By the time Soos had finished his long hike from his abuelita's house to the Mystery Shack, the clouds had let loose a thick downpour of rain and had effectively created massive puddles on the dirt road. Soos was careful to step around each puddle, no matter how small, because anyone from Gravity Falls knew that splashing in the wrong puddle could end with your head under water. Not that it mattered anyway. The heavy drops had spattered on every inch of his body and his shoes kicked dirt up all over the back of his legs.

Soos knew the route to his former workplace by heart. If the entire town was flattened and there wasn't a landmark left standing, Soos would be able to walk right to the spot where the Shack would have stood. If you asked, he could even give you the tour, but none of that was necessary. Despite the rain hitting him directly in the eyes and the night sky darkened by the clouds hiding the moon, Soos was able to march right up to the back porch following, to his surprise, the welcoming yellow glow of a light inside the building. He stood dripping under the overhang and put a finger to his lip. Usually at this hour, the lights would all be out and Stan would be long asleep in bed. The lights being on would suggest the old miser was up and about, and if they were on in the back room, there was no way Soos was going to be able to get in unnoticed, and that was something he could not risk. Instead, he sat on the mildly damp wooden steps and began to wring himself out.

The back door was reinforced from the outside, so no one would come out that door, and the windows had been boarded over for weeks, so Soos was not worried about being seen.

The wind chilled his wet body and Soos hugged his arms to try to keep warm. The rain hit hard against the roof of the Shack and its gutters, drowning out any potential noise from inside the building, which was not at all reassuring. Soos tried to think of what Stan could possibly be up to inside. He talked to his "monsters" often, but never, ever this late, and Stan wasn't keen on late-night feeding. Perhaps he had a lot on his mind that evening. He would often relay his concerns to the "beasts" who were unable to respond humanly. Soos frowned and hugged his arms tighter.

His "monsters" as weren't monsters at all, and it disgusted Soos to his core that Stan would dare call them that. Dipper and Mabel, his own flesh and blood, and he has the nerve to treat them like he does. Wendy understood. Despite still hanging around at the counter, she hated the practice as much as Soos did. He tried many times to convince her to leave, and Wendy always explained that no matter how bad things were, she needed the job more. Soos tried to argue, but he knew her father was not a force to be reckoned with, and it was he who wanted Wendy to keep the job.

Maybe it was Wendy inside? Soos immediately relaxed at the thought. It made so much sense. Who else would visit the back room that late? Soos gathered himself up and marched around the side of the building to carefully peer in the window, and he was taken aback at what he saw. Instead of being relatively neat and welcoming, the front admissions booth and gift shop was an ugly mess. The posters were torn carelessly from the walls, leaving the corners still tacked up, the racks of merchandise were knocked down and scattered all over the floor. The money box lay upturned in the wreckage with coins and bills scattered everywhere. The walls had deep gashes and each slice in the wood was lined with- at that moment the interior light gave out, but Soos had seen enough. He charged the front door, pulling a single key from his pocket and jamming it in the lock. The door opened before he could unlock it.

"Mr. Pines!" Soos didn't think twice before he shouted. After weeks of sneaking in and out unseen, he didn't care if his cover was blown now.

"Mr. Pines where are you?"

There was a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder so loud it shook the house, causing the overhead light to flicker for a moment. Soos looked at the blood-smeared walls and took a quavering breath. It was as if the sky reminded him yelling was a grave mistake. The killers could still be around.

Then again, Soos didn't know if this was the fault of the twins, or some outside force. For all he knew, nobody made it out alive.

"Wendy?" Soos whispered into the darkness. He wasn't sure if the silence should be relieving or not.

The former handyman made a painstaking effort to proceed to the next room in silence, an effort which was not rewarded as the darkness seemed to guide his every footstep to something on the floor, making a sound which was all too loud. Soos felt for the knob on the door and pushed it slowly open. The lights in the theater were either off or broken, and what little he could see of the room was lit by the backstage light, which sparkled under the curtains and shone under the backstage door. From what little light he had, Soos could see that the theater was trashed too. Pamphlets and dollar bills were scattered about and the room, folding chairs were upturned, and the red velvet curtain was shredded at the ends. Soos held his breath as he examined the room slowly. There was no sign of life outside of his own, so he carried on. He stepped carefully over the chairs, which went considerably better considering he had a light to guide him, and made his way to the stage door. Although the stage provided direct access to the back room, Soos wanted something between himself and whatever was in the back before he made his final move.

"They're probably gone," Soos reassured himself silently, "There's probably no one in here and just a mess for them to clean up tomorrow." He realized his hands were shaking. He pressed his ear to the door, but he couldn't hear anything behind it. Soos inhaled one deep breath, and he opened the door.

"No!" was the first word that escaped his mouth, and he was too distressed to stifle it. Inside the cramped green room prison, under the bare bulb light, lay Stan Pines in all his show attire. Around his head was a pool of dark blood, which was drying on the concrete.

"Mr. Pines!" Soos exclaimed, softer than before. He ran to his side, reaching to touch him, but he withdrew his hands and placed them over his mouth. Stan's throat was a disgusting red mess. A solid chunk of flesh had been taken out, exposing the inside. Blood spattered all over his face and his clothes and his eyes were rolled back in their sockets, his mouth screaming in agony. Tears fell from Soos' eyes as he weakly backed away from the body. The room smelled of bile and feces and vomit rose up quickly in his throat. His eyes flew to the bars of the cage. They suffered no visible damage, neither were they unlocked.

"Mabel?" Soos managed to say before he finally puked up the contents of his stomach onto the floor.

"M-Mabel," Soos repeated, wiping his mouth with a weak and shaking hand, "Dipper can you hear me?" Not a sound came from inside. Mabel always breathed loudly and roughly, and Dipper never left her side, so they couldn't be in there.

That's when the panic hit. Soos took fast, short breaths of the foul air as he tried to process everything that happened. Stan was dead. Wendy was probably dead. The twins were loose and- Soos looked at the corpse of his fallen former boss and inspiration. As much as he tried to tell himself otherwise, Stan's death had to be on Dipper and Mabel's hands. Soos tried to think of a logical action to take. Should he go after them? If they were out there and angry, more lives could be lost, but then again, so could his. Should he find Wendy? Was she dead? Maybe she was still alive, and maybe the twins were after her next. What if they were after him? He played a familiar face to them for so long, coming in the middle of the night bearing food. What if they were chasing down what or whomever was burned into their memories. Soos fumbled his way back out of the greenroom, one hand to his head as if to hold in the whirling thoughts and suppress his rising headache. Then he heard breathing.

Soos froze, halfway out the door. From somewhere in the theater there came the sound of a ragged inhale, and a scratchy exhale. Mabel.

Soos knew better than to run. Despite all of the foolish mistakes he made during this investigation, he knew any sudden movement could and would mean death. Instead, he peered around, moving his head only slightly when necessary. Soon he spotted a pair of figures to his right, on the opposite side of the stage. Mabel was hunched over, resting much of her weight on her hands. Her mouth hung upon with her many teeth catching the light that shone under the curtain,. Her faded pale eyes fell directly upon Soos, and she stared unmoving except for her shoulders, which rose and fell dramatically with each breath. Around her mouth and on her claw-like fingers was a crusty coat of blood. Behind her was Dipper. He was curled almost into a ball with his two natural eyes fixed on Soos, and the others facing every which way and blinking out of unison. He let out a quiet squeak occasionally and he trembled violently. Soos waited. He stared at them, they stared at him. After a moment, he slowly began to lower his arm from his head, but the slits in Mabel's eyes shrank as she opened her mouth wide and hissed. She crouched down, ready to leap and Dipper whimpered behind her, covering his head with his skinny arms and closing his eyes.

Soos froze immediately, his arm just inches from his head, and Mabel slowly relaxed again. They stood there for some time, just looking at each other.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Soos said quietly. Mabel twitched.

"It's Soos, remember?"

Mabel turned to her deformed brother and nudged him with her foot, he replied with a yelp. She barked something at him, then turned back to Soos, who stood still as a statue, his eyes fixed on hers. Then Mabel came towards him. She slowly came across the stage on all fours, and a stream of saliva dripped from her mouth. Dipper whimpered from where he stayed behind the stage, but Mabel didn't look back. She reached the end of the stage, her eyes never glancing away and leaned in until her dirty mess of hair brushed Soos' skin. She stared at him, and he stared back. Soos didn't move a muscle. He didn't blink. He didn't dare to. Then Mabel broke off the stare. She leaned downwards and began to sniff at Soos' shirt. Soos remained still for a moment, then he moved his arm down. Mabel shrank away quickly, but after a pause, she let Soos continue. He moved his hand into his pocket as she watched, and he pulled out a slightly battered package of graham crackers in a plastic wrapping. Mabel yipped in what Soos could assume was delight and she turned away from him and barked. Dipper cautiously peered over the stage and Mabel called him on. Reluctantly, he sidestepped over to her. Mabel turned to Soos expectantly, and another string of saliva fell from her mouth. Soos unwrapped the crackers and held it out to the twins. Mabel gently took it in her mouth and gave it to her twin, who sniffed it, then took it himself. Mabel then turned back to Soos, as if politely asking for more, and he obliged. Mabel lied calmly down on the stage in front on him and began chewing her cracker and encouraging Dipper to eat his.

Then Soos began to cry. At first it was just tears in his eyes, then he was leaning on the stage, his body shaking with sobs. He didn't know for certain why he was crying. It might have been because Stan was dead and it was at the hands of a once innocent little girl. It could be out of relief from all the dread building up. Maybe it was because after all those weeks of sneaking into the Shack to give the twins friendly company and something to eat saved his life. Maybe it was a combination of all of them.

Soos felt a small hand on his head and looked up to see Dipper, who had crumbs around his mouth, some getting into his eyes, which he blinked repeatedly. The little boy patted Soos' head roughly and Soos smiled gently and touched his hand. Mabel nudged Soos' shoulder with her cheek, and he gave her another cracker.

"You're not monsters," he whispered, "You're the Mystery Twins, Dipper and Mabel." They both made sounds to recognize their names. Soos bit his lip.

"Here guys," Soos emptied the package of crackers onto the stage. Mabel delightedly ate and after some encouragement, Dipper did too. "I'll be right back."

Soos would be lying if he said he didn't know how to hide a body. Deep into a muddy hole in the ground, Soos rolled the stinking body of the renowned showman Stan Pines. He took his shovel and began to push the mud back into place. The entire area was one mud bath and when it all dried, nobody would be able to tell a hole was even dug in that place. The mud covered the old man's shredded throat, and his face, frozen in horror, and aided by the rain, Soos quickly filled the hole back in.

He heard a bark and turned to see Mabel coming towards him, followed by her twin.

"He's gone now," Soos said, letting the rain wash the mud off his shovel, "He'll never hurt you again."

Mabel sniffed the ground, getting mud in the tangles of her hair, then looked back up at Soos. Her eyes twitched as raindrops hit them.

"You're safe," Soos turned the guided the twins back to the Shack. They hopped back up the steps before him, but Soos lingered on the back porch, just out of the rain. He gazed back at the place where the body lay.

"Goodnight, Mr. Pines," he whispered, then he went inside and closed the door behind him.

XXX

Hey guys! Thanks for reading chapter 2! I do not plan to continue this story any further, but feel free to come up with your own ideas of how things continue and how they began.

But yeah! College has been pretty cool, and while that does take a chink out of fanfic writing time, it's been great to hear from all of you despite my inactivity. I hope you all have a wonderful day and happy halloween!