Stan couldn't help, but yell. "No! No! No!"

He approached the two teens and grabbed the boy by his shoulders. The boy, obviously frightened by Stan's tight grip, had nearly fallen to the ground. "Where is he!?" Stan demanded, loudly.

"Wait, what?" The boy stepped backwards, away from the strange, frightening, old man. "W-who?"

Mabel and Dipper stood their ground, keeping a safe distance away from the fuss between the two other kids and their Grunkle. They stayed quiet and watched.

"Where's my brother?!" Stan repeated. His voice getting caught in his throat, along with a couple of tears.

"Look, we're just trying to get to Mewni." The girl informed him. "We don't know where we are or who exactly you're looking for, but we seriously need to get moving. So if you don't mind-"

"Grunkle Stan! What's going on?" Dipper yelped before the girl could finish.

Stan turned around and for the first time since the portal reached zero, he got a good look at the twins. Dipper was on the verge of tears, just like him. Mabel, for the first time in her whole life, was not like herself. Her face showed someone else. A person who is silent and shy. That wasn't the Mabel that Stan remembered. Mabel was like, well, a shooting star, that stands out more than all the other stars in the night sky. Her unique personality had been locked up inside herself. Her smile of braces did not show.

Stan closed his eyes, unable to look at the kids' faces, which made his own heart ache. He cared too much about these poor children to see them this way. What had he done? He needed to fix this.

As he drew closer and closer to them, the kids stared up at him, simultaneously.

"Mabel...Dipper?" He started, but his throat swelled up. He didn't know what to say. He let silent seconds go by and then he pulled the two kids into him, hugging them. "I never meant to hurt you, kids. The truth is...I don't know where I would be without you guys. I..." Another lengthy pause. "I love you, kids."

Stan couldn't hold it back any longer. He was now crying. Mabel followed along. Once she started, she couldn't stop. Her cry was heavy and full of pain. But with that pain, came relief.