11 He cares...

Seeing the seriousness in Great Uncle Ford, McGucket turned towards being serious himself.

"Well... I don't fully understand how they work really. At some point in all my fiddling, I noticed that dark matter creates a gravitational pull with other objects. Just as the regular kind of matter stuff. And it hit me! You can't create or destroy matter right, but who's to say you can't create dark matter! It made perfect sense! Imagine if you created a bubble of dark matter immediately below the dumbbells. Then the dumbells would pull towards the dark matter creating resistance. And the best part is that you can move the bubble. Say you want to practice your punches. Then create the bubble behind the dumbells! It'll work perfectly!"

At this point, McGucket once again reverted back to his crazy persona, hopping up and down on alternating foot saying praises about his work. Which he was entitled to because it was a groundbreaking discovery.

Great Uncle Ford was in deep thought. It seemed that this discovery was very important to him. His face looked like it'd forgotten to do every other function than to think.

"Great Uncle Ford?"

With my voice, he snapped back to reality and took the dumbbells from McGucket's hands. He asked, "How do you turn them on?"

"You just turn the knob on the side that has dem der numbers. The dumbbells analyze your muscle composition and create dark matter the size that corresponds with that. 100% would mean the max that your muscles can handle. 50% is half your strength. 20% is a fifth of your strength and so on and so forth. The dumbells always create the dark matter "bubble" in the opposite direction of motion. However there is an override function that allows you to create the "bubble" in any direction you want."

"Genius…."

Great Uncle Ford was once again taken by his mind. He slowly turned the knob feeling the force steadily increase and decrease in his hands. Under his breath he was muttering something.

".....k was right…."

I didn't manage to catch what he said so I simply brushed it off as nothing.

After it seemed he'd had enough of analyzing the weights, he slowly handed them over to me. Testing them myself, it was indeed as McGucket had said. As I was getting used to them, McGucket handed me a pair of black ankle weights.

"These here have the same function as them there dumbbells."

Taking them in my hands, they were indeed the same.

"Well that's all I really have for ya. I don't think anything else I have will be of help for you. Good luck! Try not to die! Watch out for the Hobknickers!"

With that Great Uncle Ford and I left the manor.

******************************************************************

The drive home was just as silent as the drive to the mansion. I clutched my new items in my hands as they were the only thing keeping me from once again panicking. These items would help me save Mabel.

When we returned to the shack, it was only 3 in the afternoon. Great Uncle Ford left to his study and I to my room. I slowly packed my bag for the journey. Clothes. Shoes….stuff…

I managed to drag it out for 4 hours. I didn't want to stop. If I stop, I'd think. If I thought, I'd think about Mabel. If I thought about Mabel, that feeling of despair would slowly creep upon me….

I made my way to the kitchen at Great Uncle Ford's call.

We ate in silence. Neither of us wanted to talk. We both hurt and talking about it would only make it worse.

After dinner, I tried to go to bed. Once again noticing how cold it was. Piercing cold. I hadn't noticed it in years. Blankets didn't help. Neither did the heater. I felt….cold….

This was the longest night of my life.

*************

The next morning I woke up with only a little sleep. I made my way to the table and had breakfast with Great Uncle Ford. Again, we ate in silence.

After breakfast we made our way to the basement. Great Uncle Ford slowly went through a list with me.

"tent?"

"Check."

"Fire starter?"

"Check."

"Food?"

"Check."

It almost seemed like we were grandfather and grandson making final checks for a camping trip.

Great Uncle Ford suddenly stood up and said, "I have something for you."

He went to his study and brought back some clothe with a book on top.

He handed me the book. It was pitch black with a golden spine. On the cover it read "Dipper Pines."

"This is your own mystery journal. I want you to write down everything you discover. It may help you in the long run."

"And this here is the adventurer's cloak that I was planning on giving you yesterday on your 18th birthday. It's not much but it'll keep you warm at night and cool in the day."

He handed me the cloak.

I tried it on.

It was solid black and long enough to reach my ankle but not cause me to trip. It was light and wouldn't restrict my movements at all. It had a hood that when I put it on, it completely covered my face. On the left chest was a dark grey image of a pine tree.

I accepted the gifts and thanked him.

And then…..it was time.

We made our way to the portal area of the basement. We stopped at the line that showed where the portal would stop affecting things. I looked at Great Uncle Ford and I saw something that left me shook.

I saw guilt.

He felt guilty. But for what? Keeping me as his apprentice? Splitting me and Mabel? Or building the portal in the first place?

He suddenly looked towards me and I saw a tear streak down his face.

"Please… bring her home, Dipper..."

At that moment, I'd realized that Great Uncle Ford was in more pain than I. He'd been keeping all his worries to himself. Shouldering all the consequences of his actions for 5 years now. Constantly wondering if he'd done the right thing. And with that came pain. Lots of pain. And it seemed he couldn't hide it anymore.

I couldn't think of anything else to do. I just stared into his eyes. And for a while we just stood like that.

Then....

I hugged him.

During my entire time together with Great Uncle Ford we never really showed our emotions. We were always in a sort of student-teacher relationship. I knew that he cared for me, yes. But I thought it was the same way he cared about his research. Something useful to him. But it seems I was wrong. He cared more. So much more. He just hid it.

I hugged him as tightly as I could.

"I'll bring her back."

"....good…."

After a while, I let go. I couldn't stay any longer. It was time to save Mabel.

I walked to the portal and pulled the lever. The otherworldly sound started up and the lights began to flash. I felt myself being lifted off the ground. I turned my head to see my Great Uncle Ford one last time.

He stood in the same spot just behind the line. I waved goodbye and he waved back. Slowly as the world turned to black, I saw him mouth.

"Good luck"