"It's a show about these two kids. They go to this town for the summer with their Great Uncle, where they find all these fun magical creatures, and they go on mystery hunts together."

"Wow that sounds great Mister Hirsch. Is there anything you'd like to tell us about the show?"

"Oh, you know, there might be a few twists here and there."

Closure

Things had been too quiet for too long. Hours of silence felt like days from inside the forest bunker. It was still very difficult to believe that so much had changed in so little time.

0000

They watched in awe as he emerged from the portal. Clad in dark colors with his face covered, there was a single quality that distinguished him from everyone else present.

Six fingers.

He removes his mask and goggles, and everyone's faces contort with shock and horror.

"Who is that?"

"The author of the journals."

"My brother."

He seems confused upon his return. He wasn't quite sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this.

"This sure is some welcome committee." He says. His gaze lands on the only person he can recognize. "Ford, who are these people?"

He pauses, trying to find the words. "Well, the guy who fainted is one of my employees. As for the kids… Lee, these are your grandkids."

His eyes widen, astonishment evident on his face, but there is a certain sadness, or perhaps regret. He looks at the children. A young boy stands protectively in front of a girl too shocked to even move. "She never…"

"She was gonna surprise you, but you were…"

He closes his eyes, and for the briefest of moments, the expression of pain is clear on his face.

He regains composure, and slowly approaches them, but the boy steps back, pushing the girl further behind him.

Carefully, the man kneels before the children.

"Uh, hi there. I bet you guys probably didn't see your day turning out like this."

The boy's expression steels as his brow furrows. "That's one way of putting it."

Looking at the boy, he can't help but think there something terribly familiar in that defiant gaze. He'd laugh, but it didn't seem appropriate.

"Umm, what are your names?"

The boy doesn't say a word. In the same situation, neither would he.

But the girl speaks.

"I… I'm Mabel." She says, stepping out from behind the boy. He looks are her as if to say 'are you sure?'

"And this is my brother Dipper." She said, grabbing his wrist.

He smiles. It's a funny feeling, smiling now of all times. "Say, you two aren't twins, are you?"

She smiles, if only slightly, and nods.

"Well," he says. "My name is Stanley Pines. Not to be confused with my twin brother, Stanford." His sights fall on the other man

"Search the area! He's gotta be around somewhere!" a voice echoes down from the surface.

"Ford, on a scale of one to ten, how much trouble are we in?"

"Ehh, eight point five."

Stanford went to retrieve the fainted Soos. "There's a tunnel that'll lead to the forest. Once we get out we can head to the bunker." He says. "I'll get Soos. Lee, you take the kids ahead of me."

0000

That was three hours ago, and no one had said a word since.

But the silence was about to be broken.

"I'm sorry."

Everyone turned to the source of the words. Mabel sat next to Dipper on one of the benches lining the walls. "Dipper. I was scared too, but I couldn't believe he would do all this without a reason."

"It's fine. The universe wasn't destroyed. You were right."

"Then why are you talking to me like I stabbed you in the back?"

"I'm not." He said, trying to leave the table.

"Don't walk away from this!" Mabel grabbed Dipper's shoulder.

"HE LIED TO US MABEL!" Dipper spat. "EVERYTHING WE THOUGHT WE KNEW ABOUT HIM TURNED OUT TO BE A LIE, AND WHEN WE ALL THOUGHT THE WORLD WAS ABOUT TO END, YOU STILL TRUSTED HIM! YOU TOOK HIS WORD OVER MINE, AND IT ALMOST COST YOUR LIFE; EVERYBODY'S LIFE!"

"But he had a reason!"

"And what if he hadn't! I, your brother, said the world was ending, and you took the word of a fraud of an old man!"

She was crying. He hadn't realized it until he'd stopped yelling, but Mabel was indeed shedding tears.

"Oh gosh, Mabel I'm-" But it was too late. She'd ran off to another room of the bunker, sobs echoing through the hall.

Dipper's began to water as well, but instead of crying, he groaned and through his hat on the ground, before storming off himself.

In the quiet room of the bunker, Dipper sat by himself to sulk. He wasn't sure how long it had been since his argument with Mabel. He was still angry. She'd taken the word of a conning old crone over her own brother. He was fuming.

"You should cut them both some slack."

He turns to see someone standing in the door way.

A man with six fingers.

"What're you doing here?" he barked.

Stanley was considerably unperturbed by Dipper's attitude. "That's not the attitude I'd expect from you. Not after you've spent the entire summer looking for me."

Dipper face was red with embarrassment. He turned away from the man. Stanley sat next to Dipper on the bench. "Since I know you're wondering, your uncle is having this talk with your sister."

"And just what made you think you could talk to me? I don't care about this talk of great uncles and grandfathers. All you are to me is a bad end to a bad day."

The older man rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, that's a pretty reasonable point of view, all things considered. But Ford spent the last thirty minutes telling about you and your sister. I figured I know enough to give it the old college try."

"Please. You don't know a thing about me."

Stanley's brows furrowed. "You don't like crowds. The more people talking, the more disjointed the conversation. You have trouble making friends with people because you can't bring yourself to start a conversation, and if anyone wanted to start a conversation with you, you can't stop yourself from sounding like a know-it-all. You don't like being told what to do, and any time some tries to tell you what's what, the first words that come to your mind are 'how' and 'why'. You question everything, and though you hate to admit it, it's gotten you into more trouble than out. You're really good at thinking with your head, but not so much at thinking with your heart."

Dipper is silent for a moment. "Okay that's a pretty good start."

"I didn't need to talk to Ford to figure that out. I could see it on your face while we were under the Mystery Shack."

"Really now?"

"Yeah. Because you and your sister, you're just like me and Stanford back then."

Dipper was incredulous. "Wow, you're really gonna try and pull that one out?"

"I'm serious. Perfect parallels. In fact, lemme guess, you call yourselves the Mystery Twins."

Dipper was red in the face at the mention of their 'title'.

"That's what they called us back then." He concluded, looking down, lost in nostalgia.

"Tell you what, kid." Stanley walked up to the shelves of the room, and pulled out a box. "You play?" He asks, holding a chess box.

"A little" Dipper replies.

"Then let's match wits a little while I tell you story."

Stanley sets the board up on the table and sits opposite from Dipper. They start moving their pieces.

Placing his queen's knight to a queen's bishop two, Stanley recognizes Dipper's play. "In chess they call this the-"

"Budapest Gambit." Dipper finishes.

Stanley is surprised, but smiles. "So where do you wanna start, kid?"

"From the beginning I guess."

"Well, get ready to be struck with serious déjà vu. 'Cause our story begins with a set of twins who had nothing to do on a boring summer day…"

0000

When he walked in she was leaning into Stanford. Her face was stained with tears. Stan looks at Dipper, and the look of guilt on his face was painful to see. He couldn't even make eye contact with the boy.

"Grunkle Stan," Dipper said, the words feeling so strange on his tongue. "Can I talk to Mabel in private?"

He looked down at the girl, and she nodded in response. He doesn't say anything as he leaves the room.

Mabel get off the bench and stands in front of Dipper. She's about to speak when her brother suddenly brings her into a tight embrace. "I'm sorry Mabel. I'm so sorry."

They pull apart and Mabel is shocked to see tears in Dipper's eyes. "Dipper, its-" "No Mabel, it's not alright."

Dipper and Mabel sit on the bench and Dipper puts his arm around Mabel. "I'm always so paranoid about everything, always thinking I couldn't trust anyone. I was mad that you took Stan's word over mine. I was upset that you didn't trust me, that I forgot that I need to trust you, too."

Mabel smiled. "It's okay bro. So, you're not mad?"

"I don't know, maybe I'm still a little shaken about everything. But it doesn't matter. Nothing will ever be enough to change the fact you're my sister, and I love you."

Mabel started to shed tears of her own, but not out of sadness. "I love you too, Dipper."

Dipper smiled in relief. "So, what did you and Stan talk about?"

"Well, he told me what the deal was with the old guy. I'm glad to know he really is our Great Uncle."

"Yeah, Stanley told me some things. He helped me learned a few things about being a sibling."

Mabel laughed, a sound Dipper worried he'd never hear again.

"So, what's he like?" She asks.

Dipper's brows furrow in thought. What did he think of the man he'd learned so much about in so little time?

"I guess if I had to describe him… He's really good at chess."