•Forgotten• {a random feelsy fanfic from a reincarnated writer}

Greetings from the deepest depths of the Underworld—

ah, who am I kidding.

Anyways, yellow everyone! It's been so SO long since I've posted anything, am I right? Well, tbh, I haven't been able to check in for a couple of days to see how this community is going, andddd blame the effin' connection and my insufficiency of time. I've mentioned in my previous post that September was going to be a busy month for me, so I sure was.

I hate it when I'm not too active BC I miss my friends here *cri*

Ahem, anyways! I brought you a fanfic written by none other than me! Well, I've missed writing a one-shot with feels for everyone to devour, so I hereby present you this piece of writing :3

well, when I meant 'enjoy' I meant 'have fun crying'

WARNING: INTENSE FEELS. GRAB SOME TISSUES TO WIPE YOUR TEARS AWAY AND SOME SUPER GLUE TO FIX YOUR BROKEN HEARTS

Read on, fallers! ;)

—Forgotten—

Illuminaughty_816

•3rd POV•

"G-Grunkle Ford?" The worried brunette asks with a frown, eyes furrowed as she narrowed her caramel-colored orbs at her uncle with confusion clear on her gaze, observing the old man as he stood in front of the sink, frozen on the spot, with a bottle of sanitizing alcohol and a sponge grasped on his hands.

"What are you doing?"

"I—uhm..." The man stutters as he faced the young girl properly, a small smile of uncertainty and kindness portrayed on his face, his expression calm and evident of innocence. "I'm washing the plates, dear. I-Is something wrong?"

The brunette's face scrunches up with the concoction of bafflement, disgust, and bewilderment—all in one expression. She shook her head slowly as she neared him, and took the bottle of ethyl alcohol and the sponge from his hold with a perplexed stare at the lingering scent of the volatile liquid. Wringing the soft porous object to excrete the ethanol, she glances up at Stanford, who's stare was concentrated on his niece with befuddlement clear on his face.

"Use the dishwashing liquid, Grunkle Ford." The browned-hair girl states whilst she points the object she's referred with her small index finger, adding a flimsy smile of amusement as she hands him back the sponge. "Alcohol is effective for annihilating bacteria, but it harms the human body if intake occurs."

"O-Oh, right.." He chuckled quietly, scratching his neck with his right hand in an awkward stance. "I'm sorry, Mabel. I guess being stuck inside the portal for a long time affected my memory of doing regular chores."

Mabel laughs airily, a soft jovial smile embed on her rosy lips, completely forgiving his previous mistake. "It's okay, Grunkle Ford. People commit mistakes, but we tend to learn from it. But, you don't mind me helping you wash these plates all over again, do you?"

The old man smiles, pleased by her suggestion. "Of course, pumpkin."

It's been a lot of years.

The young pair of twins bursted through the doors and ran towards the front desk, ignoring the accusing glances of the people inside the infirmary upon the startling and abrupt sound they caused that cut through the eerie silence.

"Hi there," Mabel greets in a rushed manner, "What room is Stanford Pines in?"

"Give me a moment," the middle-aged woman scrutinized the papers on her desk, and looks up at the twins' wide anticipated brown eyes after landing a finger on the indicated name. "Room 186; third floor to the right. May I know your names, and what is your relation with the patient?"

"I'm Dipper Pines, and she's Mabel Pines." The brunet beside the girl replies hastily as he pointed towards himself and towards his twin, "I'm Stanford's nephew and she's his niece."

The clerk nods once, and with that, they took off once again, heading towards the specified room with anxious thoughts engraved on their minds that sent their hearts to drum in rapid beats, their palpitations seems to match their thoughts of immense anxiety.

Room 186. The indication seemed to intimidate them— to whatever grave news the room would inform them. Dipper noticed his twin's unsettled demeanor, and so, he timidly grabbed Mabel's hand, adding pressure as he tightened his hold on her frigid palm for reassurance, the brunette turns her head to the side with pained tears ebbing on her terrified caramel eyes—it hurt Dipper to see it.

"It'll be alright," Dipper forced himself to smile, and constrained himself to believe the statement itself. Mabel, despite her doubts and fears, nods slowly as she hoped that it was true.

Dipper knocked on the door twice with the back of his fingers, twisting the silver doorknob as soon as he heard the permission to go inside, his other hand still grasped firmly onto Mabel's as he led themselves inside the room.

Their Grunkle Stanley stood up upon seeing their presences and opened his arms, embracing the twins as soon as they came near, and knelt down as he sobs quietly, his face stained with his own sorrowful tears. The sound that he had emitted instantly broke the twins' hearts.

"G-Grunkle S-Stan?" Mabel stammers, woeful brown orbs widened with confusion and pain, eyes drifting from Stan beside her, and Ford laying on the white cushion underneath the alabaster sheets—the achromatic color was blinding. "What's going o-on with Grunkle F-Ford?"

Stan was silent for moment. He leaned back, placed his hands on their shoulders, tightening his grasps on them for reassurance like the way Dipper had shown to Mabel earlier. The atmosphere thickened with tension and anticipation, the twins was dreading to know, yet at the same time, they didn't want to.

Stan hesitated. He avoided the twins' tensed gazes, letting a few teardrops to slip past his eyes, before he summoned enough courage to tell them the truth that'd shatter their hearts into millions of pieces that it'll take them a long time to find the shards from their broken feelings—the attempt of building it up would still be evident of gaps and crevices, healing would take forevermore and fixing it back just the way it used to be before was nevermore.

"Stanford h-has Alzheimer's disease."

We shed a lot of tears.

The sense of paranoia made the young man insomniac, finding himself exiting their room with silent steps as he headed towards the kitchen to fetch himself a glass of water to soothe his perturbed senses. He stifled a gasp as he heard a silent thud from downstairs, placing a hand above his chest to calm his drumming heart.

He continued his destination, curiosity made him wonder of what caused the sudden noise out of the cold, eerie midnight ambience. It surprised him to see his Grunkle Ford, sat in front of the dining table with his palms on his grayish locks and his elbows propped above the mahogany table, his fingers gripping his hair in quick spasms.

"Grunkle Ford..." The brunet calls softly, the old man looking up with astonishment clear on his eyes as he saw his nephew. It shocked the young man to see the tiredness and dismal etched under Ford's eyes in a faded aubergine hue, hoary locks tousled messily as Ford had unwillingly dug his fingernails on his scalp and grazed them harshly down to his forehead, and sometimes gripping his hair in unforgiving grasps, pulling them away in a desperate attempt to keep his sanity from breaking apart.

"Maso— D-Dipper...I..why are y-you awake?" He asks in broken syllables, smiling nervously and his face contorted in a sudden frown as he watched the brunet walk towards him with a slight worried look on his facial expression, but despite that, he plastered a small smile on his visage to suppress the feelings of hurt underneath.

"I was thirsty, so I came down here to drink." Dipper replies, and with absolute courtesy, Ford stands up to fetch his nephew a glass of water to quench his thirst.

Dipper found himself regretting his answer.

As soon as the brunet saw the bowl that Ford had reached inside the kitchen cupboard, he immediately went up to him and placed a palm above the old man's forearm, causing him to tilt his head on the side to meet Dipper's disappointed stare.

"I-I..." Ford paused, facing the boy properly and his eyes skidding as he took a glimpse of the utensil on his left hand and back to his nephew, mild confusion clear on his befuddled expression. "Am I doing t-this wrong?"

It hurts the young man to hear such pure innocence from his uncle's voice—it ached his heart as he asked himself of what did Ford do to deserve this disorder.

With a tight smile, he reached for the bowl from his uncle's hold, placing it on the counter and reached for a cup. "I'll do it."

The ambience was thick with awkwardness as both watched the water pour down inside the cup as Dipper had tilted a pitcher towards its direction.

"Uhm," The brunet started out of nowhere, taking the slightly frigid cup with both of his hands, facing Ford with a flimsy smile, to hide his underlying emotions once again with a mask of a jocund expression. "The atmosphere's cold today, isn't it? I barely feel warmth out of these polar days." He chuckled dryly, taking an insignificant sip of his cup of water out of sheer uncomfortableness. However, Ford laughs airily, unaware of Dipper's thoughts.

"I agree. A hot of coffee would be relishing."

"Would you like some coffee, then?"

"That'd be nice. Thank you, Dipper."

"Anytime."

After a moment of making Ford's requested beverage, the two sat down in front of the dining table once more, setting their cups above the table and take a sip every now and then.

"So, uh..." Dipper trails off in a slight pause, choosing his right words to open a casual conversation with his Grunkle Ford just like they used to do way back—before Alzheimer's came into his life. "How are you, Grunkle Ford?"

It was a simple question that anyone could ask the other for them to know what they're feeling; for them to be aware of the thoughts that lingered stubbornly inside their minds, in a desperate attempt to help them in whatever ways that they could.

Ford stated blankly outside outside the window as if he was rendered speechless from Dipper's concerned question, and watched the trees' silhouettes sway timidly from afar, the black sky littered with luminescent stars that flickered brightly, and the crescent moon that shone upon the timberland that provided the area a faded ashen glow. The night was beautiful, but reality was horrible.

"I'm terrified, Dipper."

The brunet's caramel-colored eyes widened at his great uncle's statement, at loss of words, his vocabulary vanishing from the tip of his tongue as it faded into nothingness.

"I'm afraid that I'd lose my memories—the only things that make me smile whenever I reminisce them..I-I'm afraid that I'd forget my only family—the only people that matters the most to me...I'm afraid that I'd lose my sanity. I'm a-afraid that I'd lose everything."

Ford shut his dreary eyes as he lowered his head, pinching the bridge of his nose and felt his eyes sting, and not a moment later, tears slithered past his cheeks, his teardrops falling on the table in an inaudible plop, his heart wringing and tightening with pain.

"I'm t-terrified of m-myself, D-Dipper."

Dipper bit the insides of his cheeks, his heart clenching in utter sadness and remorse, his eyes ebbing with his own tears as well, but he failed to conceal their existence as they only slipped from his eyes down to his cheeks, throat tightening at his uncle's statements.

"G-Grunkle F-Ford..." Dipper swallows hard, wishing at the current moment that Mabel was here to comfort their uncle, because the brunette was good at it. But, it was him all alone. He didn't know what to say to ease his pain. "Let's g-go to sleep."

Ford shook his head, eyes widened in a haunted stare with tears continuously slipping from them. "I can't. I-I...I d-don't know how to. I f-forgot h-how to sleep."

The sentences rendered him speechless again. Alzheimer's was slowly making its way in effectiveness, and there was only a limited time for them to spend their seconds wisely with Ford before he'd lose grip from his sanity, and only they would cherish, treasure, and relish the remnants of the moments while it lasted.

"I-I'm sorry, Dipper. I'm s-sorry that you, Mabel, and Stanley had t-to suffer i-in the same s-sorrow a-as I am. All of you d-don't deserve to c-carry the burden t-that I caused."

Ford couldn't look at his nephew in the eyes—he felt like a coward, a fool in the eyes of many. His conscience was drowning his senses, making him submerge breathlessly in the abysmal depths of guilt.

"I j-just wished that M-Mabel pressed the b-button, instead."

The statement was enough to make Dipper sob aloud as he ran towards the bathroom, shutting the door tight and cried his heart out.

Time found its way to break us again.

"Ford?" Stanley beckons silently, calling out towards his twin brother who was missing for the past few minutes. Immense concern crept up to his senses, until he heard a strange whimpering noise nearby. Stanley felt him chest drum with slight anxiety, heading towards the direction of the sound quickened his pace. The sound directed him in front of their comfort room, and to conclude with finality, he pressed his ear onto hard surface of the wooden door.

"Ford.." He whispered, loud enough for his twin brother to hear on the other side of the door. He hoped for any response, but heard nothing but his faint sobs. With slight hesitation, he twisted the doorknob, narrowing his eyes around the place and heaved a small sigh of relief and disappointment when he saw Ford, hunched on the middle of the loo with horror plastered on his visage, his chest heaving up and down as he breathed hardly beneath his scruffy russet shirt. Stan approached him hurriedly, anxious of how Ford's acting. "Are you alright?"

Ford snapped his head towards Stan, eyes widened in utter terror as he released a strangled gasp, scrambling backwards with an accusing and frightened stare directed straight towards his twin.

"W-Who a-are y-y-you?!" He cried out, his strident voice ricocheting inside the bathroom. He looked so horrified—Stan saw so much fear in his eyes. "Wha— W-Why are y-you here?!"

Stan's eyebrows furrowed in a panicked expression, standing up and took two steps towards him, stopping in an abrupt halt when Ford continued to maintain a distance away from him. "I-I'm Stanley, Ford! I'm your twin brother!"

A baffled and horrified expression crossed the man's face upon hearing those words. He shook his head wildly, his glare never faltering from Stan's eyes. "N-No!! I d-don't—Y-You don't know m-me! Get a-away from me!!" He yelled loudly, panic seizing him a harsh grasp that he wasn't able to process the situation properly.

"F-Ford, you d-don't understand!" Stan contradicted desperately, his heart bleeding profusely of the thought that Hus twin brother, his best friend, forgot about him in a single blink.

The fate that the Gods have destined for them to face was unjustly done.

A pleading look masked on his face with a few pained tears blurring his vision, threatened to spill any moment as his heart constricted excruciatingly at the thought of Ford forgetting everything he witnessed beyond his wake; his achievements, his memories, his life—all in its entirety that he withheld inside his mind.

Stan swallows painfully, a teardrop unobtrusively sliding down his cheek, warming up the spots where it had slithered, and after a second, more follows after that, finding their escape as they outflow from his eyes.

"Ford..." Stan murmured softly in the most calmest time he could muster, despite his heart shattering beneath. "I'm S-Stanley; your twin b-brother. You have an A-Alzheimer's disease, and that's w-why you don't ."

It ached his heart too much—the name of the disease spills poison all over his heart and mind. How could a disorder inflict such horrible nightmares in reality?

Nothing was more excruciating than witnessing your loved one to lose all their memories as time . It was unbearable than losing all of it in a single blink, because then, Ford had to suffer mercilessly, and so does the rest of the Pines Family.

"We h-have a niece, named Mabel...she's such an angel..a-and she cares and l-loves wholeheartedly." Stan forced a bitter smile to his lips, describing his niece's characteristics from the heart in a feeble attempt for Ford to , just a flimsy little remnant of his forgotten memories. "We also have a n-nephew, named Dipper...he's a y-young b-brave man..he seemed like a m-miniature of you."

Ford was silent. He looked so hopeless, that it broke Stan's heart so much.

"We're y-your family, F-Ford.."

The harshness in Ford's eyes reverted back to plain fear, but confusion, uncertainty, and a small hint of sympathy was etched in his face, all in one concoction. His eyes were wide, and his gaze went onto the tiled floors, heaving softly as he tried to reminisce any source of nostalgia or deja vu about the people Stan had mentioned.

All he felt was emptiness— his mind devoid of memories.

"N-No..y-you're lying...I d-don't know—I don't h-have a brother, and n-niece and nephew..I'm n-not F-Ford...I-I..I don't know w-who I am..." He stammered confusedly, head turning to one side and the other, bewilderment crossing his facial features whilst he blinked in a blank stare. He fiddled with his thumbs awkwardly, his fingers clenching and unclenching in involuntary movements—he seemed like a child; absentminded, unaware, and lost at the moment. The sight made Stan's eyes well up with tears, sliding down once again as it ebbed and pinpricked his eyes that caused him to blink.

"F-Ford, I...."

Stan dropped onto his knees as he felt them weak, burying his face on his palms and hunched his back, fingertips pressing furthermore onto his skin with exertion as he sobbed loudly, emotions of sadness, anger, and sorrow squeezing his heart as it bled, breaths hitching hardly as if he was suffering from suffocation.

He was suffocating in pain, indeed.

"Wh—What d-did you e-ever d-do to deserve this?" He spoke brokenly, "I deserved t-this more t-than you d-do.."

The gaps between Stan's fingertips were the ageways of his pain, overflowing with the vehemence of his utter emotions as he cried remorsefully.

"I'm s-so sorry, F-Ford..."

His twin brother, meek and befuddled, continued to stare at Stan, the expression of confusion never ceased to disappear from his face.

We were forgotten.

A crisp zephyr brushed its fingertips against the skin of the brunette, the trees swaying timidly as they felt the similar sensation of the frigid breeze caressing the virid foliages in a gentle blow, allowing a few brittle leaves to be taken away by the calm winds. Her brown, dreary orbs stared on an overly joyous family with a dull stare as she was sat on a bench nearby the hospital, wondering that hers could be the same, but the Gods must have despised them that They threw the Pines Family an obstacle that they'd never through.

She wallowed in sadness, her fingernails digging furthermore into her eburnean skin in quick spasms upon instinct, her clinched palms gripping onto the other's arms, etching faded erythraean marks on the certain spots.

Suddenly, she felt a familiar presence close to her, causing her to turn her head to the side, only to see her twin brother with a small smile directed towards her. She didn't smile back—she thought that it didn't feel right to smile at depressing times like this. She avoided his gaze and looks down at her shoes, causing Dipperys smile to cease with a disappointed frown, but understood his twin's emotions as he only smiled in acknowledgement and didn't expect her to return the same hopeful expression he had shown.

Dipper didn't know what to say. He simple sat beside her, as if his mere presence was enough for her comfort. His palms were on his knees and for a quick second he parted his lips to speak, but his words disappeared that it rendered him speechless in the end.

He caught a glimpse of her sullen face, and realized that she was not the Mabel he knew in his whole life. Throughout the hard times, it was Mabel's instinct to console the heartbroken, to heal bruised souls, to cheer up the sorrowful. She used to be optimistic, jovial, and high-spirited.

But now, she was the image of a hopeless soul, grotesquely marked in intricate scars of an excruciating reality onto her bruised heart.

All of a sudden, Dipper's thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the quiet sobs Mabel had emitted beside him, her chest rising and falling spasmodically as she slumped on her seat, her face buried on her palms as she sobbed whilst tears escaped her eyes. Dipper felt this heart wrench with pain as he immediately placed an arm around Mabel, his other hand clasping her forearm in a grip of reassurance—the only things he's been giving inadequately.

"D-Dipper, I'm scared..." She cried painfully, struggling to speak properly but only came out as broken words. "I'd r-rather have Grunkle Ford without a single m-memory of us, than him being taken a-away forever. H-His memories are precious, but his life m-matters more. I d-don't w-want him to go, Dipper. It s-scares me a lot to witness him h-heaving for his l-last breaths. I c-can't bear the thought of him l-leaving—I just can't.... "

Dipper felt his sting and his sight blurring into a faded scenery of the area and his crestfallen twin sister, the sensation lasted for a few moments before it ebbed away, leaving the stains of pain to dampen his cheeks.

"H-Hey, look at me, M-Mabel. Look a-at me..." Dipper lifted up her chin and made her face him, the sight of her pained visage stained with tears of sorrow made his heart ache as her lamented caramel orbs stared through his. "It's a-alright...We'll all b-be alright. Just, h-hang on to that s-small hope that Grunkle F-Ford will be f-fine, y-yeah?"

Mabel shook her head slowly in disbelief, tears sliding down her cheeks continuously. "It's not alright, D-Dipper. Grunkle F-Ford lost all o-of his memories and h-he's dying... It's n-not alright..I've lost hope already, and t-the worst t-thing about all o-of this is that we j-just weep out here and it doesn't change anything...We c-can't help him..He's helpless, a-and w-we're hopeless.."

The brunet swallowed back the urge to cry out loud, shaking his head internally as he refused to believe such conclusion. He grabbed her shoulders softly as he made her face him properly. "Don't s-say that, Mabel...H-How could you? The doctors said that there's a s-small chance that he'd survive..H-He isn't terminal..Just h-hope for the best—for y-you, me, and Grunkle S-Stan....Please?"

She sobbed, inhaling and exhaling brokenly as she heard him speak so gently in a voice full of fragility that she almost burst out into an ocean of tears. "I w-want to believe that—I r-really do.. But, w-what if...." She paused with uncertainty, hesitating with reluctance evident after she'd interrupted herself. Dipper noticed her hesitancy, and shook his head slowly.

"He wouldn't..." Dipper murmured quietly, "J-Just..just trust me on this, o-okay?" He swallowed, smiling forcibly throughout the pain, even though he would collapse and burst into tears himself. But for Mabel's sake, he just had to do so. He'd do anything for Mabel to be out of her depressive state. "Hey, w-why don't you be the optimistic, a-and the bubbly Mabel I knew?"

Mabel can't help but smile lightly, a flimsy curve of her pale rosy lips portraying from her face, and Dipper smiles triumphantly, pleased to see her smile. The brunette sniffs and wrapped her arms her twin brother's neck, hugging her close as she continued to sob quietly, but her soul felt lighter as she only cried out the remnants of her bitter thoughts that lingered stubbornly inside her head.

"Hey, D-Dip?"

"Mhm?"

"Do y-you promise that Grunkle F-Ford lives?"

Dipper felt a sting of regret upon saying that positive statement, because he wasn't exactly sure of what Fate would bring them. If he was very certain about it, he wouldn't hesitate to tell his twin who'd rejoice about that fact. But, he wasn't. He didn't know if Ford survives for sure.

But, he also didn't want to break Mabel's heart by telling her that he couldn't promise, because he was the one giving her hope. With an airy sigh to the summer breeze, he embraced her as tight as he could, smiling through his previously shed tears.

"I promise."

Mabel felt herself smile one more, her brown eyes lighting up with small sparks of hope as her gaze drifted above, watching the leaves twirl as them on the ground with gentleness.

He marked a grotesque scar.

The frigid ambience around the area seemed to match their emotions, as raindrops poured all over them from the gray ominous clouds that covered the sky, trickling down from transparent umbrellas that towered above the heads of the people with mournful expressions etched on their faces as they bowed their heads in respect. Everyone wore black clothes—the sight of them altogether in one place made them seem like coal in a distance far away. They were overwhelmed by the emotions of hurt and pity that they can't help but shed a tear or two, wiping them away quickly in hopes of hiding the stains of pain.

Stanley bit his lower lip with a fist on his lips, tears streaming down his face as he forced his sobs in, his chest heaving up and down as he breathed with difficulty, feeling his heart shatter upon the realization that his twin brother was gone.

Ford was gone.

After thirty years of isolation, he successfully got him back after the immense efforts and trials and errors. But at the current moment, he knew he had to endure the rest of his life without him by his side like he used to be before.

He was back to square one.

Because, he never made it this far.

Mabel gripped on Dipper's shoulder, choking on her sobs that wrecked her broken soul. Dipper faced her, tears ebbing from his woeful brown orbs that stared through his twin sister's eyes.

Mabel swallowed hard, pounding her fists weakly on Dippers chest with anger and disappointment clear on her lamented glare, her own hot tears racing down towards her cold damp cheeks as her face was contorted in internal pain.

"You—You..p-promised...." She spoke brokenly, her vision blurring into a faded scenery as her tears made her sight unclear, and she blinked, overlapping her previously shed tears with new ones upon the action. "Y-You promised m-me h-he'd stay...."

Dipper saw so much betrayal from her own saddened stare— it broke his heart furthermore to know that it was his own fault for making her believe towards something that he was never sure of. He regretted promising her that their beloved Grunkle Ford would survive.

"I-I'm sorry...." He choked in his words, because apologizing was useless at the current moment. He wanted to wrap his arms around her in a comforting embrace, but they remained motionless on his sides. "I'm s-so sorry, M-Mabel...I d-didn't—"

"Y-You l-lied to me..." Mabel cried softly as she'd interrupted him, her sobs building up a lump inside Dipper's throat, making it harder for him to breathe because of guilt burning his heart in fervor flames.

Mabel remained her angered fists in his chest as she'd stopped, retracting her arms and took a step backwards— away from Dipper, as if he was a contagious disease that everyone was to avoid.

"I didn't m-mean t-to hurt you emotionally...." It wrecked him so much to see her standing away from him—he needed someone to be there for him; to console him, to murmur soothing words to heal his broken heart, to cry out his pain with someone else. He wanted someone to sympathize him. It broke his heart to see Mabel blatantly angered by his lies, in which Dipper was only trying to comfort her in those desperate times. It was partly his fault, but then again, blaming himself only worsened his doleful emotion.

"I r-really am sorry, M-Mabel..p-please..."

Please stay with me...

Mabel shook her head in disbelief, tears brimming in her eyes and they spilled easily, and she ran away, the rain drenching her entirety as she stepped out of the shade. Dipper wanted to approach her, to provide the comfort she needed despite him craving for it, but his feet remains unmoving.

Her words hurt more than her fists ever would.

Stan noticed the brunette running away and chased the poor girl, leaving Dipper to himself; all alone, in the midst of the cemetery, in front of Grunkle Ford's gravestone whilst he held the transparent umbrella and stared achingly as the teardrops from the heavens trickle down to his Grunkle's headstone.

"Can y-you..." He placed a fist atop his lips, holding in his sobs as his eyes brimmed with tears and slide down his cheeks, feeling his throat tighten as he forced himself not to cry aloud. He swallowed so hard, in a desperate attempt to drown out his sobs. He hoped that Grunkle Ford's soul was lingering around the place, listening as Dipper begged with a shattered heart;

"C-Can you just c-come b-back? P-Please?"

You left us behind;

It's been a few weeks after their beloved Grunkle Ford ed away, leaving the people inside the Shack restless and dispirited; devoid of anything mirthful, as the rest of the Pines family grieved for his death.

Dipper left the eerie household, his hands deep in the pockets of his gray shorts as he trudged forwards with a blank expression plastered on his face as his eyes skimmed over to the forest that stood on his wake, watching as they sway from the gentle blows of the crisp winds. It took him a little while to reach his destination that he had in mind, smiling slimly as he saw him stood amongst the crowd, as if he was the only one that matters at the certain area.

"Hey, Grunkle Ford.." He murmured softly, kneeling in front of him with one knee. "H-How are you? Good, I hope?"

He was silent for a moment, as if hoping for a faint whisper of Ford's response, but all he heard was the waft of frigid air breezing over his entirety and towards the trees that surrounded the place.

"I really hope t-that you us n-now..." He spoke quietly, grazing his fingers on the rough surface of Ford's headstone, wiping out the remnants of the heaven's tears that dampened it—which, in his aspects, would be useless since the skies were dark once again, and it is expected to rain. He shrugs timidly.

"God could've restored your memories, p-perhaps?"

He smiled flimsily with a tinge of hopefulness, and slowly reached inside his navy blue vest. "I-I brought you this..." He took out a worn-out pink album, with the words 'Summer Memories' embed atop of the thick cover. He placed it carefully on the ground, as if it was made of glass; precious and must be handled with great care. "I borrowed this from Mabel..purposely for my visit. She t-told me to leave it here, in case y-you want to see what's inside."

"This album is pretty s-special for us...This was the one thing t-that slowly retrieved Grunkle Stan's memories w-when he lost them back at Weirdmageddon..He had to, y-you know? Apparently, he had to t-take that risk to save humanity a-against an all p-powerdul dream demon named Bill Cipher who wrecked havod upon the town, in which you used t-to claim as your Muse, but turns out to b-be a traitor in the end.."

He trails off, his flimsy smile turning out bitter as he reminisced the memories they shared, caressing the torn covers delicately as he ran his fingers carefully over the hard album cover.

"I-I brought you this in hopes for y-you to as w-well," he swallowed as he stuttered, feeling his heart sting his eyes and he blinked to avoid them from dropping, releasing a breath afterwards. "Y-You should flick a page or two s-sometime—even though t-there are some embarrassing pictures of m-me as Mabel captures an image anytime she pleases. It's what m-made this album special a-and memorable..."

All of a sudden, a thunderclap bursted through the silent ambience, startling the brunet at the sound. After a while, heavy raindrops poured from the skies—the heavens seemed to be devastated again. However, Dipper didn't move an inch from his spot, only lowering his head down and allowed the rain to drench his entirety with its profound sadness, allowing a few of his to slip past his eyes that blended in with the raindrops that trickled its way towards his face. He watched the album absorb the fluids, distorting the cover and probably the whole contents itself.

Suddenly, he felt no more raindrops tapping on his skin, but saw that it was still raining around him. Turning around, he spotted his Grunkle Stan, holding up the transparent umbrella they owned as it towered among them.

"G-Grunkle S-Stan..." He stammered, but turns out, it was his own sobs overlapping his sentences that made him stutter. Stan sighs with a melancholic expression masked on his face, as he knelt beside Dipper, wrapping a protective arm around his nephew's shoulders.

"You know what, kid?" Stan spoke, his eyes staring down at his twin brother's gravestone with an emotionless gaze, although in his heart, he felt it torn itself in half, as he realized that he stood in front of Ford's grave. He never though such day would come by so fast. It devastated him inside—he thought that he couldn't stand the pain anymore.

"You remind me so much of Ford—i-it hurts me in the end." Stan stated with a lopsided smile as he took a sideward glance to catch a glimpse of his nephew, who felt his heart constrict of how he heard so much emotions from Stan's voice. "We were opposites—just like you a-and Mabel—but it was what made our bond stronger."

Stan felt the walls of his dam weaken, but he continued nonetheless. "Time is short, Dipper. You'd never realize what's important 'til it's gone."

"Y-You hated Grunkle Ford's guts when you brought him back in the first place," Dipper implies with a small bittersweet smile upon the vivid memory, but it no longer stayed, for he found himself frowning again, back in reality. "But, y-you loved him, right?"

Stan scoffs lightly, "Of course, I did. He's still my brother, after all. Despite the challenges that stood on our ways, we still managed to get throughout the obstacles."

Dipper sniffs, his heart weighing down with sadness that he thought he couldn't bear so much dismal anymore. "I m-miss him so much, Grunkle S-Stan..."

Stan wiped the corned of his right eye hastily as he felt a single tear sliding down on the side of his face, sighing shakily as he nodded once with agreement. "I-I do, too."

"D-Do you think Grunkle F-Ford is listening to us right n-now?"

Stan met his nephew's hopeful and saddened stare as he looks up at him, feeling his eyes sting and felt his tears slip past his eyes down towards his cheeks, but he only smiled sadly, hugging the brunet close to his side and rubbed his head on his chestnut locks.

"After all t-those anomalies we've faced, you've d-doubted the existence of ghosts?" He added a scoff of bafflement, grinning dryly. "Aye, kid. He's here, and you gotta believe it."

Dipper felt himself smile beneath his tears, leaning onto his uncle's shoulder and he breathed out as he hummed quietly in response.

"And he's told me," Stan interrupted out of nowhere, causing the brunet to look up to meet his uncle's serious stare. "To always love your sister. No matter what happens, always be there for her. S-Spend every minute with Mabel, because y-you wouldn't have another twin sister as great as her. Not everyone is blessed with a-and amazing sibling, and not everyone is given enough time to cherish the moments while they're s-still there."

Dipper nods slowly upon hearing his heartfelt statements, shedding a few tears of his own but didn't bother to wipe them away as they only kept coming. "Were y-you satisfied of the m-memories you both made together? A-As twin brothers?"

Stan went frigid, lips parting in agape as he was unsure of what to say. "I....I-I don't know.."

No. Time was insufficient.

"I wish G-Grunkle Ford would just come back.." Dipper sobbed softly, burying his face on his palms. "Wha— W-Why did he h-have to go?"

Stan felt his heart burn immensely, a few tears slipping accidentally and he hastily wiped them away, patting Dipper's shoulder and ed him to stand to his feet. "L-Let's go home."

He did, in fact, avoided the question his nephew had previously asked, because he found it too complex to answer.

Dipper nodded and sniffs, blinking back his tears and turned around as Stan kept a reassuring grip on his shoulder whilst they started to walk away, the umbrella firmly clutched on the old man's palm as the rain continued to pour down in all its might. They left the cemetery with saddened thoughts and broken hearts, the album was left behind to be dampened by the tears from the ones up above; hoping for Ford to flick through the pages of profound memories and reminisce them in a feeble attempt to regain what's rightfully his.

Memories.

All was forgotten, and the struggles throughout the disease was rotten.

The pieces of our broken hearts are difficult to find.

____________

#CuratorReview

Anyway, this fanfic took me AgEs to finish, and to post it here because I'm so busy in school and I'm literally dYiNg. Good news is, I'm on a semester break for two weeks!

Also, this'll be a quick and blunt announcement of mine. I don't think I'll be continuing the prompt requests.

BUBUBUBUTT

The Things Change AU would still have to wait 'til summer comes by. So, I apologize a lot for this. It saddens me to stop, but meh, it's not like I have a choice :'P

Comments and thoughts are appreciated!! Thank you so much for reading, and have a good day/night!

—Love, Lumi :heart: