Dipper was mindlessly playing video games alone in the living room as construction work buzzed and screeched around him. Mindless was indeed an apt word; his entire attention was laser-focused on the screen, his hands mechanically pressing buttons in response to prompts by the game.

He was doing terribly. Not that it was very surprising, considering he wasn't good at it even in normal circumstances. Nor was he having fun, not least because it was it was a game best played by two, and the usual player two was dead.

That person was Mabel. Mabel was dead. Mabel was dead.

Dipper could hardly believe it. It didn't feel real, more like some awful nightmare he'd wake up crying from. But he never woke up, and every few minutes that fact that Mabel was dead would just smack him right in the heart.

Should he even be playing video games? Are people allowed to do that days after somebody they loved more than anything in the world dies? Aren't you supposed to cry? He hadn't cried at all… Why was he even asking these questions?

"Oh, hey there," Dipper looked up to see Grunkle Stan enter the room, a confused look on his face. That look had been there near-constantly since his mind had been permanently wiped. "What'cha doing… um…"

"Dipper."

Stan snapped his fingers. "That's the one! How'd you get that name anyway?"

"Playing video games."

"Really?" The old man peered at the screen. "Hey, um, that looks like a fun game. You got another controller?"

There was a second controller sitting on the carpet in front of the television. "No."

Stan backed up towards the door he came from. "Well, heh, I guess I'll be helping that Ford guy with all the builders. Have fun!"

That was a stupid thing to say. Dipper continued playing. Time passed.

Soos walked in. He was holding a crumpled box of tissues, blue cardboard. Dipper could infer this meant he had used a lot of them – because it was crumpled, not because it was blue. "Oh, hey, dude."

"Hi, Soos."

"We're working on the roof. Phew, it's hard work." He wiped his forehead, because it was sweaty. "How are you holding up, Dipper?"

"I'm doing fine." Too fine, it seemed to him.

"That's good!" Soos nodded encouragingly. "I'm always here if you need to talk, dude. I can't imagine what you're going through."

Really? Because feeling nothing was pretty easy to imagine. "Thanks."

"You guys were real close. Remember that time Mabel came home and started telling us about some huge speech you made to her about how much you loved her?"

"I remember that it wasn't me."

"Yeah, we searched for ages for that Dipper impersonator, haha." Soos pulled out a tissue and blew his nose; Dipper could hear it. "You need a tissue, dude?"

Dipper lost the game.

"Yes? No? How about one, just in case?"

Dipper jumped off the couch, grabbing the tissue. "I'm going for a walk."

"Really? Sounds good, dude!" Soos waved as he opened the door. "Watch out for falling planks!"

Once he was out of the house, Dipper tiptoed around the various holes and taped-off areas around the shack. He saw Stan and Ford to the side and moved in the other direction.

His stomach rumbled. He didn't remember when he last ate. He kept walking, left, right, left, right, hands in his pockets, head down. He saw a twig lying across his path and stepped on it, hearing a satisfactory snap as it split in two.

More time passed as he walked by the road, looking at the occasional passing car as it breezed past him, the occupants carrying on with their normal lives. Dipper wasn't in a car and his life had careened off the road and smashed headfirst into a tree, and he was acutely aware of that.

Sometime later he reached the edge of Gravity Falls, taking a sharp turn into the graveyard. He looked, and there it was: the freshest grave on the lot. Mabel Pines, 1999-2012

There it was. There it was. After everything they'd been through, she just died. No more Mabel, ever again.

"H-hey, Dipper," There was a voice from behind, and he turned. Blendin Blandin. "Who's that- oh, Mabel. Oh my gosh, I-I-I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay." Dipper crossed his arms.

"You know, I-I lost somebody too." Blendin looked down. "Time Baby. If-If-If I could, I'd use my time tape to go back in time and save him, but-but that's strictly forbidden. Al-al-also with the fact he died in Weirdmageddon, you know?"

Dipper stared at the device, his jaw dropping in shock.

"So I guess we-we both have somebody to mourn, huh?" Blendin frowned. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because I'm not gonna have one soon!" Dipper snatched the time travelling device from the man before he could react.

"Hey!" Blendin chased after him. "You-you can't steal that, again! Stop!"

"I'm gonna get my sister back!" Grinning, Dipper pulled the tape measure out to a random distance and let it go. All of a sudden he was standing in an older, decrepit version of the graveyard. He took one look at the mouldy and cracked gravestone of Mabel Pines, one fresh flower laying on the mound, and sighed.

"Wrong way. Let me just-"

That was when somebody grabbed him, slapping a black-gloved hand across his mouth and dragging him into the forest.

Updated 30/9/16