58AN-Ok, everyone, its time for what I like to call "Jen adopts a new project that she clearly doesn't have enough time for!" But nah, for reals, I should probably explain what this is. First of all, for anyone who hasn't read my ongoing Gravity Falls/Steven Universe crossover Universe Falls already, word of warning this whole thing might be super confusing to you, so I recommend checking that out first then coming back here. But if you have read it, then oh boy do I have a treat for you! So if you follow me on tumblr, then you're probably already aware of the fact that several popular GF and SU AUs (alternate universes) are going to be incorporated into UF in its later chapters. And if you're not aware, well... that's a thing that's going to happen, and you can go to my blog (MiniJenn on tumblr) for more info about those, since I don't feel like explaining them all in depth here. So what's this thing here, you might be wondering? Well, its really just going to be a collection of oneshots I do on my own time for the other UF AUs, just to get myself in the practice of writing them and just for fun really. Pretty much everything is fair game here, from adaptations of UF chapters in other AUs, to completely original chapters, and pretty much everything in between. Some will be lighthearted and fun, others (like this first one) sad and soul crushingly dark. And honestly, its all gonna be whatever I want it to be (few of these are connected to each other btw). So hopefully that lengthy explanation of what this is made sense! So with that out of the way, let's get to this first one:
AU: Pink Twins AU (I will give explanation to this one here, since its fairly new. Basically, in the Pink Twins AU, Dipper and Mabel die (fun, I know) in pretty much any given number of ways (there are like 6 ways in UF that this AU can kickstart and this one here is the first one) and Steven accidently brings them back to life with his tears, thereby turning them pink (like what he did for Lars in Wanted)
So yeah brief note before we dive in here, this chapter basically diverges from Waterfall Gem (the UF equivalent of Ocean Gem). Just wanted to clarify that for everyone who hasn't read this one yet (I've already posted this oneshot on my tumblr, but I figured it would make sense to have a heavy as fuck burst of angst be the kickstarter for this. So with that all finished, let's finally get started!
Pink Twins 1
Someone to Blame
The instant Stan saw one of the water clones unleashing a mercilessly heavy torrent upon his nephew, his pressing back pain was all but forgotten as he pushed himself to stand and run as fast as his legs could carry him. The distance between him and Dipper seemed unbearably far, given the circumstances, but the conman pushed himself onward regardless, desperately hoping that he wouldn't be too late, knowing that he couldn't be too late.
But in the end, he was.
As soon as Stan was within the radius of the water clone, his brass-knuckled fist flew into its liquid form. Finally Dipper was released from its hold and downpour, even if the clone's dissipating remains splashed down upon him. Still, Stan ignored the water as he quickly knelt down beside his listless nephew and scooped him up into his arms. He wasted no time in turning Dipper over, patting him firmly, but gently on the back in an attempt to coax the water out of his lungs. However, the conman's first sign that something was wrong came when only a few drops of water came out of his seemingly unconscious nephew's agape mouth instead of what he should have been coughing up on his own.
"Kid, wake up," Stan said, his brow furrowing as he turned Dipper back over and inspected his face. His complexion was far too pale, his eyes far too closed, his expression far too empty, and worst of all, his pulse far too undetectable. "Kid!" the conman exclaimed in newfound shock, his eyes widening upon not even hearing so much as a single heartbeat resonating from his nephew's chest. "Dipper! Come on, kid, you gotta snap out of it!" Stan was shouting by now, desperately shaking Dipper by the shoulders in an attempt to rouse him, but even still, he was completely unresponsive as his head simply lolled downwards. "No! You can't just quit on me, dammit! I already lost one family member, I'm not about to lose another one, especially not you! So wake up already, kid! Wake up! W-wake… wake up…" the conman's voice finally trailed off into a bitter sob, hot tears streaming down his cheeks as he looked down to his nephew's limp, unmoving, undeniably lifeless form. Dipper felt much too small and cold and damp to Stan as he cradled him closer than he likely ever had before, blaming so much for this terrible thing that was never supposed to happen. But mostly, he just blamed himself.
Still, Stan didn't get much time to grieve as the telltale fearful shriek of his other nibbling sounded out, followed by a heavy crash. The conman's head darted upright, his distraught gaze snapping towards the source of Mabel's cry as he at first believed it to be over what just happened to Dipper. But instead, it was a scream all for herself, one that was abruptly silenced almost as soon as it hit the air. And as Stan glanced over at her, he was immediately able to see the horrifying reason why.
Another one of the water clones had just finished its job, rejoining Lapis' tower and revealing Mabel lying unmovingly where it had once stood. Upon a first look, she seemed to be simply unconscious, but given the grim fate her twin had just met, Stan wasn't going to be fooled by mere appearances. Refusing to relinquish his grip on Dipper, despite the fact that he was certainly beyond saving, the conman quickly rose to stand, rushing over to his fallen niece and instantly realizing that she was gravely hurt as well. Her limbs were twisted in a variety of awkward angles, her back bent in an unnatural way, and a thin stream of blood slowly pouring out of her mouth as soft, but fading pain filled her features. Stan froze upon seeing all this, his heart sinking even more as his tears continued to fall even harder as he slowly lowered himself beside what was left of his family. Or rather, what was no longer left at all.
"N-no…" the conman murmured, his tone wracked with pain as he gently pulled Mabel into his free arm, easily noticing her missing heartbeat and broken spine. "No… no, no, no! No! No! No!" Stan's agonized cry tore through the area, catching the attention of the Gems, Greg, Soos, Steven, and Connie, all of whom had previously been engrossed in fending off the other water clones. In fact, the clones themselves all seemed to dissipate as if on cue, but hardly anyone noticed this as they instead turned towards Stan, who made no efforts to hide the grieving tears he was pouring out over his now-dead nibblings.
"Uh… Mr. Pines?" Soos was the first to speak up as they all gathered around the mourning conman with apt concern. "W-what… what's going on?"
Stan refused to answer this, his teeth gritting tightly as he bowed his head lower. Since his back was turned to the group, none of them were able to really get a good view of the twins, but they could still tell he was holding them tightly, something that filled the Gems with incoming dread first.
"S-Stan…" Pearl began, her tone unusually soft and fragile as she addressed the conman. "Dipper a-and Mabel… A-are they…?"
"T-they're ok, aren't they?" Connie interjected where the white Gem couldn't bear to finish.
Once again, Stan gave no verbal answer, almost as if he didn't know any of them were there. Still, it took him everything he had left in him to finally give them all some form of an answer in the form of a simple, terse, hopeless shake of his head.
Tears had already formed in Garnet's eyes prior to this revelation, but upon receiving a confirmation of it, her shades dissipated as she buried her face into her palm and let out a soft sob. Amethyst froze, her jaw dropped in stunned disbelief as Pearl let out a sharp, distressed gasp, her entire body trembling as her tears began to fall. Neither Greg nor Soos knew what to say about such awful news, both of them hanging their heads and joining in on the silent party of grievers. Connie launched into a round of practically unstoppable weeping, cradling herself with her arms as she forced herself to turn away. However, the only one who refused to accept the possibility that the twins were indeed gone was Steven
"N-no!" the young Gem protested, desperation filling him as he ran around the conman to see for himself. He sucked in a sharp breath upon seeing the decrepit state the twins were in with his own eyes, from Mabel's visibly broken bones to Dipper's nearly paper-white skin. Still, he refused to give up the fading hope that they were still alive somehow. "No, t-they're ok! They'll be just fine! I can fix them with my healing spit, just like I did to Connie's eyes! Let me just-"
"No!" Stan suddenly shouted, his gaze snapping upwards as he sent Steven the harshest glare he could muster, even if it was still a tearful one.
"B-but I-"
"But nothing!" the conman snapped, absolutely livid and anguished all at once. "This is all your fault in the first place, kid! I knew I should have never let them hang around with you or the Gems! All you ever did was drag them into your dumb adventures and get them into trouble! And now, because of you and that… that water lady, they're… they're…" Stan paused, his sights drifting down to the twins once more as unspeakable pain flushed his features, pain that was soon replaced with unbridled fury once more. "They're dead!"
Steven froze upon hearing such a harsh accusation, his eyes wide with oncoming tears of guilt and sorrow, especially as he glanced at his lifeless friends once again. A thousand different emotions overwhelmed the young Gem at once, not a single one of them pleasant or even remotely good, but before he could even think of something to say, another voice rang out instead.
"NO!" Lapis' distraught cry pierced the air, her tower crumbling, as the water from it poured downwards towards the waterfall, though fortunately all of it swerved cleanly around the group gathered on the riverbank. As the last of the tower fell, the blue Gem herself appeared, falling to the ground somewhat clumsily, her manner clearly frantic as she pulled herself to her feet. "No! T-they can't be—I didn't—I didn't mean to! They're not-" Lapis cut her panicked exclamations off with a gasp as the Gems jumped in between her and the others, all three of them glaring at her with untold rage, their weapons drawn and ready to attack.
"N-no! You guys, wait!" Steven cried to his guardians, desperate for this already awful situation to not get any worse. "Don't hurt-"
"You!" Stan interjected with a fierce shout as he finally laid the twins' bodies down gently and rose to stand and face who he perceived their murderer to be himself. "You did this! Why—why I oughta punch you all the way into orbit for what you did to them!"
"I-I never wanted to hurt them!" Lapis tried to defend herself, the anguish in her expression just as clear as it was in everyone else's. "I was just-"
"But you did hurt them," Garnet interrupted, her tone frighteningly cold as she clenched her gauntleted fists tightly. "You did even worse than that! You killed them!"
"I-I… I didn't… I never… I…" A ragged sob finally spilled from the blue Gem, tears pouring out of her mirror like eyes as her gaze shifted towards the twins lying on the ground, neither of them capable of moving or doing anything else, ever again. "I… I'm sorry…" Lapis whispered, more to Dipper and Mabel than anyone else, even if, despite her limited understanding on human death, she knew they wouldn't hear her.
"Stop!" Steven shouted out again as the Gems converged on the blue Gem, easily poofing her. Their shared fury was so intense that they were all more than ready to shatter her on the spot, but for the sake of their already distraught young ward, they refrained. After all, he had already lost two of his friends in one day. He didn't need to lose another one.
Overwhelmed by all that had just happened, the young Gem finally collapsed to his knees above the twins, not bothering to spare his guardians a second glance as they sent the now bubbled Lapis back to the temple. He didn't even look up at Connie as she knelt down beside him, placing a trembling hand on his shoulder as they both simply stared at their fallen friends in mournful disbelief. To think that just mere hours ago, both Dipper and Mabel had been alive and well and determined to complete this daunting mission was something that shook Steven and Connie to their cores, especially seeing as how that very mission had ended up claiming their lives. But even more horrific and painful than that was the thought that they would never get to hang out with the twins again, to talk to them or laugh along with them, or even just see them alive and well and unhurt. Their deaths had happened so suddenly that no one could have been ready for them, but Steven and Connie had by far been the least prepared. After all, they were all still so young, far too young to even have the thought of death on their minds at all. But even so, death had come all the same. In its arrival, it had taken not just one of them, but two. And as much as neither Steven or Connie wanted to believe it, death would never, ever return the twins to them.
And, just like Stan had said, Steven knew he only really had himself to blame. Even if Lapis' water clones had been the physical perpetrators, the twins would have never even been in such danger if they all hadn't set her free from the mirror in the first place. And they never would have set her free if they had never found that mirror, and they would have never found the mirror if they hadn't been hanging out at the shack the previous day, and they wouldn't have been hanging out at the shack if they weren't friends, and they never would have become friends if they had never even met in the first place. It all came full circle, Steven knew. He knew that if Dipper and Mabel had never met him, then they'd still be warm and alive at this moment instead of cold and dead. And the knowledge of that alone was such a heavy burden to bear that the young Gem essentially crumbled under its massive weight.
"D-Dipper… Mabel…" Steven finally choked, a tight sob racking his entire frame as Connie let out another small one of her own. "I… I'm so, so sorry…" The young Gem wanted to say so much more to them, but the words just wouldn't come. Not that it mattered anyway, seeing as how they wouldn't hear any of his apologies, but that still didn't stop his morose tears from falling as he hung his head over the twins'. Unable to bear the sight of their blank, empty expressions, he shut his eyes tightly, blocking even Connie out as she embraced him to try and provide him with some semblance of comfort, even if she had none herself at the moment.
Steven's tears were so plentiful and so painful that he didn't even notice as they started to fall down onto the twins themselves. In fact, he didn't notice as one tear landed squarely on Mabel's cheek and as another one fell on Dipper's forehead. And even still, he didn't notice as the spots where the tears hit the twins both steadily started to light up with soft pink glows that soon began to spread all over both of their bodies.
"S-Steven…?!" Connie spoke up, her eyes widening as she saw this alarming sight for herself. Confused, the young Gem opened his eyes, a startled gasp escaping them as he watched this pink hue cover both Dipper and Mabel entirely. In an instant, their hair shifted from the same shade of brown to the same shade of pastel pink, their paled, swallow skin turning to a darker variety of the same color. Their respective injuries seemed to vanish away, with only a few minor scars remaining as the others turned around in alarm to see what was happening, even if none of them had any idea what was going on at all. And yet, as disturbed and bewildered as they all were, their shock only increased as a pair soft, barely inaudible, but practically unified groans rose up from the twins themselves.
The others could only watch with wide eyes as Dipper slowly and groggily sat up, Mabel following suit but a few seconds later. Their eyes were open and normal, and their movements natural enough, even if their coloration was now anything but normal or natural. "Ugh, what just happened?" Dipper asked somewhat tiredly, not even noticing the awestruck stares focused on both of them. "Why do I feel like I just swallowed 20 gallons of water at once?"
"Yeah, and why do I have such a monster back ache?" Mabel moaned, stretching her mostly healed back out as she fixed her posture. She did pause, however, upon finally seeing just how dumbfounded everyone seemed to be as they looked towards them. "Uh, what are you guys looking at? Oh! Did we already get the waterfall back from Lapis? I can't believe we missed it if we did! I bet it looked so cool when it was coming down!"
"Uh… y-you guys?" Connie spoke up to the twins in a whisper, briefly glancing over at Steven, who couldn't even tear his still tearful gaze away from the twins. "You… w-well, you both were…"
"Dudes," Soos interjected, thankfully not pouring out the unfortunate truth upon the twins so soon. "You, uh, might wanna take a look at yourselves…"
"Huh? Why?" Dipper frowned in confusion, though that confusion was quickly replaced with shock as he glanced over at his sister. "Oh my gosh, Mabel! You… you're pink!"
"Whaaaa? No way!" Mabel scoffed, shaking her head as she looked her brother up and down. "You're the one who's pink, bro-bro!"
"What? No, I'm-" Dipper cut himself off with an alarmed gasp as he glanced down at his arms only to see that they were indeed unmistakably pink. "No way…" he muttered in apt shock. "W-what happened to us?!"
"Who cares?!" Mabel exclaimed with a delighted smile, gleefully grabbing onto her newly pastel colored locks. "I have pink hair, just like I've always wanted! Whatever happened, it turned us into two totally awesome pink powerhouses!"
"I-I don't know if 'awesome' is the word I'd use to describe it…" Dipper remarked fretfully, running a hand through his own now-pink hair. "I really hope this isn't permanent… whatever this is…"
"I… I can't believe it…" Stan finally spoke up, cutting through the twins' surprise as he stepped towards them. Tears filled his eyes once more, a sight that surprised Dipper and Mabel almost as much as much as their sudden change in hue. Nonetheless, the conman wasted no time rushing towards them, pulling them both into a practically crushing hug as he let out an overjoyed, triumphant laugh. "You're alive! I mean, you're both pink and everything now and that's sorta weird and unsettling, but still; you're both alive!"
"Well, of course we're alive, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel chuckled in slight confusion as she returned the conman's embrace. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"O-oh, uh, well…" Pearl began anxiously as her and the other Gems approached. "Y-you… you both were… S-something happened and… you both…"
"Just spit it out already, P," Amethyst rolled her eyes. "You guys both totally kicked the bucket."
"Amethyst!" the white Gem scolded harshly.
"W-wait… what?" Dipper asked, quite alarmed by what the purple Gem had just tactlessly implied. "You… you mean we… we were…"
"Dead?" both twins said in unison, looking to each other with fearful disbelief, the memory of being away from life practically nonexistent for them both.
"You were…" Garnet said, her tone somewhat uneven as she looked away. "Until Steven brought you both back."
Upon hearing this news, the twins both glanced to Steven, curious to hear him confirm or deny such a claim. The young Gem finally broke his intent eye contact with the pair, rubbing his arm as he muttered out the truth. "Uh… y-yeah, I guess I sort of did… I-I don't know how though. And I don't know why you're both pink now. S-sorry…"
"Sorry?" Mabel frowned sympathetically. "Steven, don't be sorry! You totally saved our lives! And you made us the prettiest color ever! I can't even think of anything more amazing than that!"
"Mabel's right," Dipper agreed firmly. "Yeah, we might be oddly, uh, pink for some reason now, but if it wasn't for you, Steven, then I guess we'd both be… well, you know…" He trailed off with a rather uncomfortable frown, still largely unable to come to grips with the fact that they had both indeed been completely dead for at least several minutes, if not more.
Steven admittedly wanted to protest the twins letting what he did off so easily, especially seeing as how it was his fault that they had died in the first place, but before he could, Garnet staunchly interrupted. "There's no doubt the two of you have a lot of questions about what happened," she remarked to the twins, her visor appearing over her trio of eyes once again. "And there will be plenty of time to answer them later. But for now, I think if we all headed home."
"Good idea, stretch," Stan said, his usual deadpan manner returning as he helped pull the twins to their feet. "All this emotional outpouring has me in need of about a years' sleep. And I'm sure after your little tussle with the grim reaper, you munchkins could probably use some shut eye too, huh?"
"Actually, I'm not tired, like, at all," Mabel said. "What about you, bro-bro?"
"Uh, no, not really," Dipper replied. "Really, all I wanna do is figure out why we're so much more… pink than usual…"
"Well maybe you dudes can do that after a good meal?" Soos suggested with a smile as they all began to head back to the vehicles. "None of us have eaten since before we left to come up here, and I don't know about everyone else, but I'm like, totally starving!"
"Eh, I think I'll pass on that meal, Soos," Dipper shrugged.
"Same here," Mabel stuck her tongue out. "For some reason food doesn't as tasty as it usually does. Probably has to do with that whole dying thing, I guess."
"Uh, are you guys sure you're ok?" Connie asked with apt worry upon hearing this.
"Um, yeah, I guess so," Dipper shrugged, mostly unconcerned. "We're probably about as ok as we can be, what with the whole dying and coming back pink thing."
"Heck, we're better than ok now!" Mabel quipped cheerfully. "If what you guys said about us being, uh…. gone is true, then I guess we should count ourselves as pretty lucky that we're still up and kicking. Not to mention that we both look totally cool now!"
"Speak for yourself," Dipper remarked somewhat dryly, frowning insincerely as he looked to his newly-pink hand once more.
Everyone else got something of a forced, but still genuine laugh out of the twins' reactions to their new appearances, mostly out of a severe need for levity after everything that had just happened. However, as they continued on to the cars, Steven lingered a bit behind, his expression awash with worry and regret as he looked to the twins up ahead. The young Gem certainly harbored no regrets over the fact that they were alive and seemingly well once again; in fact, he was practically overwhelmed with relief by that fact. But what bothered Steven was the fact that his own tears, which supposedly lacked the healing power his spit had, were what ended up somehow bringing them both back to life. And even more than that, it had apparently changed them, most likely not just in hue if their lack of appetite or a need for sleep were any indication. As it stood, Steven really had no idea what he really did to the twins, but whatever it was, he couldn't help but feel remorse over having to do it in the first place. The thought that their now-passed deaths was unshakable in the young Gem's mind, the very mental image of their listless, lifeless bodies serving as a grim reminder to him that what happened here today, both good and bad, had been solely his fault. Even if he had brought them back to life, they should have never even died in the first place, and that was what ultimately filled Steven with such heavy guilt and remorse. And while Dipper and Mabel and likely everyone else would try to convince him otherwise, the young Gem knew that he'd likely never be able to shake that guilt off. Not that he felt like he even deserved to in the first place. "Yeah…" Steven muttered to himself despondently, finally tearing his gaze away from the pair of pink twins as they moved on without him. "Lucky…"
So yeah, a nice little short one to start off on (these will all completely vary in length btw). So I hope you all enjoyed it, because I just about cried several times while writing it. Either way, let me know what you thought! Chances are this collection will be updated rather infrequently, with new oneshots coming around whenever I feel like writing one and not on a consistent schedule like what UF itself tries to be on. Still, I'm eager to tackle all of these different AUs for once, and I do have a few more of these already planned (I'm thinking Swap Future Vision is in the offing very soon... ;) But for now, don't forget to follow, favorite, and REVIEW please! Until next time (which will probably be with the next chapter of Universe Falls itself, but still, until then!)
