Ashes

Disclaimer: Gravity Falls is not mine

Warning: Mayor character death

Dipper opened his eyes, and looked around, confused. He was in the forest, surrounded by trees, plants and, probably, small animals; and he couldn't exactly remember the reason why he was there. Or why he was alone. He had the feeling that Mable had come with him there, for whatever reason. Where was she?

He started walking, looking for her, worried. He felt that something was off; that something unusual at least had happened, even if he couldn't quite remember what yet. And the silence of the forest didn't ease him: no sound couldn't be heard at all. No animals running around, no birds singing or flying, no supernatural monsters fighting each other. Not even the wind blowing through leaves. Maybe there weren't animals after all, and that wasn't normal. He started running, shouting his sister's name.

It was then when he saw the huge amount of leaves in the ground, even though it was summer and most of the trees in Gravity Falls were perennial. It was that what made him forget one second about her sister and look up; and the view left him astonished. Many of the trees were missing big pieces of the top, as if some kind of huge herbivore animal had bit then off. Some of the trees were even on fire. The green leaves were been slowly consumed while the sap of the pine trees burned furiously, spreading the fire among the other trees. And, in front of him, there was a collapsed small mountain. It was that what made him remember.

He and Mable were exploring the forest, while Dipper was searching about something in his journal. They had gone far away from the Mystery Shack, and Mable had marked some of the trees with colorful cotton thread to make sure they wouldn't get lost. It was then when they had seen the cave atop of mountain, next to a cliff. Excited to discover every secret it might contain, they went inside as fast as possible. There, they found a strange, big, metal device. It seemed like a container, but it had no entrance or way to put anything inside. It's surface was completely plain.

The twins looked at each other shrugged. That cave begged being explored and that machine didn't seem to be about going anywhere, so they decided to investigate it later.

But then it started emitting a low but constant vibrating sound. Suddenly, a counter appeared on the surface, with less than five seconds left; and some metallic parts fall down, revealing explosives. Dipper had just enough time to push his sister out of the cliff, hoping the tree branches would alleviate the fall. Then, the bomb exploded.

-Dipper!- Mabel's shout, not far away, snapped him out of trance. The bomb! Dipper started running towards the voice until he found her. She had the same worried-looking face as him; some scratches over her body and some leaves on her hair. Her clothes were dirt and torn, and some blood on her head (she probably hit her head while falling), but, overall, she seemed fine.

-Mable!-Dipper shouted. The girl looked at his direction, still worried, and went towards him, even if her expression didn't change when looking at him. Dipper ran as well- Oh, Mable. Thank God. I was so worri- the boy stopped abruptly his sentence when his sister went through him. He looked down at his body for the first time. He was fine. He was perfectly fine. No scratches, no bruises, nothing.

Something was wrong.

He started running after her, and realized that he didn't grow tired. He finally reached and tried to stop her, but his arm simply went though her body. Feeling afraid, he started jumping, shouting, and doing everything he could think of to attract her attention. He didn't stop until Mabel suddenly looked forward, her body stiffen, and one agonic and desperate shout escaped her throat.

-DIPPER!

She ran towards something that lied in the ground. Next to it, something what Dipper identified as his diary, was burning, completely forgotten. And the "something" that was lying in the ground was... him. Dipper was watching himself lying in the ground. Completely still, with more than half of his body burnt and emitting a revolting smell of burnt skin. His sister kneeled next to him, shaking madly and already crying.

-No, Dipper, no! No! No! Wake up! Please, wake up! Wake up! Please! PLEASE!-her voiced cracked at the last word and she cried hugged to the body. Dipper stared at the scene, unable to react. He was dead. He was dead. Of course he was dead. The explosion had hit him with full strength, sending his light body flying over the trees. And Mable couldn't see his spirit standing next to herself.

Neither of them knew or care for how long they were there, but they suddenly heard sirens approaching. Mabel didn't react, but Dipper's spirit looked up. He saw several fire trucks spreading around the forest, ready to stop the fire. Another red car approached them, and Grunkle Stan got out of it, shouting the kid's names and asking why the hell hadn't the gone home yet when the hole town was panicking because of the fire when he saw Mable crying and Dipper's body.

The furious look on his face changed instantly. He stood there, frozen for a few seconds that seemed like years, while his brain was trying to process what his eyes were seeing. And closing the car's door with more strength than necessary, he run towards them. He knelt next to Mable, speechless at the sight of is dead great-niece, feeling tears falling through his cheeks while Mable was still crying her heart out. He hugged her, and she just looked at him one second only to start crying again. The only thing Dipper's spirit could do was watch their tears, see them breaking, much to his own despair.

And the diary simply became ashes.