be doing right now is helping to restrain Stan alongside the handy man. Dipper and Stan start pushing each other away, mainly Stan as Dipper needs to keep him in control and can't risk losing his grip just for one smack. In the process, they whisper insults under their breath, trying to take possession.

"Mabel, press the red button! Shut it down!" Dipper once again points down at the button-trying to get Mabel to do as said. The older man, right after his previous words, shoves Dipper down below him, speaking to Mabel as a continuation. "No, you can't! You've gotta trust me!" he persuades.

"Grunkle Stan!" she chokes out, trying not to burst into tears. "I don't know if you're even my Grunkle…" the girl starts crying, her tears floating up, in which the three take notice of and their expressions automatically change. "I want to believe you but..." she is interrupted slightly after, but still with a moment of hesitance. "Then listen to me. Remember this morning when I said I wanted to tell you guys something?" he asks, trying to remind Mabel about his stuttering from that morning. He needed to convince her fast, as the portal would open very soon.

"T MINUS 20 SECONDS" the robotic voice speaks again, and along with it, the portal's strength becomes more powerful, pushing Dipper, Stan, and Soos back into the stone and dirt wall behind them, separating the three of them. Mabel seeing her brother and friend; Soos being hurt makes her grasp a sudden urge to slam her balled up hand onto the button, stopping their pain once and for all, but is once again interrupted with Stan's speech,

"I wanted to say that you're gonna hear some bad things about me, and some of them are TRUE, but trust me, everything I've worked for, everything I care about, it's all for this family!" he speaks the key word. Family. What it's all about.

"Mabel, what if he's lying!? This thing could destroy the universe!" her twin demands, getting frustrated with her stalling, becoming strict but still fearful.

"LISTEN TO YOUR HEAD!" the brunette haired boy yells at his sister, stressing her out even more than she already was. It was up to her to stop the completion of this portal becoming accessible. It was said to destroy the universe if ever opened. The two twins never had any encounters with something like this portal before, so it was practically impossible for the two to determine whether or not it was harmful. Whether or not the author was right or wrong. Whether or not who they're trusting is the correct choice.

Dipper had always trusted the journal he had found in those woods, and ever since, he never trusted anyone or anything more. Believed to be written by a very smart man and hidden away due to it containing access to ultimate power; as already seen with the multiple monster encounters before, it made it more likely that the scribbles about the portal causing death was true. The boy trusted it, but his sister didn't. She just couldn't possibly break the bond of her and her great uncle, Stan, because of some book that ANYONE could have written, and neither did she wish to break her bond with her brother, but in order for either choice to happen, a betrayal must be made.

Mabel squeezed her eyes shut, feeling her tears escape her shut eye lids, defying gravity as so was everything else, floating so very slowly to the roof.

"Look into my eyes Mabel!" and so she does. "Do you REALLY think I'm a bad guy!?"

"HE'S LYING! SHUT IT DOWN, NOW!" the boy screamed, trying his best to persuade his twin to believe him. This could cause the destruction of everything…or so he believes. That journal has really changed his mind and determines every opinion he would state in response. Usually to prove himself correct in a situation. Yet, in this situation, he didn't know whether or not he was right. By the looks of it, he was everything but wrong.

"MABEL, PLEASE!"

The countdown reaches its last 10 digits, playing in the background of this "all over the place story". The lightning bolts striking out of the portal stop. The discord lies down. Mabel slowly lowers her hand down to the button but then stops, looking up at Stan, stealing a final glance, trying to see if he is being sincere. And his eyes just scream a sense of genuine honesty with his past sentences.

"Grunkle Stan…" she looks away, as the countdown reaches 6.

She then lifts up her head, let's go of the lever combined with the shutdown button as she floats up, looking down.

"I trust you…."

"MABEL, ARE YOU CRAZY!? WE'RE ALL GONNA-"Dipper is interrupted as the final number is spoken.

"1"

Everyone's eyes widen in fear and in awe at the power being generated by the death-weapon shown before them. Blue light shining out, brighter than the stars or anything else to come into existence. The atmosphere just speaks of an aura full of energy and life, as it blasts straight into the faces of the four, pulling away any sleepy force pressing upon them. Fully awake, nothing to distract them, as they stare straight into death's dull and husky eyes. Mabel looks back at the three and soon after feels a pulling force upon herself. Out of instinct, she tries to grab onto something nearby or at the very least reach out to her family members and friends-in hope and desperation that one may save her. If only someone would grab her wrist and pull her or she had something to grasp onto. Yet that wasn't the case. She didn't know what was happening.

Out of fear, she couldn't seem to control herself. She's too scared to move or comprehend what is going on. Mabel can't decide. She's in panic.

All three males' eyes widen as the girl is suddenly pulled back with a tough tug as if an actual someone were pulling her, and as she is dragged closer to the dimensional doorway, her ears are flooded with all sorts of noises, blocking out the cries and yelps of her loved ones. Just sounds. No. Voices. Screaming voices. Laughing voices. What demons have been created? She snaps back into reality and continues to struggle and panic. "Huh? HUH!?" she yells in confusion, expressing her fear fully, not holding it in any more.

Dipper's eyes widen as he knows what's happening. She's being sucked into the portal. "M-Mabel!" he yells out, pushing himself off of the wall and towards his sister "Mabel, grab my hand!" he yells out, ordering her to do so as fast as possible, not wanting to waste any time. "Quickly!" he then demands. She looks down and immediately takes possession of it. Hold on. We'll do it together. Whether or not we escape or are taken. Dipper is then filled with panic as well. He then feels the pulling force become stronger, like the machine is meaningly hesitating and delaying the portal's accessibility, wanting to pull the twins in together. "Mabel! Try and keep a tight grip, okay!?"

She's too scared of what may happen next. Too many outcomes. "D-dipper! Grunkle Stan! Soos!" she cries out, still being sucked in. "Don't panic!" he orders, trying his best to pull Mabel back. Stan and Soos then fully look up to see the scenario, with the other two becoming fearful as well. "Kid! What are you doing!?" Stan yells. Didn't he know this was dangerous? Dipper growls at the sound of his grunkle's voice, still angered by the previous events. Slipping into the realm of his thoughts, his grip on Mabel's hand becomes weak. "D-dipper!" the girl stutters. Dipper is then reminded about the current situation. What should he do? The force is too strong.

"Mabel! J-just keep looking at me! Don't look anywhere else to cause you to panic!" he persuades, looking straight at her. She stutters for a moment. Dipper, you know that telling me NOT to do something will tempt me to do it! She shakes it off and nods her head. Just as their agreement is made, the force becomes surprisingly more aggressive, pulling Mabel back and out of Dipper's grip.

"Mabel!" he yells immediately. Just completely out of the blue, it got stronger?

The girl screams in fear, bracing herself for some sort of feeling. A pinch, some pain, a lot of pain, death, or nothing.

"MABEL!" the three yell all together this time, tears filling up their eyes as they saw Mabel disappear, with her final yell disappearing as well. "PLEASE!" they heard, as it faded away into the unknown world that lies beyond the portal.

Right after, their vision went white, and dimmed to black, as they entered a fainted state….

Dipper opens his eyes, rubbing his head, cursing under his breath to sooth the pain. 'Ah, that was a hard hit…' he mutters. He looks up but only slightly as so far he can see some blue light, benefitting to his vision, and multiple stones shoved into the ground. Not floating. Gravity must have gone to normal…..

So, everything else has gone to normal, I'd think? Wait, they lived? We lived? "Was Stan…right? Or were we just lucky?" he asks himself, not expecting an answer. Yet, he gets it anyways.

"Ah, yep" a raspy voice speaks. "We just got lucky." Dipper looks to his side to see Stan recovering as well, rubbing his eyes and smacking away dust that was stuck to his clothing. "Th-then…..?" the boy asks. "Then what, kid? What ELSE do you want to know?" Stan asks with his classic personality. "I….then..What WAS your plan..?" he finally asks. He is surely going to answer this time as Stan has no way of backing out of it. It's happening now and nothing is present to push it away. "THAT was my plan" he points forward and sighs out simultaneously, releasing all of his stress and showing signs of relief. Dipper looks to where Stan points, and he takes in the sight before him. Both relief and fear come over him. He sees a man, wearing all black with a gun strapped to his back, carrying Mabel bridal style, holding her close, supposedly keeping her close to protect her, but then again in the fear perspective, who is this man?

Dipper then looks to his right and sees Stan is now standing up and he's helping Soos do so as well. The boy mentally apologizes to Stan, seeing how the portal certainly didn't cause everyone in the room to earn their ticket to heaven early. Or hell, depending on who you were here. Yet, he was sure that even Stan could be forgiven.

"Who…who is that…?" Dipper stutters, still dizzy from the previous events. Speaking of the previous events, how long had they been passed out? The boy fully lifts himself up off of the ground. "The author of the journals…." Stan begins to state, sparking Dipper's interest entirely at the phrase 'author of the journals'. Right before Stan continued, the man took off the scarf he was wearing and the goggles, revealing a very familiar face.

"My brother…."

(the events of A Tale Of Two Stans continue)

"Well, that went smoother than I imagined" Dipper states, standing by the newly found, Stanford Pines' side, both watching the government agents drive away right after being brainwashed. "Agreed" the author sighs out. "I didn't think they'd cooperate so easily though" he says, slightly impressed with how much the government has changed. It HAS been 30 years. "Heh, you should've seen them the first time they visited this place" Dipper laughs out, remembering the zombie incident from just a few days ago. Stanford looks down at Mabel, who is still in a coma-like state, passed out with no sign of waking up any time soon.

Dipper notices where Ford's sight has ended up and is reminded about Mabel's current condition. She might just be fainted…or maybe even a coma…

"Whatever she saw through the portal I came out of, it surely scared the living daylights out of her" he says, looking at Dipper. The boy in response lifts his eyes from his sister to his new family member. "Yeah…I can only imagine…" Dipper sighs out, still concerned about Mabel. Ford notices Dipper's anxiousness. "Dipper, I promise that your sister will wake up, okay?"

"H-huh? Y-you really think you can do that?" Dipper asks in relief and also excitement of the author of the journals making a promise to him. But, mostly because of his assurance of Mabel awakening. "Judging by the way she is now in comparison of before, she's only in a deep slumber. Before then, she was in a coma but now she's in a more 'healthy" state. I'm sure she just has to wake up on her own" he assures his nephew.

Dipper smiles in response.

"Though, she may wake up in the morning, so I suggest you use your time being unoccupied for good things"

"O-oh! Now that you speak of it, I..I have to talk with um.." Dipper thinks of what to call him. "Stanley. About the previous events. I just have some things I need to rethink and get off my chest. Maybe you could tuck her in?" the younger boy asks.

"Well, of course. This IS your sister we're talking about" the author responds, smiling at Dipper, in which Dipper sweetly smiles back. He finally got to meet the author of the journals. And not only that, but discover that he is his relative! How crazy is that!?

Dipper walks back into the shack, going off to find Stanley.

While laying in his arms, Mabel seems to squirm slightly in her sleep, finding comfort. Ford sighs in relief of the conclusions being correct. She certainly was closer to reality then before. "What she saw certainly would have affected her more than this, yet…she seems perfectly fine…" he whispers to himself, walking back into the shack as well, carrying the sleeping Mabel.

As he slowly walks up the stairs, not wanting to awaken Mabel so early, he looks at the walls surrounding him, taking in the sights of how much his own home has changed. His brother certainly gave it a makeover. But not a bad one. At least when it comes to the house part. In his opinion, the gift shop and museum seems so 'out of the box' as of what was originally in its place. Hopefully it can be easily reverted back.

At least he kept some old photos from before instead of trashing them. He has to respect him for that at the very least out of all the other things he's done. At least he kept the memories. But when it comes to everything else that he's changed, either inside or outside, it all seems unreal. It's utterly ridiculous that he'd get the idea to turn all or the majority his research and monster findings into a museum. It IS a good money maker though. You have to applaud him on thinking as well.

The author then walks through the attic door and sets Mabel down onto her bed and puts the blankets over her.

I guess my job here is done. The author starts walking towards the door and looks back at the sleeping girl, checking to see if she is still asleep, and so she is. He sighs and takes one more step.

Then, her eyes flutter open.

The first thing she lays her eyes upon is the wooden roof above her-that she so very recognizes. Realizing that she is now in the attic and on her side of the room, she slowly looks around to see if anyone is there with her. To her right, no one is there. To her left, no one is there. She then sits up and looks forward, laying her pupils directly at the door to see someone about to walk through it. Mabel quickly grabs their attention by chirping out a small "Hello?" in a questioning manner. The man quickly turns around to see Mabel awake.

"Ah, so you DID wake up early" he sighs in relief, at the reassuring sight that the girl is indeed awake and the one speaking. He doesn't need to be fooled by HIM again. Mabel is still confused about the situation, and having hundreds of questions and statements swarming around in your brain doesn't benefit to your comprehension at all. "W-wake up early…?" she asks. "You must have many questions in regards to when you fainted", Stanford replies.

She quickly nods her head, saving her question about her 'fainting' for later. There are certainly more valuable and more desired answers she can get. The man walks back to where Mabel is and sits next to Mabel. "You can ask any question you want."

"I…" she's hesitant for a moment. What should I even ask of this person?

"Who are you?"

"Well, there are multiple answers to that, but, I'll give the small summary. My name is Stanford Pines."

"I-I Mabel Pines!" she shouts out. "I already know, don't worry" he tells Mabel. Soon after, the idea hits her. "Wait, Stanford? Then, don't I already know you? But then again, Stan had lied about his identity and UGH, TOO MANY QUESTIONS!" the girl yells, knowingly over exaggerating her statement.

"Yeah, your other 'Grunkle', as you and your brother call him-took my name in the past to replace me when I was stuck in that portal you all saw."

Mabel sighs. "I still have so many questions…"

"If you want to ask all of them, go ahead. I have time."

"In that case, about my brother! Is he okay!?" she panics at the sudden reminder of her brother and all the events that occurred during the portal's charging sequence. And remembering what she saw…

"I was just talking to him a few minutes ago before I brought you here. He's perfectly fine, and surprisingly, he didn't even get any bruises from hitting the ground once gravity went to normal. He's certainly a strong kid" Stanford concludes for Mabel's second question.

"Ah, okay, good, I can release some of my stress" she huffs out. "As for my third question,….what…what was it that I saw through the portal…?"

"What part of it?" Stanford replies, insinuating that there are multiple things that Mabel could've layed her eyes on back when she was sucked through the portal. She flashes an expression of confusion and then realizes. "Well, I-I mean, I saw th-this-and it-"Mabel stutters in fear, of the memories and thoughts of the monsters she saw previously.

"No need to speak of what you saw" the author tells the brunette girl. "I understand that what you took sight of was…'shocking'. Especially for your young eyes. I'm genuinely sorry that you had to see such things."

"D-don't worry! I-I've seen MANY monsters and creatures before!" she assures the man.

"Yeah, me too yet…those other ones certainly-"

"Scared the heck out of me more than the others…" the two say unison, and then look at each other in surprise. Soon after, they just laugh it off. Mabel hugs her pillow and looks down. She still regrets some of her actions from before. How long she waited to decide who to trust back with the portal. How many times she got what she wanted and never repaid the people who made sacrifice in order for her desires to be fulfilled. She sees herself as a complete idiot in present time.

"I….um…thanks for grabbing me and taking me back to this dimension? How do I word it?" she laughs out. She couldn't think of any way else to describe it. "No need to thank me."

"But really! Thank you. I don't think I would've been able to escape on my own. It certainly would have been impossible without you having the heart to bring me back" she insists.

"Well, I mean, you're my niece. And even before knowing that, you're still a soul that deserves to live. And definitely doesn't deserve to die to some demonic triangle who's favorite song is 10 hours of rising shepard tone" he concludes.

"Y-yeah…he's not a good person…demon…corn chip thing?" Mabel questions in a comedic sense.

"Now that you say it, he DOES look like a corn chip."

Mabel laughs in response. "At least one person agrees", she smiles at Stanford.

He smiles back and pets Mabel on the head. "I think it's best that you get some rest. You still look tired, but, aren't acting tired" he points out. "Yeah, I DO feel sleepy. My excitement is just getting the best of me at the moment" she giggles. She quickly grabs a unicorn plushie from under her bed and goes back under her blankets, immediately becoming comfortable.

"I'll tell your brother that you're doing okay, alright?" he reassures the girl. She nods her head in response, closing her eyes.

Stanford walks towards the exit, leading to the rest of the attic, but Mabel speaks again. "Hey Stanford?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks for being my hero" she sighs out, and seems to fall asleep right after.

"Heh…thanks for being my hero too, Mabel…."

Author's Notes: Ah, finally! We finished it! This took a LOT longer to post, as lately, many things have been going on. School's been a pain and of course we want to focus on that for now. Our requests will be closed for now, but don't worry! We'll be doing requests again soon! This one shot seemed short and no to its fullest potential when it came to our opinions, but, hopefully you liked it! Anyways, BYE!