Summary:
The gang solves a murder
Steven smiled at Stan, "Yeah! He roars and this ball of light come out of his mouth and makes a portal! It has a short range, though. But once, he took us to the moon! He was really tuckered out after that."
Stan stood still for a beat before seeming to deflate a little bit, "Oh."
Steven glanced out the window to now see Dipper riding Lion.
"Want to come with me to look at Lion?" Steven asked
Stan sighed, "No, I think I'm going to get a cup of coffee."
Steven watched Stan walk into the kitchen and began pouring a cup. Man, he's really not okay.
"Mr. Pines-"
Stan raised a hand, stopping Steven, "I'll be fine. I just… need at be alone right now. Also, you can call me Stan. I don't mind."
Steven nodded, realizing now was not the time to pry, and instead went outside to say hi to Lion. As he approached, Dipper slid off of Lion's back.
"Wow, Connie, that was really cool," Dipper said, inspecting Lion.
Connie gave a little laugh, "I'm glad you liked it!" She noticed Steven walking up. She walked over, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards Lion.
"Hey, kids, want to see another cool trick?" She asked.
Mabel and Dipper nodded.
"Pull something out of Lion's mane," Connie whispered to Steven. Steven winked at Connie.
"Hey, guys, check this out," he said before putting a hand into Lion's mane. A ring of light appeared around Steven's arm as he reached deeper and deeper, trying to find something.
"Hold on," he said before taking a deep breath and crawling into Lion's man, with half of his body still in Gravity Falls. He saw his mother's flag and grabbed that. He pulled back and held it up for the twins to see. Both of their mouths were wide open.
Dipper was the first to speak, "Woah…"
"Pretty cool right?" Connie said, sounding a little smug.
Mabel's eyes widened, "Can I go in?!"
Steven chuckled.
"Sorry, I'm the only one able to do that," Steven said, holding out the flag for the twins to see.
Dipper delicately touched the fabric, afraid it might tear. This flag just got pulled from a lion's mane. He didn't know what it was made of.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Well," Steven hesitatingly looked at Connie. She smiled, letting him know she was there for him. He took a deep breath before continuing. "My mom was the leader of a rebellion six thousand years ago. And this was the flag they waved as they rushed into battle.
Steven held the flag up high and watched it flutter in the cool night breeze.
"Wait," Dipper tore his eyes away from the flag and stared quizzically at Steven. "Six thousand years? That's impossible."
Mabel lightly hit her brother's shoulder, "He's half Gem, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Dipper places a finger on his chin, coming up with a new question.
"What is a Gem exactly? And who was your mom fighting?" He asked.
"A gem is a being that's made of light that is projected from different types of gemstones. And unless their gems get shattered, they're basically immortal," Steven explained.
"Are you immortal?" Mabel asked.
He has wondered the same thing, "I don't know. My gem heals me every time I hurt myself. We won't know if I'm immortal until I die."
"That's like Schrodinger's Cat!" Dipper exclaimed.
Steven looked at dipper, confused, "What's Schrodinger's Cat?"
"Schrodinger's Cat is a thought experiment where basically the idea is; if you put a cat in a box with a timer set to release poison into the box when it goes off, then close the box, you wont know if the cat is still alive, or if the timer broke and the poison wasn't released. So until you open the box, the cat is both dead, and alive," Connie explained, stepping into the conversation.
"Woah that's kinda cool," Steven said, "But also kind sad. Poor cat."
"Don't worry Steven, it's a thought experiment and is purely theoretical. No one actually put a cat in a box," Connie said, giving him a small pat to comfort him.
"So I'm both immortal and mortal at the same time? That's... confusing," Steven frowned.
"Technically," Dipper cut in, "We are all immortal and mortal at the same time. We don't know which is which until we die. If we die."
Steven smiled, at least he wasn't the only one.
Dipper looked at the flag that Steven now held at his side.
"So... who was your mom fighting?"
Steven tensed up before taking a breath to calm himself down. He's had over a year of therapy, he can do this.
"Technically, herself?" He answered hesitantly. He waited for the twins to respond. When no response came, only confused looks, he continued.
"So my mom was one of the rulers of this planet called Homeworld. That's where Gems are from. Her sisters all had colonies on other planets, but she had none. When she was finally given a colony, Earth, she realized what they were doing to colonize it was destroying the organic life on Earth. So she tried to tell her sisters that she didn't want Earth anymore. Her sisters didn't listen. So, she assumed the identity of Rose Quartz, a soldier sent to colonize Earth. She led a rebellion against Pink Diamond. So, technically fighting herself." Steven took another breath. His hand had started to shake a bit, but now that he had started, he might as well finish. "But when the other Diamonds, her sisters, weren't letting her retreat, she faked her own shattering. She managed to win the war after that, but the Diamonds launched one last attack, turning all the Gems on Earth into monsters. She was only able to save Garnet and Pearl, her two close friends, from the blast. They spent the next six thousand years defeating those corrupted Gems and bubbling them until she could find a way to restore them."
Steven turned around and took a few deep breaths, calming his nerves.
"Bubbling-?" Dipper had started to ask, but was cut off by Mabel whispering into his ear.
Connie reached out and grabbed Steven's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze to let him know that she was there. He gently squeezed it back. He had missed Connie. He crawled back inside of Lion and put the flag back by the tree. When he came out, Dipper asked another question.
"What happened to the corrupted Gems?"
Steven felt tired. Just telling that story seemed to emotionally drain him a bit.
"We managed to find a way to uncorrupt them. But I'll answer your questions later. I think they'll be asking you questions now," Steven said, pointing to the cop car that had just pulled up to the Mystery Shack, lights on.
The twins looked at each other before running back to the shack.
"Are you okay?" Connie asked.
Steven looked back at her. She looked beautiful in the soft moonlight. Her eyes sparkled as they reflected the thousands of stars in the night sky. Her brown hair danced lightly in the midnight summer breeze. Everything about her seemed perfect to Steven, and he couldn't help thinking just how lucky he was to be her partner. It made the anxiety of telling the twins about the Diamonds lessen. She looked at him with love and concern in her eyes. Steven smiled.
"I'm okay. My therapist told me that it's healthier to acknowledge the past versus ignore it."
Steven looked at the Shack before looking back at Connie, "Besides, I have a feeling Dipper wouldn't stop until I gave him a satisfying answer. I don't blame him, he's just a kid."
Connie gave Steven a hug.
"Just making sure," she said, a smile in her voice. She pulled back before leaning forward to give Steven a soft kiss on the lips.
"I love you, Steven," she said.
Steven kissed her forehead.
"I love you too Connie."
Lion walked over to Steven and licked his hand. Steven looked down at him.
"Blink if this means you love me," he said.
Lion blinked.
"See," Connie said, "We all love you, Steven. We'll always be there for you."
Steven gave Connie a soft smile, "Thank you."
He looked at Lion.
"I wonder how upset Stan would be if I brought Lion into the house?" Steven contemplated the idea for a few seconds, "Eh, better not risk it. Lion?"
Lion's ears perked up.
"I need you to stay near the Shack, but out of sight from the sheriff and his deputy. I don't want them asking why there's a pink lion here."
Lion just stared at Steven before seeing a lizard on the ground and chasing it into the woods.
"Good enough," Steven said.
They walked back into the Shack just as Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland were leaving, laughing. They walked into the living room to see Dipper looking upset.
"What happened?" Steven asked.
"They said the case was unsolvable and that I couldn't solve it! Then they called me a 'city boy' and 'adorable." Dipper said, looking embarrassed.
"There's nothing wrong with being a city boy or adorable. Those policemen were just being mean," Steven said.
Stan sighed, "Well, I think it's best we all head to bed. you kids have a long day of investigating tomorrow." Stan turned to Steven and Connie. "Is she staying here tonight?"
Steven looked at Connie, "Would you?" He asked.
Connie nodded, "Of course." She gestured to the backpack on her back, "I brought some overnight stuff just in case."
"Great, now, go to bed. I gotta deal with this," Stan said, pointing at the decapitated Wax Stan.
Steven nodded and showed Connie to his room.
The moonlight poured in through the one window in his room, leaving a square of light on the ground. Everything seemed calm, and that the strange attack from before seemed to be nothing but a dream. Steven sat on the bed while Connie looked around the room.
"Hm. I've noticed a lot of triangle designs in this house," she said, pointing at the window. Sure enough, the lines that separated the panes of glass created a triangle, with an oval in the center.
"Hm," Steven said, "That's strange."
Connie placed her bag on the floor and took off her shoes before sitting on the bed next to Steven.
"This place seems nice. Other than the murder of wax figures. I'm glad you stopped here, it seems to be helping you," Connie smiles at him.
Steven has been feeling more and more at home in Gravity Falls. Aside from all the craziness, it just felt… right. He knew his road trip was about finding himself, but it also sometimes felt like he was running from his past. Running from Beach City. Running from being a Gem. But being in Gravity Falls, he felt like he had stopped running. He faced challenges and he overcame them. And it probably helped that those challenges were not Gem related. He reconnected with his gem powers and that felt like a sigh of relief.
"I think so too," Steven said. He yawned.
"I'm beat," Steven said, taking off his shoes and climbing under the covers. He held them open for Connie to get in. She slipped into his bed and Steven wrapped his arms around her. He had really missed her.
Soon enough, they both had slipped into a deep sleep.
———-
Steven was walking around the mind space he has been in countless times before. It was just an empty grey space. He wandered around, wondering when he would wake up, or if he was going to enter someone's dream, when all of a sudden he felt himself falling. He landed on sand and looked up to see a beach. For a second he wondered if he was back in Beach City, but didn't recognize anything. He stood up and looked around and saw two boys running toward him. They both had fluffy hair and red noses, but one had a pair of glasses. They were twins, and one was chasing the other.
"You can't catch me! I'm too fast!" One of them yelled.
"Are you sure about that?" The one with glasses said before he jumped forward and tackled the first.
They both fell and tumbled to Steven's feet. Steven tried to reach down to help them up, but his hand passed right through the one with glasses. They laid in the sand, laughing.
Suddenly, the scene changed. He was in the Mystery Shack, but it wasn't the Mystery Shack. Not yet, anyways. The room was covered in science-y gimmicks and papers. He heard a commotion in another room and the scene changed. He was in a grand cavern, and he saw two men. One of them looked like Stan. The other, he didn't know who it was. His face seemed blurred, like Steven could see it, but not understand it. They were arguing. The other man held out a book and Steven saw he had six fingers. And the book looked like the one Dipper had, but had a one instead of a three on the cover. Stan took the book and more silent words were exchanged. He pulled out a lighter and held it under the book. The blurred man yelled and pushed Stan and the dream changed again. It was another young Stan, although slightly older than the last scene. He was leading a tour through the newly opened Mystery Shack. The scene quickly changed and it was an even older Stan back in the cavern, staring at a giant upside down triangle with a hole in the middle. Stan turned around and started to walk away but abruptly stopped when he saw Steven. "Kid?" Was all he was able to say before Steven took a step back, tripping and landing on his backside, falling out of the dream. He was once again back in that grey space.
Steven's thoughts seemed to race. What could that mean? The beach, with the twins, had to connect to Stan somehow. But how? Was Stan one of those twins? Then the other must be Dipper and Mabel's great grandfather. And then there was the cavern. Who was Stan talking to? And the journal? Did Stan know the author of the journals?
Steven stayed sitting. That was a lot of information to process. He took a deep breath to clear his head. He had probably entered Stan's dream. He felt great sadness, almost as if Stan's emotions had run through him. He was curious, but thought best to not question Stan when he woke up. He did say he's had a bit of a rough life. But if the other twin was Mabel and Dipper's grandfather, then why did Stan miss him so much? Or maybe it wasn't? Things weren't adding up and it was giving Steven a bit of a headache. He didn't want to push too far into Stan's past, but he wanted to help. He would just have to wait for a good time to bring it up. In the meantime, he should really get some sleep. He laid down on the ground of this grey space and closed his eyes.
Steven woke up before Connie, and sat up. Last night was a lot. He didn't know if he should tell Connie, feeling like it would like sharing a secret Stan told him not to tell. He decided against it, unless something dire came up. He looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand and saw it was 7am. He heard chatter in the living room and debated shaking Connie awake. Before he made a decision, though, Connie woke up.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Steven shook his head, "Nothing, I just heard talking outside the room."
They both quickly got dressed and walked out of the room to see the entrance to the living room blocked off by toilet paper that said, 'DO NOT CROSS CRIME SCENE.' Steven gave a small chuckle as he and Connie ducked under it.
"Started the investigation already, I see," Steven said.
Dipper looked up at him and nodded while Mabel took a picture of the headless Wax Stan.
"Wax Stan has lost his head, and it's up to us to find it," Dipper said before turning around to look at a cork board covered in pictures of the townspeople.
"There were a lot of unhappy customers at the unveiling yesterday, maybe one of them got revenge?" Steven suggested.
"Yes," Dipper rubbed at his chin with his thumb and index finger, "It could've been anyone."
"Gasp! Even us!" Mabel said dramatically.
"In this town, anything could be possible," Dipper said, reaching into his vest before stopping. He looked up at Connie.
Steven smiled, "Don't worry she's cool."
Connie looked at Steven quizzically, not understanding what was happening. Dipper squinted his eyes, contemplating. Mabel elbowed him.
"Fine," he grumbled.
Dipper pulled out the Journal and started flipping through it.
"In a town full of possibilities, it could be months before we find our first clue." Dipper sighed.
"What was that about?" Connie whispered to Steven.
"Dipper has a journal he found about all the supernatural things in Gravity Falls and he's really careful about who gets to know about it," Steven whispered back.
Connie nodded her head in understanding before looking at the ground. Her eyes widened and she pointed at the floor, "Look, a clue!' She said.
They all looked to the ground and saw footprints in the shag carpet. How they didn't notice them before was a mystery.
"Look!" Mabel said, pointing at one of the footprints, "That one has a hole in it!"
Indeed, one of the footprints had a half-dollar sized hole in it, where the carpet had not been pressed down. They noticed all the footprints had a hole in the left shoe.
"So our killer had shabby footwear…" Dipper pondered.
"Hey guys, they go this way," Steven said, following the prints to behind the chair where he found…
"An axe!" Steven picked up the axe and showed it to the twins.
"The murder weapon!" Dipper exclaimed.
Steven held it out for Dipper to see.
"We should show Soos," Dipper said.
_____________
"So what do you think?" Dipper asked.
They had all gathered in the gift shop where they had found Soos, who was now examining the axe.
"In my opinion," he lifted the axe up before letting it fall back into his hand, "this is an axe."
"Wait a minute," Mabel said, "The lumberjack!"
"Of course!" Dipper and Mabel said in unison.
"Now hold on," Steven butted in, "You can't just assume…"
"But he was furious when he didn't get that free pizza," Dipper replied.
"Yeah! Furious for murder!" Mabel said dramatically.
"We should go ask him a few questions, right Steven?" Connie said.
Steven took a deep breath and nodded. This was Dipper's investigation, he didn't want to walk all over it.
"Oh, you guys are talking about Manly Dan. He hangs out at this crazy intense biker joint downtown," Soos butt in.
"Then that's where we're going." Mabel said.
Okay, now Steven had to put a stop to this.
"Guys, I don't think it would be safe for you guys to infiltrate a biker bar," Steven warned.
Dipper frowned, "But how else are we going to question him?"
Steven looked at Connie, who nodded.
She looked back at the twins and smiled, "I think we have an idea."
_________
As they were leaving the Shack, they saw Stan struggling to pull a coffin out of the trunk of his car. He saw the four of him walking by and spoke.
"Hey, give me a hand with this coffin, will yah? I'm doing a memorial service for Wax Stan. Something small, but classy."
He pulled at the coffin again with a grunt.
"I can help," Steven said before going over to Stan and picking up the coffin with ease.
"Wow kid, what have you been eating and can I get some? HA!" Stan slapped Steven on the back.
Steven laughed nervously. The twins don't know that Stan knows, and right now he kinda wants to keep it that way. He walked the coffin to the porch while Stan continued to talk to the twins.
"So where are you four off to?" He asked.
"We have a big break in the case!" Dipper said excitedly.
"Break in the case!" Mabel echoed.
Steven rejoined them.
"We are heading into town to interrogate the suspect," he said.
Mabel pulled the axe out of Dipper's bag, "We have an axe!"
"This seems like the kind of thing a responsible parent wouldn't want you doing. Good thing I'm an uncle!" Stan laughed, "Avenge me, kids! Avenge me!"
______
The four of them stood in the alleyway next to the bar.
"So what's your plan? You guys don't look 21, so how are you gonna sneak in?" Dipper asked.
"Right through the front door," Steven said.
"But, how?"
Steven smiled at Connie, excited to show the twins, "You ready?"
Connie nodded.
They held hands and suddenly they were made of light. Their form merged together before the light subsided to reveal a 6'1", brown skinned, bushy haired person. They wore a combination of what Steven and Connie were wearing; A pink jacket with a yellow tank top above a dark green Mystery Shack shirt, as well as jeans and white sneakers with pink stripes. Mabel and Dipper's eyes were wide, and their jaws may as well have been on the ground.
"Hi, I'm Stevonnie," Stevinnie held out a hand for the twins to shake.
Dipper took the hand and shook it lightly, still looking flabbergasted at Stevonnie.
Mabel quickly took the hand and shook it vigorously once Dipper let go.
Dipper shook his head, trying to gather his thoughts.
"How… how did you do that?" Dipper asked, taking out the journal.
"Well, Steven has the Gem ability of fusion; the combining of the mind and body of two gems to make a new one. But since Steven is half human, he can fuse with humans," Stevonnie smiled.
He wrote, 'Can fuse with humans to make a new person.' On Steven's page Dipper had made in the journal.
"So are you a new person? Do you have Steven and Connie's memories? Or are you just Steven and Connie sharing the wheel on a ship? Does Connie have control of the right half while Steven has the left? Can you grow a mustache?" Dipper asked, the questions shooting out in rapid fire.
"Yes, yes, kinda, no, yes," Stevonnie answered.
Dipper feverishly wrote in the journal.
"If you eat something then unfuse, whose stomach is it in?" Mabel asked.
Stevonnie thought for a moment.
"I… don't know. Anyway, let's get a move on. Do you have the questions?" they asked.
Dipper nodded before handing them a piece of paper and his backpack with the axe.
"See if he recognizes this."
"Okay, I'll be back in a bit."
Stevonnie walked out of the alleyway and towards the doors of The Skull Fracture.
They looked back at the twins who gave them a thumbs up when they heard the bouncer speak.
"Sorry, but we don't serve minors."
They whipped their head back around, fearful that their plan had failed before it had even begun when they saw a miner with a pickaxe in front of them.
"Dang-nabbit!" He exclaimed before marching off with a huff.
"ID please," the bouncer asked.
Stevonnie had forgotten about that part. They smiled.
"Sure, let me just grab my wallet,"
They made a show of looking through their wallet before sighing dramatically.
"I can't find it. But I'm only going in to talk to Manly Dan."
They crossed their fingers behind their back.
The bouncer looked them up and down before shrugging.
"Works for me."
He opened the door and let Stevonnie inside.
When they got into the biker bar, they saw what would be considered, well, a biker bar. There was loud music, men yelling, the clack of pool balls, and the smell of beer and cigarettes. Stevonnie saw one man punch another, sending him into a table and knocking over another man's beer. The other man stood up and punched the man who knocked over his drink. They stepped over a man lying unconscious on the ground.
"Tough crowd," they whispered to themselves before laughing quietly.
Stevonnie spotted Manly Dan in the back, arm wrestling with an arm wrestling arcade game. They walked briskly over to him.
"Manly Dan! Hi! Just the guy I wanted to see," Stevonnie pulled out the piece of paper and read the first question. "So, where were you last night?
"Punching the clock!" Manly Dan grunted.
"You were at work?" Stevonnie asked.
"No, I was punching that clock!" He pointed out the window as a clock atop of a bent pole. They noticed the clock was broken, forever stuck on the time of 10 o'clock, the time of the murder.
"So, I guess you've never seen this before?" Stevonnie pulled out the axe, disregarding the rest of Dipper's questions.
"Listen, strange lady-man, I wouldn't pick my teeth with that axe! It's left-handed. I only use my right hand. The manly hand!" Manly Dan ripped the arm off of the arcade game and started to smash it with it while a guy in cowboy boots chanted, "Get him, get him!"
"Wow, he and Jasper would get along great," Stevonnie muttered to themselves.
They quickly left the bar and regrouped with the twins.
"It's a left handed ax, so our murderer has to be left handed," they said, handing the backpack back to Dipper.
Dipper pulled out a notepad and started to write things down. When he was done, he showed Stevonnie and Mabel what he had written.
"These are all of our suspects," Next to each name were two boxes labeled 'right-handed' and 'left-handed.'
"Manly Dan is right handed," he crossed off the 'right-handed' box next to Manly Dan's name. "So that means all we have to do is find our left-handed suspect, and we got our killer!"
"Oh man, we are on FIRE today! Pa-zow, pa-zow, pa-zow!" Mabel cheered.
"Let's find our murderer," Dipper said, giving Mabel and Stevonnie a fist bump.
They spent the rest of the day visiting several suspects in town, finding ways to reveal them to be right-handed, whether it was tricking them to sign something, catch something, or just waving at them. By the time it had started getting dark, they had through almost the whole list. There was only one person left, and it's all added up. The three of them rushed to the sheriff's office.
______
It was nighttime by the time they reached his office. The twins and Stevonnie followed Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland as they prepared to knock his front door in.
"You three better be right about this, or you'll never hear the end of it," Sheriff Blubs whispered to them.
"The evidence is irrefutable," Dipper whispered back.
"It's so irrefutable," Mabel echoed.
"I'm gonna get to use my nightstick!" Deputy Durland whispered excitedly.
"You ready? You ready, little fella?" Blubs asked Durland.
They both giggled excitedly while lightly hitting each other with their nightsticks.
Stevonnie counted down, "On three, one, two, three!"
The five of them busted into the building.
"Nobody move! This is a raid!" Blubs shouted.
They pointed their flashlights at Toby Determined, who fell out of his swivel chair.
"Aah! What is this? Some kind of raid?" Toby said, surprised.
Deputy Durland knocked over a lamp with his nightstick.
Dipper walked up to Toby, "Toby Determined, you are under arrest for the murder of the wax body of Grunkle Stan!"
Mabel joined him, "You have the right to remain impressed with our awesome detective work."
Dipper, Mabel and Stevonnie gave each other high fives.
"Gobbling goose feathers! I don't understand!" Toby exclaimed, standing up.
"Then allow me to explain," Dipper said, "you were hoping that Grunkle Stan's new attraction would be the story that saved your failing newspaper. But when the show was a flop, you decided to go out and make your own headline. But you were sloppy, and all the clues pointed to a shabby-shoed reporter who was caught left-handed."
"Toby Determined, you're yesterday's news," Mabel quipped.
Dipper smiled in triumph.
There was a pause of silence before Toby spoke.
"Boy, your knees must be sore from jumping to conclusions! I had nothing to do with that murder!"
"I knew it- wait what did you say? Nothing?" Dipper said.
Sheriff Blubs Stared skeptically at Toby, "Then where were you the night of the break-in?"
"Um…" Toby turned around and grabbed a VHS out of his closet before putting it in the TV. The image that popped up was of the very room they were standing in, but it had only Toby. He looked over his shoulder before opening a cabinet and pulling something out.
"Finally we can be alone," TV Toby said, "cardboard cut-out of female news reporter, Shandra Jimenez!" TV Toby then proceeded to make out with the cardboard cutout, earning a chorus of ews from the rest of the people in the room.
"Time stamp confirms it. Toby, you're off the hook, you freak of nature." Blubs said.
"Hurray!" Toby cheered.
"But… but it has to be him!" Dipper stuttered.
"I'd say check the ax for prints, but it has all of our fingerprints on it," Stevonnie said.
"I got a new headline for ya, 'City kids waste everyone's time," Durland laughed. Blubs and Toby joined them.
"Hey, what's your guys's problem?" Stevonnie asked, stepping in front of the twins.
"What do you mean?" Blubs asked.
"You three are full grown adults picking on two kids that were just trying to help their great uncle. Laughing at them isn't going to solve any problems other than feed your egos! You three should be ashamed of yourselves," They huffed before ushering Dipper and Mable out of the building, "Come on, it's getting late. Let's get you two back home."
They walked in silence for a few minutes before Dipper spoke.
"Thank you…"
Stevonnie smiled, "Don't worry about it, I'm used to telling adults off by now. Well, Steven is," Stevonnie smiled, but Dipper could tell there was a hint of sadness behind it. "I should probably unfuse."
Suddenly, Stevonnie turned into a figure of light before growing shorter and splitting. The light faded and Steven and Connie stood in front of them, holding hands. They didn't let go. Connie rubbed her thumb over the back of Steven's hand, letting him know she was there. He gave her hand a small squeeze, letting her know that he appreciated her being there.
"So, I bet Stan has that service ready by now, we should get going," Connie said. They walked back to the Shack in silence.
————-
They all sat in the room they found wax figures in, which was now filled with chairs that Stan managed to fit the figures into.
"Kids, Soos, Steven, Connie, lifeless wax figures, thank you all for coming. Some people might say it's wrong for a man to love a wax replica of himself-"
"They're wrong!" Soos shouted, cutting Stan off.
"Easy, Soos," Stan turned towards the casket, "Wax Stan, I hope you're picking pockets in wax heaven." Stan sniffled, "I'm sorry, I got glitter in my eye!" Stan rushed out of the room, followed by Soos. Steven stood up, wanting to go console Stan, but Dipper spoke,
"Those cops were right about me."
It seemed he was needed here more. Soos was already talking to Stan. He sat back down and faced Dipper.
"Those cops were just lazy and took their boredom out on you," He said.
"Yeah, we've come so far. We can't give up now," Mabel said.
Dipper stood up, "But I considered everything: the weapon, the motive, the clues,"
Dipper walked over and looked into the casket, "Huh. Wax Stan's shoe has a whole in it."
Mabel stood up and looked at Wax Stan's shoe as well. "All the wax guys have that. It's where the pole-thingy attached to their stand-dealies."
Steven and Connie stood up and joined them.
"You don't think..." Connie asked.
"I do," Dipper said.
"Think what?" Mabel asked.
"Mabel, the murders are-" Dipper started before being cut off.
"Standing right behind you?" The voice said.
The four of them turned around and saw all the wax figures coming to life with groans and moans. The one that had spoken was a wax figure of Sherlock Holmes, who was the first figure to stand up.
One of the wax figures took the ax out of Mabel's hand. Steven and Connie stood in front of the twins.
"Congratulations, my amateur sleuths. You've unburied the truth. And now we are going to bury you," Wax Sherlock Holmes said.
Steven summoned his shield, "No, you're not. You have to go through us first."
"Well, at least let me give a congratulations to Dipper Pines, who discovered our little secret," Wax Sherlock reached into his coat and pulled out Wax Stan's head.
"Applaud everyone, applaud sarcastically," The wax figures started to clap slowly.
"But, how is this possible," Connie asked, "You're made of wax!"
"Are you… magic?" Mabel asked.
Wax Sherlock laughed, "Are we magic? She wants to know if we're magic!" He took a step towards then, "We're cursed!"
"Cursed! Cursed! The rest of the figures echoed.
"Cursed to come to life whenever the moon is waxing," He sighed, "Your uncle bought us many years ago at a garage sale. And so the mystery Shack Wax Collection was born. By day we would be the playthings of man."
"But when your uncle went to sleep, we would rule the night," Wax Coolio added.
Wax Sherlock continued, "It was a charmed life for us cursed beings. That is, until your uncle closed up shop. We've been waiting ten years to get our revenge on Stan for locking us away. But we got the wrong guy."
"Wait a minute, you were going to kill Stan for real?" Steven asked, a little shocked.
"Did you have any thought about what would happen after? To the Shack, to the twins, to you?" Steven questioned.
There was a pause before Wax Sherlock spoke, "No, I guess we didn't think of the aftermath."
"Wax people are creepy," Mabel said.
"Enough!" He proclaimed, "Now that you four know our little secret, you must die."
All the wax figures eyes rolled up so that you could only see the whites. They started to approach the four of them. Steven raised his shield while Connie raised her fists.
"Too bad you don't have your sword," Steven quipped, "You'd be through these guys in ten second flat!"
Connie smiled, "Good thing Pearl taught me hand-to-hand combat, now I'll be able to take them out in thirty seconds flat!"
Suddenly things started to fly out from behind them and Steven turned to see Dipper and Mabel throwing things off of the snack table. Dipper grabbed a pot of coffee and threw it on Wax Ghengis Khan's face, which proceeded to melt while he gave out a pained scream.
"That's it! We can melt them with hot things!" Mabel exclaimed.
She grabbed four of the fake long candles from the table and threw two to Steven and Connie, while handing the third to her brother.
"Use this!" She said.
They all held the fake candles in front of them, threatening the figures.
"Nobody move, or we'll melt you all into candles!" Dipper shouted.
"Decorative candles!" Mabel added.
"You really think you can defeat us?" Wax Sherlock asked.
Connie looked at Steven and winked.
"Absolutely," She said.
Steven winked at Mabel and Dipper, "Watch this," he whispered.
"So be it, Attack!" Wax Sherlock yelled.
The wax figures rushed towards them as Connie rushed them. One of them brought the ax down on her, but she easily dodged it, and used the fake candle to melt the figure's head. Wax Shakespeare then tried to grab at her, but she ducked down and swiped the candle up, cutting off his arms. He yelped. A figure snuck up behind her and tried to put her in a headlock. But she just grabbed his arms and threw him over herself, slamming him on the ground. She used the candle to decapitate him and throw the head into the fireplace.
"Wow…" Mabel and Dipper said in unison.
Steven smiled, "I know right."
Man, he loved that girl.
Wax Larry King managed to sneak up to Steven, who quickly turned around and beheaded him.
"My neck! My beautiful neck!" He yelled.
Wax Groucho tried to grab the candle out of Dipper's hand, but foolishly grabbed at the light bulb, melting his hand. Dipper slashed the candle across his body, cutting him in half.
"Joke's on you, Groucho!" He said.
"I've heard about a cutting remark, but this is ridiculous," Wax Groucho joked while his torso slid to the ground.
Half-melted Wax Ghengis Khan charged at Connie, who dodged, causing him to fly right into the fireplace. Mabel was swinging Wax Coolio's decapitated head around like a lasso, knocking over all the figures surrounding her.
"Dipper, Look out!" She yelled.
Wax Sherlock took a sword off a mount on the wall and knocked the candle out of Dipper's hand.
"Dipper, catch!" Mabel shouted, throwing him a red hot poker.
Wax Sherlock swiped down, only to be blocked by Dipper's new weapon. They started to move out of the room and were gone by the time Steven noticed.
"You got this, right?" Steven shouted towards Connie.
She slashed at the Queen's ankles, causing her to fall over.
"Yeah, go help Dipper!" She shouted back.
Steven ran out of the room and up the stairs, where he heard the clang of metal on metal. When he reached the top, he noticed the window was open and climbed out of it. He heard more shouting and quickly climbed over to the other side of the room to see Dipper on the ground, with Wax Sherlock's sword raised over his head.
"Got any last word," He heard Wax Sherlock say.
Dipper looked past him and at Steven, then at the rising sun behind Steven. He winked.
"Got any sunscreen?" Dipper asked, looking back at Wax Sherlock Holmes.
"Got any… What?"
Steven thrust out his arm and summoned a shield in front of Dipper as the sun peeked over the trees. The light began to melt Wax Sherlock, starting with the hands holding the sword raised over his head. He gasped.
"You know, letting me lead you outside, probably not your sharpest decision," Dipper said, standing up.
Steven lowered the shield and ran over to him, placing himself in front of Dipper, who laughed at his own quip.
"I don't get it," Steven said.
"Because he's Sherlock Holmes, the world's greatest fictional detective."
Steven shrugged his shoulders, "did you learn about him at school? Because i didn't do that."
Dipper looked at him quizzically, "You didn't go to school?"
Steven shook his head.
"Outsmarted by a child in short pants? No!" Wax Sherlock cried, pulling them out of their conversation.
They watched as Wax Sherlock became a puddle and slid off the roof.
"Case closed," Dipper said.
Steven gave him a pat on the back, "We should get back inside and see how Mabel and Connie are doing.
When they got back to inside, they found Mabel and Connie tossing the dismembered body parts of the wax figures into the fire. Just then, Stan came into the room.
"Hot Belgian waffles! What happened to my parlor?" He yelled.
"Your wax figures turned out to be evil, so we fought them to the death!" Mabel said, smiling.
"I decapitated Larry Kings," Dipper said.
Stan looked at Connie and Steven, who nodded. He looked back at the twins. He laughed.
"You kids and your imaginations,"
Dipper picked up Wax Stan's head and presented it to Stan, "On the bright side, though, look what we found."
Stan gasped, "My head! I missed this guy. You done good kids! Now line up for some affectionate noogieing."
He walked over to the protesting twins and gave them both noogies. Suddenly they heard sirens. The five of them looked out the broken window to see Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland drive up to the Shack.
"Solve the case yet, boy? I'm so confident you're going to say no, that I'm going to take a long, slow sip from my cup of coffee," Blubs said before taking a long, slow slip from his cup of coffee,
Dipper held up Wax Stan's head, "Actually, the answer is yes."
Sheriff Blubs spat out his coffee in surprise, right into Deputy Durland's face, who spat out HIS coffee in surprise into Sheriff Blubs's face.
"AAAAHH IT BURNS!" Blubs yelled before driving off.
The all laughed as they watched the car drive away.
"They got scalded!" Stan laughed.
"Serves them right," Mabel said.
"So, did you get rid of all the wax figures?" Dipper asked Mabel.
"I am 99% sure that I did," Mabel smiled.
"Good enough for me," Dipper responded.
"You kids want some breakfast? I was gonna make bacon and eggs," Stan asked.
Steven's stomach growled.
"I could go for some food right now," he said.
The rest of the group agreed and they all went inside to get breakfast.
____
After breakfast, Steven went back to his room to see Connie packing up.
"Going so soon?" He asked.
She smiled, "Yeah, I realize you have things pretty much in control here, and besides, I have to get back to my summer classes."
She and Steven walked outside.
She gave Steven a kiss on the cheek, "If you need anything just call."
With that, she gave a whistle, and they saw Lion poke his head out from behind a bush and run over to them. She climbed atop of his back and gave Steven a wave, then a wave to someone behind him. He turned around to see Dipper and Mabel waving back. He also saw Stan watching them through the kitchen window. Connie leaned down and gave Steven one last kiss before patting Lion's side.
"Okay buddy,"
Lion roared and a pink ball of light erupted from his mouth and shot forward a few feet, where it widened into a flat disk. She waved to them all once more before both she and Lion disappeared through the disk of pink light, which faded behind them.