Taking Shelter(BillDip)

The Mystery Twins Return

The drive to gravity falls was shorter than Dipper remembered.

At least, it felt that way.

It had been four years since the pair had last gotten an opportunity to visit the small Oregon town. Now nineteen, the twins had decided that the best way to spend their final summer before college was to return to the place which held the most fantastic memories of their childhood. It was their final adventure together, because, come August, Mabel would be moving to Colorado and Dipper would be heading to the East coast. The decision to separate was one they had made together – and through that decision the two had become closer than ever.

Still, there was a certain melancholy to the idea of parting. A finality, like once the summer was over they would never be the same. That's why they'd asked their parents to allow them to spend the next three months with their Grunkle Stan in Oregon – they wanted to come back together, just one last time.

"Yo, Bro-bot, you still in there?" Mabel asked. Dipper blinked, rubbing his eyes. He must have been half asleep.

"Yeah, sorry. It's just been awhile since we last stopped." He responded, giving Mabel a small smile. His sister, always full of energy, reached across the console to pinch her twin on the arm, twisting sharply.

"Ow! Mabel!" Dipper cried and his sister laughed.

"Come on, we're on the final stretch! I can't have you falling asleep on me now! Look, there's the city limit!"

And sure enough, just to the left of the road, there was a small sign proudly bearing the words: Welcome to Gravity Falls Oregon. Nothing to See Here Folks.

"They should add 'Weirdest Town in the Continent' to that." He commented, turning back to the front. Mabel snorted.

"Make that the whole world."

Upon their last visit, the twins had discovered that what everyone else considered to be reality was only the tip of the iceberg.

Aliens, evil gnomes, zombies, mermaids.

You name it, they'd probably encountered it.

They'd even defeated a dream demon named Bill Cipher. But that was a whole other story. One Dipper quickly pushed from his mind. That triangle was the last thing he wanted on his mind right now.

And anyway, all of that was over now. During this trip, the twins had no monsters to defeat, no mysteries to uncover. They were here for their family and friends. For each other.

"Hey, Mabel, do you think Grunkle Stan..." Dipper started, when suddenly there was a loud thump and Mabel released a scream.

"Shit, shit, shit!" She cried, jerking the car over to the side of the road and putting it in park. She reached over and flicked on the warning lights, which blinked lazily onto the empty road.

"What happened?" Dipper asked as his sister hurriedly got out of the car.

"I hit something!" Mabel cried,brows furowed as she glanced back the way they came. The sun had begun to set about half an hour ago, and it now hung low in the peach tinted sky, trailing deep purple clouds like bruises in its wake.

"You hit something? What?" Dipper asked, following his sister down the blackened asphalt, their shoes tapping in the silence.

"I don't know Dip! What if it was some poor bunny or something? Shit!" Mabel cursed, searching the ground. It wasn't exactly dark, but the shadows of the coniferous trees stretched out across their path like fingers, wavering slightly in the warm summer breeze.

"Mabel, I don't see anything." Dipper stated after they had walked for a couple minutes. If they kept going, they'd lose sight of the car. Plus, he wanted to get to their Grunkle's place before nightfall.

"But how? I swear I saw something dart into the road! And you felt that thud, right?" She turned to him, brown eyes flashing in the fading light.

"It probably got away, Mabel. Who knows, it might have been some sort of rock-skinned hobgoblin knowing this place." He consoled her. Mabel searched his face for a moment later, then released a long sigh.

"You're probably right. Come on, let's get home." She said, and they headed towards the car. They were almost to the little black sedan when an unusually strong breeze whipped past, almost taking Dipper's hat with it. Pausing, Dipper glanced back the way they had come – back towards the city limit, and felt a strange chill rush up his spine.

"Get in Dip!" Mabel's cheery voice woke him from his trance, and Dipper quickly got into the car.

"Gravity falls really knows how to throw a welcome back party." He said as they sped on into the waking night.