●Garden●Piedmont High●

Third Persons POV

Blank eyes stared unblinking at the thick and dark foreboding clouds in the sky. His knees and hands dug painfully into the soil, but Dipper didn't feel any of this. His inner turmoil was overshadowing this, but the funny thing is he didn't know why.

Why was this here?

Why did he feel this way?

Why did his sister change?

Why did his Grunkle change?

Where was Grunkle Sta-?

He suddenly felt an intense burning coursing through his body attempting to push through his skin. With a pained gasp, he curled up on the dirty ground floor.

The teen grit his teeth as to not scream or attract any attention to himself. His blood felt like lava attempting to burst out from his skin. It was everywhere, spreading at a rapid pace from his chest. In a feeble attempt to sooth the pain, he tried to control his breathing and relax his convulsing body. His eyes closed as another wave of agony wracked his body. His mind felt like millions of tiny parasites trying to claw its out from his skull.

His vision swam, blurry dark spots danced in his murky perception of conciousness. His numb ear picked up a scrunch of wet soil and branches. An old hunched man wearing a bright yellow rain coat, an old fuchsia hat casting a shadow on his damp face. The suspicious man shifted in his vision before he promptly fainted from the excruciating pain.

______________________

Dirt scrunched up underneath his boots as he slowly walked away from the shadows underneath the vegetation of the area. He anxiously bit his lip as he watched the young man, only a few meters from him writhe in pain, before fainting with one last pained gasp as the pressure of his wild and uncontrolled magic flattened his very being.

With quiet and hesitant steps, he quickly shuffled closer to the unconcious teen. The coated man twitched with both concern and urgency. He clutched both of Dippers sleeve clad arms gently and hoisted him up carefully onto his stiff shoulder.

The mans hood nearly fell as he shifted the young Pines into a more comfortable position for both of them. Huffing in annoyance, the man bent slightly downwards to return the hood into its original position.

Exhaling quietly, the man then proceeded to stealthily leave the garden. Tired and dull eyes sparked in another spike of annoyance as he observed the small exit he had to go through to leave this damned school. He neared the broken opening of the school walls, being extra careful as to not jostle his fragile cargo.

Sighing in relief to be finally out, the man quickly ran towards the forest in the other side of the road. The man shifted Dipper onto his back, to mask their situation as stupid friends who drank themselves silly during the day. Thankfully the man had enough experience conning and lying to fake a tipsy stumble as he crossed the street with rushed movements.

Sometimes people are stupider than you think. 

Fortunately for them, both he and the kid had their hoods on, since he had enough sense to pull up the kids earlier.  When a speeding car barrelled speedily towards them, the man rushed to the other side, but not forgetting his fake stumble and a exaggerated yell of  " Wutz wer yer goin man!"

The man grinned as he entered the forest's mouth. But speaking honestly here, this area was actually still part of the local park here in Piedmont. The property ran a few hundred miles and there was hardly any people in this part of the surrounding area, except for the wannabe health crazed people. But in both their cases, it was the perfect hideout. Plus he managed to snatch and memorise a detailed map of the place, which is why getting lost was highly unlikely.

He glanced behind him to check if anyone was watching them, thankfully the rains cover was enough to have all of the people walking about to focus on anything but their surroundings.

Plus school was still in session.

Turning back, he bolted towards the shadows of the trees. He ran as smoothly as he could, to not wake or disturb the exhausted teen. The kid needed the extra rest after what he was about to tell him.

__________________

The first thing Dipper felt in hazy emergance from unconsciousness was the feeling of emptiness in his chest. His breath came slow as their limbs gained their feeling. The first of his senses to recover was his touch. The rough texture pressed against his face felt very uncomfortable. But his grogginess still outweighed the feeling of getting up . Even if his eyelids remained closed, the teens eyes shifted rapidly behind them.

As his body finally regained all of its feeling, the next thing he noticed was the ashy smell of the unknown room. The teens mind flared in alarm, but luckily his body remained deathly still in his panic, hopefully fooling his captor, when he knew he was in possibly dangerous situation. Dipper didn't dare move .

After what felt like hours he heard a sigh, with what sounded like, annoyance. Somehow this gesture was weirdly familiar

" Kid just get up. Its obvious your awake, your hands keep twitching." The man, definitely a man, sighed---Fondly?

"You gotta stop that nervous habit of yours if you wanna keep your head in a real kidnapping accident."

Dipper opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was an old, rotting ceiling, and bolted up quickly. He whipped his head around until his eyes landed on the rigid body across from him, sitting almost casually on a creaky stool, if it wasn't for his stiff stance the old man may have had pulled it off. He laughed quietly in the privacy of his mind.

His mind suddenly reeled back at his last train of thought.

What?

As far as he knew he didn't know this gruffly dressed man. The man's loose grey hoodie hung on his body, and his black slacks looked unwashed and well-worn. He could see a bright yellow coat in the corner of his eye, in the young Pines mind flashed to a blurry memory of a man in that exact yellow coat at the edge of his vision before he passed out.

Dippers suspicion grew.

His unshaven face looked tired and the bags under his eyes confirmed the teens theory.  His grey hair also looked dirty, and by the man's squinting eyes, the guy probably needed glasses.

But, pass the man's stressed visage, he noticed something familiar. Familiar, like the one who worked under Shack, but this man's eyes held a weight that Ford would never be caught carrying again, not after Bill. He knew his Grunkle, and knows that he would rather let others deal will his problems or blame others for his hardships, he would scoff at his problems and point his six fingers to the other guy. Mainly Dipper.

But this man...

___________________

At the kids silence the man frowned in apprehension. He rolled his shoulders in an attempt to ease his nervousness. He knew that calculating look in the kids eyes, his tense form lessened a smidge since that look often says that he neither against or with you.

The man still had a chance.

The thought of his old home soured the man's mood slightly, but he mentally shook his head mentally to snap himself out of it. That's why he was here in the first place, to save his nephew and get his beloved tourist trap back.

" Look kid, i know your probably confused or panicked or scared, or some shizzle. But you need to calm down and take a deep breath, i won't hurt you, as cliche and dumb as that sounds." He offered a crooked smile, attempting to reassure the kid. Feelings were never his specialty. He was more of the cool and stealing great uncle.

The kid finally gave a reaction, Dipper looked up at the old man and laughed quietly. The man of course knew the kids situation, he had been observing him since he woke up in a literal ditch. You would have thought of something original, instead he threw his twin in a freaking ditch. It wasn't a new idea, but the guy was just a bastard.

"Feelings were never your thing Grunkle Sta-" Dipper screeched suddenly and his hands flew onto his head. Clutching his head tightly, the kid convulsed on the old couch, his face scrunched in pain.

The man sprung to his feet and rushed to the suffering teen.

_______________________

Night had already fallen when Dipper's head splitting headache finally calmed down. Dipper panted harshly through his mouth. His eyes almost rolled to the back of his head in relief, it was finally over he thought. His worn eyes glanced at the fussing old man that somehow triggered his pain. The teen decided he needed to talk to the old man immediately.

Dipper closed his eyes and took calming breaths. Mentally counting from 1 to 10. So after a few minuets when the pain subsided to a bearable level, the young Pines unfurled himself from his fetus position and sat back tightly the, what he identified, as an old ratty couch.

"Who are you?" Dipper asked in a soft voice.

The man looked up from his hunched position and smiled sadly towards him, and hunched further into himself.

"That's probably a great place to start this rodeo." The man chuckled nervously, eyes darting to anywhere but Dipper.

"My name is Stanley Pines, Stanford Pines' twin, your other Grunkle." The man, Stanley, attempted to smile but it came out to be more like a grimace.    

"Your a smart kid Dipper, you must have noticed how different your Great uncle Ford and sister have been. How different you are." Stanley clasped his hands together, as if to prove a point.

There were so many holes in this statement. So many question flashing his Dippers mind, so many doubts, everything was so wrong.

Wrong

"Mr. Stanley." Dipper started, it felt weird to call the older man Mr. Stanley, but it felt even weirder to call him Mr. Pines. "I'll be blunt with this, I can't trust you and I don't know you. But I am willing to confirm your statement." Dipper paused, as he contemplated on his next words.

"But how? How do you know all of these things? As far as I know, and if my memory serves me correctly, I have never met you before. And Fords twin? How is that possible?" Stan sighed heavily and aged a decade in front of the young teen.

"As much as I'd like to tell you kid, it wouldn't work." Aged eyes finally looked straight through the younger. The teen immediately wished he didn't. The old man's eyes were haunted by shadows that his old shoulders have grown used to carrying. Sorrow and regret rose in the forefront. However, the smile creases told a different story. This man used to have a good life. The question was, what happened?

"Kid do you at least remember the memory erasing gun that made old man McGucket all crazy in the noggin right?" The man asked, hopeful for a few moments before sinking back into his melancholic state.

"Yeah. But we destroyed that thing when we killed B-" Dipper yelped as another shot of pain struck through him, but this time it originated in his chest rather than his mind. For that he was half grateful.

Stanley smiled sadly at the teen, as if understanding his predicament.

"Its probably better not to say his name for now. You can bear saying my name because I was not magically tied to you as Bill was. Maybe also because the stupid duo, Mabel and Ford, though me dead because they threw me into a ditch bleeding for my life. Luckily for me, your little forest friend helped me and nursed me back to health." Explained Stanley as he stood up and disappeared through a door behind the couch. After a few minuets, Stanley came back with, thankfully, a clean cup of water. He passed the cut to Dipper, who chugged the liquid down greedily, before breathing out in relief.

When he looked back to Stan, he was already hunching back on his stool.

"Forest friends you say? The multibear?  " Dipper questioned.

" Yup. That old lump of fur kept singing that girly song you used to sing in the shower when you were twelve. Disco Girl, right?" At Dippers nod, Stanley smiled warmly before dipping his chapped lips back to a straight line.

"Back to our original discussion. Yes it was destroyed, but Ford, that stupid genius, rebuilt it to be better. It was smaller, but definitely stronger with a more pocket sized memory container. The container used to be a bottle sized glass, now your memories is stored in a  easily hidden microchip. With the gnome's help, we managed to locate it. But the problem is that its with Mabel, in her obnoxiously pink shooting star headband to be exact." Stanley complained, not even hiding his annoyance.

"Memories?" Dipper muttered to himself. Of course. But how does this man know all of this.

" How do you know all of this?" Dipper voiced.

"I was there kid. I was there when they erase your memories. Almost died too, you wouldn't believe what methods they used just to get me out of the way." Stanley said solemnly.

"Why? Why take my memories?" Dipper asked, trying to hide his desperation to know, why?

" Because they are the ones benefitting from it."