Symbols ~A Gravity Falls Fanfic~

And History Repeats

Dipper's POV

"Look, the Mabel Juice survived!" Mabel shouted from the fridge. Stan had sent us out to scavenge food from the house wreckage. He didn't explicitly say not to get Mabel Juice, but I'm definitely sure he didn't want us to get it.

"Put it back," I said, shifting through the remnants of the cupboards. I had found a box of Chipackers and a dead rat. Things could have been better.

"Pfft, you're just jealous because there's no Dipper Juice!" she replied playfully. She tossed the jar to the ground and it shattered instantly. "You know what, Dip? When everything turns back to normal, we'll make some Dipper Juice! And we can make Eliza Juice, too! It'll be a juice-apolusa!"

I stepped over some boards and the stove to another cupboard. "At least you're still being optimistic." I opened the cupboard and found the motherlode! "MABEL!"

She sprung up out from under a curtain. "What?"

"Canned meat! Cans and cans of Brown Meat!" I exclaimed, holding two cans in the air.

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The lid cracked off the can - - what a satisfying noise! I stuck my hand in the meat without a second thought and shoved it in my mouth. It tasted awesome at first, but then I noticed it tasted off - - metallic almost. I turned the can around and read the ingredients label: brown meat. "Maybe canned meat isn't the best meal," I said, letting Mabel take the can from me. She tasted it and shrugged.

"Tastes fine to me. It's like...beef and...mutton?" Mabel poured some meat in her mouth and thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah, that's got mutton in it."

Stan came through the door and swiped the can from Mabel's hand. He dumped the rest of its contents in his mouth. "Crack me open another can, will ya?" he asked as he went to fiddle with the machines in the hallway. "Oh, and, uh, Mabel, get a few cans t'Soos."

Mabel disappeared into the portal room with three cans and a sympathetic look aimed towards Stan. There went that optimism she had.

"Here, Grunkle Stan." I handed him an open can of meat. He took it with a weak grin and backed away from a control panel. Stan rummaged through his pocket and dropped a few dimes and nickels into my palm. I don't know why he did that exactly and I didn't ask. I, however, did decide that some conversation was needed. "So...when we get the portal going, what do we do?"

"I...have no idea."

"Really?"

"I...I don't know. The original plan was to just start up the portal and hope that Stanley...that Stephen..." Stan trailed off, lost in a memory, probably. "My brother... I just hoped that I could keep the portal open long enough so he could find it. He has his fancy watch," he explained, tapping the glass of the heart monitor, "and it doubles as a location tracker. If I had the real Journals, it would be much easier to lock down on the coordinates and keep the portal open longer. 'Cause, ya know, the Journals are enchanted or cursed or something. The copies don't hold a magical property well considering that...I think the copier is magic. I dunno." Stan shrugged and ate the rest of the Brown Meat in his can. "Man, this stuff is apocalicious!"

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After nearly seven hours, Stan and Soos finally booted up the portal. It flickered harshly, sending showers of sparks to the floor with each flicker. Blue energy shivered through the cylinders that faced the portal.

"Stan, it won't hold long enough to pinpoint them. We have to shut it down," Soos said.

Stan shook his head and sighed. "No, not before we find him. This is our last chance."