The colors might have returned when Bill had left but they still seemed dull and lifeless. Warm daylight fought its way through the clouds, but none of the humans below were able to feel the rising sun on their skin while everything just felt numb.

Dipper's heartbreaking bleats for the demon to return were all that they heard before the small fawn eventually stopped, accepting that it was useless after all, only to make its way back to someone else his instincts told him to trust.

Mabel.

But once his wet nose touched her skin something inside her snapped.

"No!" Mabel's voice finally reached through the void of their minds and ripped them out of their stupor.

"Mabel-" But Wendy's interference did nothing to sooth Mabel's burning eyes as she pushed the deer away from her. Dipper only blinked and carefully tried to close the distance between them again, nuzzling her arm before she pushed him away once more.

"No! I-just..." her eyes wavered between the fawn which gave her a lonely bleat and the people looking at her with surprised, hurt and rather helpless expressions. But it was the pity in their eyes that make something inside the small girl break.

It was just too much for her to take when Mabel made a run for the Shack, her gaze blurred by too many tears she nearly tipped over the doorframe before she finally shut the door behind her, leaving a confused bleating fawn scratching on the door.

"Mabel!" Wendy was about to follow but warm, trembling, fingers stopped her. She looked up to Stan and was about to argue when she saw his grim but empty stare.

"Let her be..." He sighed, shook his head and fixed his gaze on the dark charred remains of the contract.

"But-" The redhead tried again.

"She just needs a little time." The old man's voice sounded tired, his actions didn't tell what Mabel exactly needed time to accept, her brother's "betrayal" or that she's lost him. Pacifica however decided for herself what Stan Pines words meant.

"So that's it..." Her voice was hollow, even the Northwest couldn't hide the shiver in her tone.

"...we've lost him." Wendy gasped balling her hands into fists. While Soos only stared at the contract like he expected it to reappear just like his piece of infinite pizza.

But when it stayed in the burned state that it was, the lower lip of the handyman began to tremble with a soft whisper.

"No..."

The long silence that stretched between them made the tension almost suffocating. Pacifica rubbed her eyes and murmured something about a grain of sand, Soos's breath hitched now and Wendy's trembling fingers called for her ax to hit something, hard.

None of them reacted to Stan's silent words, they were used to the employees lies now after all.

"We find a way." But even the owner of the Mystery Shack had trouble believing in his own words, while his burning eyes were glued to the little pine tree on the muddy circle below.

'We have to...'

Stan took a shaky breath when he finally unlocked the door to the Shack, he looked down to the small fawn who blinked at him, hesitating before he slipped through the door with as much space between him and the human as possible. Questioning bleats were echoing in the house before Dipper settled himself at bottom of the stairs, simply too afraid to set a hoof on the first step. Stan sighed and took a look in the living room only to find in empty and quiet.

Soos and the others had finally left, going back home with sagged shoulders and beaten expressions. He told them to do so, because not even the little Northwest with all her money was able to change their situation- so why should he keep the kids busy any more.

It wasn't like they could do anything right now.

Of course Stan still was far from accepting and giving his nephew up that easily but with this damn demon making a bad joke out of their last hope it was hard believing in a solution.

But that was what they needed, a solution, a plan, anything to bring the boy back. The Pines family didn't need another pair of twins that had been broken apart. He turned himself to the stairs, startling the dozing fawn in the process who jumped and made it's way to the living room on shaking legs, while he tried to clear his throat even with the growing lump making it nearly impossible to talk.

"Mabel?" He questioned upstairs, but nothing in the attic seemed to move, so Stan called for her again.

"Come on kid- I know you're there." He grumbled, but his voice was still soft and harbored a sympathetic tone which finally made the upper door squeak, before Mabel came down the stairs. But there was of course someone else who reacted to the sound of the door, his fear of Stan forgotten, Dipper happily jumped towards his sister wagging his tail in joy. The small fawn nudged his nose against the palm of her hand and carefully licked the tips of her fingers before Mabel suddenly pulled back and hopped two steps back up where the deer couldn't reach her. Stan's heart broke when he saw Mabel cradle her hand close to her body, while she avoided the confused stare of her brother, instead fixing themselves on a knothole of the wooden stairs.

He knew perfectly well what must going through the girl's head and it killed him inside that she needed to go through this pain- but he could not let her do that to herself, let alone her brother. The old man sighed, rubbing the back of his neck before he looked down to his niece again, catching a glimpse of her red rimmed eyes.

"Mabel, sweetie- he didn't know what he was doing. You know that right?" He explained in a hushed voice. Mabel only bit her lip, and hugged herself tightly.

"I- I know but-" Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Can you take him for tonight Grunkle Stan? Just this night..." She looked up to him, with big pleading eyes before she broke eye contact again, biting her lip while she rubbed her arm with her other hand.

Stan was taken aback for a moment, staring at the normally joyful girl, that seemed to be a shadow of herself, before he sighed deeply.

"Sure... I guess." He shrugged, but the little hope that she might change her mind, vanished as soon as she turned around to climb up the stairs with a small "Thanks".

The door to the attic closed with a soft thud and it didn't open again when Dipper called out for her. Stan frowned and gazed down at the fawn which looked up the stairs in confusion hesitantly putting his hoof on the first step just to put it down again, too scared to follow. The old man sighed, letting his eyes wander from the stairs down to the fawn's shivering form by his side, taking a deep breath.

"Well seems like it's just us for tonight."

The deer jumped at the sudden sound, turning around to face the man beside him, with wide eyes before he fled into the nearby living room leaving scratch marks from his hooves on the floor in his haste.

Stan's features hardened before he let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding.

"Yeah- that's what I thought." He murmured, heading for the kitchen to prepare something for Dipper so at least one of them got something in his stomach. The former gargoyle rummaged through the fridge cradling different sorts of fruits and vegetables in his arms, before his eyes brushed over some leftover meatloaf but his stomach only murmured at the prospect. Stan closed the fridge with a sigh, instead pressing the button of the old coffee maker that gave him a loud buzz while he prepared a plate for his nephew, before he turned to the dried milk the vet had left with them at his last visit. The sweet smell of the powder tickled his nose when he stirred it into the hot water, a flash of his first and only visit to the twins came into his mind. He never had the intention to come visit, but just like how life goes, he was in town, running into the kid's sleep deprived dad with hands full of small children supplies who looked at Stan like an angel coming for their rescue. He dragged him back home, where everything was sticky from milk and baby puree while he needed to be careful not to slip on the toys laying about. Their mum held the two close to her chest, the bags underneath her eyes even darker than the ones of her husband, she nearly screamed seeing the familiar face, carefully pushing the small bundles of live into Stan's hands, gesturing for the milk bottles before both of them made their way up the stairs heading for the bed only to pass out snoring on the couch, leaving him there with the children.

Twins.

A boy and a girl.

The girl looked up to him in awe with big glittering eyes while the boy with the strange constellation on his head looked like he was about to cry any second now. He still remembered the warmth that had settled in his stomach when he first saw them and wanted to never leave them again, then he swore to himself that he never would let anything happen to them , that those two sweet little babies would never need to go through the same things he had. So he did the only thing that seemed right.

He left as soon as he got sure that each of them emptied their bottle.

When the two preteens had arrived this summer he had long forgotten that emotional moment along with his promise... until today.

Stan bit his lip and poured the warm milk into the bowl nearby.

He never should have let them stay.

Even without the kids – namely Dipper's curiosity in the secrets of Gravity Falls it always had been dangerous. He had always been dangerous to be around at. Damn it he was rebuilding that damn portal downstairs which might be able to rip the world apart, but he did it for-

"Arg forget it." Stan growled, taking plate bowl and coffee back into the living room, where he saw Dipper hiding behind the dinosaur skull.

What was done was done now... but he wouldn't stop fighting to bring the boy back- how hard could this be? After all he was at the same dimension at least.

He would help him, even when the boy didn't seem to like him that much apparently.

Stan sighed and lowered himself on the floor beside the bowls full of food, ignoring his cracking back in the process.

"It's not like I could blame you for that anyway..." He murmured, catching a glimpse of an ear that flickered toward him from Dipper's spot of hiding. The deer's nose was twitching in silent interest at the food, but when the fawn's eyes met his own, the little animal pulled back on shivering legs, ears pressed flat on the back of his head.

Stan frowned, swallowing the bitter taste in his mouth and carefully took a seat on the hard floor, avoiding making too much noise while he searched for a piece of carrot to place it in his palm holding it out to the still hiding fawn and simply waited.

No TV, no sound at all was to be heard, Stan just sat there and waited for Dipper to move while his coffee slowly got cold.

At some point Stan's eyes became heavy with sleep, the exhaustion of the day's stress flushed the last bits of adrenaline and anger out of his system, leaving him hollow, tired and simply sad inside. His back and the regions further south began to arch in the uncomfortable position on the hard floor, but the man didn't dare to move, not a single bit.

Instead he kept staring holes in the woody parquet floor until a silent noise caught his attention, making him look up carefully. Dipper indeed had left his hiding spot and was now standing just an arm's length away from him. Stan was holding his breath, watching the small fawn taking one hesitating step after another towards him. Being that close to him like this made Stan's heart sink in his chest when he recognized that indeed all humanity had left in the dark eyes of the small animal in front of him. The Old man grit his teeth and suppressed a curse, but he needed to admit- the demon was right, it really seemed like Dipper was gone. His nephew's dark wet nose twitched when he came closer to the small piece of carrot in his palm, carefully looking up from the food to the man in front of him. Stan had a hard time swallowing the lump building up in his throat, he blinked and tried to keep his vision clear, he couldn't help but flinch when a warm muzzle touched his old rough skin to carefully steal away the piece of food.

Stan's breath hitched when he slowly brushed his fingers through the fawn's soft fur, while his other hand searched for another piece of food to keep the frail connection upright. Dipper tiled his head, sniffing at the strange creature, when a piece of an apple appeared in front his nose just to be nibbled away within seconds. A sad cracked laughed escaped his dry throat when the fawn bleated happily nuzzling his clothes and licking the tips of his fingers before he found the plate of food below. The fawn- Dipper still allowed him to run his fingers through his warm soft fur, his tail wagged in joy while Stan thought he was going to be sick.

The old man swallowed, carefully taking the little fawn's head between his hands. The deer watched him with big questioning eyes while his jaw moved making the last bit of salad sticking out of his muzzle slowly disappear.

He could see his own reflection in the dark brown- nearly black eyes of the deer, and ignored the glittering tears running down his cheek when he tried his hardest to look past the furry appearance of the child, wishing nothing more than to see Dipper behind all this fur.

But when the fawn just looked at him, giving him a soft but confused bleat, Stan finally broke, hiding his nose in the deer's warm coat to whisper silent promises he wasn't sure he was ever able to keep.

"We'll get you back kid... no matter what, you'll be okay." He swallowed, curling his fingers to the soft fur, while Dipper stood still, the small animal seemed to know deep down that the human beside him needed the contact now.

"It'll be okay." His voice was barely more than a soft whisper now.

"I promise..."

It was deep in the night, the fawn was sleeping silently on his lap when Stan decided that enough time had passed. He took the sleeping animal in his arms and carefully climbed up the stairs flinching each time when one of the steps groaned underneath his weight. The door cracked a little when he pushed it open, just wide enough for the fawn to pass between it, before he settled the small deer back on the floor. His dark brown eyes wavered sleep drunken between him and the open door in confusion, lifting one ear questionably.

"Don't worry, she'll be glad you're there in the morning. That's not what she wants. She didn't mean half of what she said and I am sure she would only regret it if you're not there to wake her up." He whispered ignoring the blank gaze of the fawn, who obviously didn't understand a single word, when he shoved him inside the attic to close the door behind him.

Stan sighed when he let his hand rest on the door handle for a few seconds before he turned around to go back down to his own room with a near soundless sigh.

"Believe me kid...I know what I'm talking about."

The little deer however didn't mind being away from him for long when he recognized the soft breathing coming from the bed on the right side of the room. His tail wiggled happily when he crawled up the bed to press himself in the tiny space between the pig and the human, to let his head rest on the girl's stomach, slowly drifting into dream with the rhythmic movement of her chest.

Mabel sighed, her feet were slipping over the floor while she was walking.

'Heck Mabel, what floor!?'

She groaned brushing her hand through her hair. This space was a pure white nothing! She couldn't even tell where the ground began and the sky ended it was simply nothing! Was this- a nightmare? She blinked in confusion, this didn't look like a monster chase or falling down a staircase at all. To be honest she never had such dreams ever at least not that she knew of- of course she had tripped down in her dreams now and then, but she'd never fallen, either she landed in a mass of green lime yellow flowers or she got wings spreading from her back to rescue her. But this was nothing like her usual dreams, cause then this place would be filled to the brink with unicorns, kittens, sweets and- cute boys. Or cute unicorn boys with kittens on their back and chains of sweets around their neck, anything colorful and glittery not- this.

The white void she was now in right now, for what felt like ages. She was lost by now, that was for sure, it was like someone deleted her, erase her soul out of existence to leave this ridiculous nothing behind for her to get lost in.

She groaned, ready to collapse on the ground to wait for the big eraser to finish it's job when a noise reached her ear through the thick void of her mind.

"Mabel..., Mabel?"

The girl blinked, she- she knew that voice but-

"Dipper?" The soft question left her throat before she could have held it back.

Mabel listened in the dark white nothing around her, before her name resounded from the non-existing walls again.

"Mabel..."

Her heart skipped a beat when Mabel began running, following the ghostly voice while every fibre of her body screamed for her brother.

"Mabel?" – There! She was out of breath by now, when she finally recognized a dark spot in-between the white frog.

"Mabel."

"Dipper! I'm coming!" She screamed, making a run for the dark spot that slowly became a not so unfamiliar shape, Mabel gasped for air when she finally was standing before it.

A door.

A pine tree shaped door to be exact.

Mabel swallowed but only hesitated for a second before her hand found the cold door handle that nearly gave her a static shock when she finally opened it. She blinked and carefully stepped through the door when she saw familiar surroundings.

It looked like the woods of Gravity Falls, only that the path she was actually wandering on was covered in book pages.

"Wait- aren't those-?" She frowned, and kneeled down to get a closer look on the pages she was walking on. She recognized the clean writing covered with bright red letters of warning.

The journal. The floor was covered with pages out of the journal.

But why?

Mabel felt her heart skipping a beat when her mind came to the only possible conclusion.

"Dipper."

"Mabel...?" She flinched, her eyes widening at his now much clearer voice. If she only looked at her surroundings a little while longer she would have found that the woods of Gravity Falls was riddled with dark holes like swiss cheese. Instead she began running again, following the path of book pages while she called out for her brother.

"Dipper, I'm here!" But before she was able to take the next step the ground below her suddenly vanished by flickering like a destroyed computer screen before it left nothing more behind than a dark hole, seemingly empty like the bottomless pit. A high pitched scream left her throat when the momentum of her sudden hold broke her balance she wavered her arms but knew it was too late when the darkness of the empty ground below her came closer and closer – that was before a strong grip on her shoulder tugged at her with a girlish scream of her name, throwing her back on solid ground while her rescuer ended on his bottom himself. Mabel took a shaky breath, still staring at the endless hole where she had nearly fallen into before her eyes drifted to her side, so see him rubbing his aching back where he'd landed in the dirt.

"D- Dipper"

Her brother looked up with clear eyes while a shy smile crept over his face when he pulled himself to his feet. His human feet with his human body.

But before he was able to fix his hat Mabel had thrown her arm around him and nearly knocked them both down again.

"Dipper!" She laughed, tears of joy glittering in her eyes when he patted her back, laughing awkwardly as she noticed just how much she had missed his teenage cracking voice.

"Mabel..." He hugged back, burying his nose in her hair; even here at this unusual place it smelt like bubble gum cotton candy. Mabel smiled happily but when her arms closed themselves around her brothers back the solid touch suddenly vanished, and left her falling forward again with a yelp, landing face first on the ground.

"Mabel!" Dipper winced in sympathy holding out a hand to help his confused twin back to her feet.

"Woah- what just happened?" Mabel wondered but she got her answer the moment she was about to take his hand to pull herself up.

Before she could reach her brother's fingers Dipper just- flickered.

He vanished and reappeared like a broken screen with a short circuit, she saw him flinch in between the few seconds he was visible to her. She was up on her feet within seconds by his side but hesitated to touch his shoulder.

"D-Dipper?" But her brothers eyes were shut as he hugged himself and obviously struggled against what was happening to him.

Mabel remembered the dark hole that had appeared mere seconds before where solid ground had been, when panic froze her rapidly beating heart. She called out for him, now touching his shoulder feeling his skin underneath her fingers before her hand passed through him like water. A surprised shriek left her lips while she cradled her hand to her chest and fearfully watched her brother's flickering before his translucent appearance became stable again. Dipper took a deep breath and whisked some sweat of his forehead with the back of his hand, before his gaze wandered back to her, his former smile nothing more than a worried expression before a determined look flashed over his face. With that he gripped Mabel's wrist and dragged her to follow.

"Dipper what-?" Her startled question was cut short by his dry voice.

"You need to get out of here Mabel." But the girl frowned and dug her feet in the earth to stop both of them.

"You mean-" But their attention was suddenly caught when right next to them a whole clearing disappeared with only a few flickers, leaving a dark hole behind, while Dipper muttered a silent curse as he tried to drag his sister forward. Sadly for him his sister was actually stronger and didn't move a single bit instead staring holes in the back of his head when she questioned him again.

"You mean we need to get out- right?" His fingers tensed around her wrist, making the cold feeling creep back into her veins.

"Dipper..." She whispered, waiting for him to answer when he finally turned around with a sigh, but kept staring at the ground below.

"Mabel I-" He swallowed, wiggling his hand out of his sister's grip.

"I can't come back with you..." Mabel blinked silently for a few seconds before she waved his argument away with a dry laugh.

"Pff nonsense! We just find that door again and go to my place! it's not really crowded there by now so it shouldn't be a problem. And at least things and... people aren't vanishing there."

Dipper visibly flinched at that comment but shook his head.

"You don't understand Mabel... I can't. But you need to leave! You need to get out before he finds you here." He demanded, reaching for his sister's hand again, but Mabel only took a step back, her eyes becoming wide.

"What? No! What are you even talking about?" Another short flicker in his appearance was enough of an answer for her. But of course Mabel wouldn't listen to the truth her mind was screaming in her ear, she didn't react to the sudden shiver or the burning in her eyes which told her that she already knew the answer to her questions. Instead she clung herself to the little bit of hope that was still left inside her. After all Dipper was standing right infront of her, was it so hard for him that she was right this time.

"If you don't want to come back with me then why did you call me in the first place?" She demanded, her voice growing loud while she gestured wildly with her arms.

"I- I just wanted to..." He swallowed, his voice raspy in her ears but Mabel didn't care, they were only wasting time here anyway, he would come with her if he wanted or not. But Dippers broken words made her heart ache in her chest, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"I wanted to say goodbye, I wanted to see you one last time before..." He bit his lip and avoided looking her in the eye, instead fixing his gaze on his fingertips, which steadily flickered in and out of existence.

"I shouldn't have done that, I know that now. But I am also here to warn you Mabel! You need to forget about me, don't mess around with Bill any longer or he'll just-" But Dipper wasn't able to finish his sentence when Mabel took a step toward him, disbelief and anger visible in her tear filled eyes.

"You want me to do WHAT?" She screamed, giving him a stern look.

"Is there one of those holes in your head? Do you honestly think that I would ever forget you! I- I would never!" She declared, but her brother only flinched, rubbing his arm while he answered her in a hurt tone.

"You sounded different today..." Dipper muttered quietly while Mabel only gave him a confused look before something inside her clicked.

"W- What? You mean..." She bit her lip, swallowing before she tried to explain herself with a sigh.

"I-I was angry because you and Bill- Wait! Does that mean you're still in there!" She beamed gripping her brother by the shoulders, while he couldn't do more than shrug.

"Barely. the only thing I get are foggy images now and then, I am not in control or anything."

He sighed and took a look to their surroundings, which seemed to disappear even faster now.

Dipper bit his lip until he met his sister's eyes again.

"There isn't much left of me Mabel..."

A few seconds of silence passed, leaving Mabel staring at him, mouth open wide while her eyes couldn't focus at him because her whole body was shivering manically. Dipper gave her a worried glance calling her by her name but Mabel didn't react, her shivering only became worse when she shook her head as she tried to push his words out of her mind, hugging herself desperately needing to grip on to something real.

"No..." Her cracking voice made him swallow, whatever had broken inside her was clearly audible in her tone. Dipper's own attempt to speak wasn't quite better, but to see his sister like that was worse that every torture Bill could ever force him through.

"Mabel..." But his hushed words were disturbed by her desperate cry.

"NO!" She shouted throwing herself into her brothers arms again, which embraced her solid this time.

"I can't let that happen to you Dipper... I- I won't." The lump in his throat made it hard for him to swallow, when her hot tears were running down the base of his neck. Mabel didn't care, she hugged him with a grip that he might would have expected from Grenda but not her, even if he'd always known how stubborn she can be. It was clear that Mabel meant what she had said, she wouldn't let go... but that would only doom both of them, useless...

He swallowed biting the inside of his cheek before carefully deciding his words.

"You know..." He started, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"I might have another idea still..." But Dippers cautions words finally got her out of her stupor, as she gripped his shoulders taking a step back from him to look her brother in the eyes.

"W-What?" Her voice came out raspy and thin, like she just glued it together but still too unsteady to trust in, just like the little hope Dipper was giving her with a flickering nod, that let her hand pass through him harmlessly. He closed his eyes for a moment, waiting for the moment to go by before he felt more... whole again carefully looking up to her with a desperate sigh.

"I- I don't'even know if it'll work and I wouldn't tell you if this wouldn't be the only way to get you stubborn being out of here- because I think Bill will be pissed and-"

Tumph.

The muffled sound was caused by Mabel's fist who punched him right in the shoulder hard enough to make Dipper flinch.

"Ow!" He yowled, rubbing the spot with a grimace.

"What was that for?" But when he looked up in question he only find his sisters angry but still wet gaze locked on his own making him swallow under her stare.

"You know a way to fix you and you didn't tell me right when we met?! What the hell bro bro what's wrong with you!?" She argued, her voice echoing from the remaining wood surrounding them. Dipper visibly flinched and looked around in distress before he tried to calm her down with a hushed voice.

"Not so loud Mabel-" He warned, taking a deep breath when the wood around them stayed silent, at least for now.

"Listen..." He explained, "It's dangerous and maybe it won't even work but when Bill spoke to you today he-" But right at the very second Dipper had pronounced the Demon's name his cracking voice echoed in the forest, making the ground tremble below their feet with his creepy laughter.

"Fee-fi-fo-fum" The demon hummed, while they heard trees crashing behind them.

"I smell the blood of an actual meat-sack"

Dippers face had become a ghostly white by now, with wide open eyes he turned around to the direction of Bill's voice.

"No!" But his shivering voice got lost in Bills hollow sing-song.

"Be they alive, or be they dead" He laughed, smashing down trees like toothpicks so that his overgrown body was now visible high above the treetops. It was sheer luck that he hadn't seen them by now. But Dipper wasn't a fool to let this valuable seconds ticking by. Desperately he grabbed Mabel's wrist trying to move her forward, to bring her somewhere safe.

"Mabel you need to get out of here NOW!" He argued.

"I'll grind their bones to make my bread"

"Mabel leave!" Panic filled his tone now, they both jumped a little with every step that Bill came closer because each time the earth seemed to move with him.

"You can't hide forever Pine tree~ you know that. Neither can you hide... her." His searching eye turned red together with the whole sky around them, tinting everything in bloody colors. Mabel's own eyes widened, while her brother still tried to bring her out of there, but her mind clung itself on what he said before.

There was a way to save him.

There just needed to be one.

So she summoned the rest of her courage to dug her feet in the ground.

"No! Not before you tell me-" She argued while Bill seemed to make a fun out of it to drive them insane with his words. Perhaps that was exactly it, he knew where they were all along and was just toying with them like always.

"Ready or not here I come." The demon chirped.

But Mabel's grip on her brother's hand only got even more tight, while she pleaded for him to look at her.

"Dipper!"

A second passed by, when he saw the lines of Dippers face harden, the stubborn but caring look he gave her scared her more than any demon ever could.

"You need to wake up Mabel, now!"

Then he pushed her.

Mabel automatically made a step backwards to steady herself, only that there wasn't any ground her feed could hold onto- she tried to tighten her grip on his hand, but-

Dipper let go, leaving her fall.

"What? NO-" Blackness consumed her, while he looked over the hole and rambled with a worried expression.

"Your first idea might have been right all along Mabel you just didn't see the whole picture..." He explained, before a sad smile appeared on his lips while his outlines were shrinking in the distance as she fell.

"I am sorry Mabel, but it's time for you to wake up ." He smiled, before a big bloody red eye appeared behind him, making him jump around in the thin line of the demons narrow pupil.

"1 2 3~ got you Pine tree."

"DIPPER!"

But her shout for her brother died down in the demons cruel laughter while she fell into darkness.

"DIPPER!"

She screamed, making both pig and fawn jump in surprise before she gaspes for air, bolting up in her bed, sweet glittering golden on her skin in the early daylight.

'Was that... a dream?'

She looked down at the little fawn beside her, but all she saw was her own reflection in his dark brown eyes.

'Was it?'

Mabel hugged herself, trying to calm down while her ears still rang with the sound of rushing water mixed up with her brother's words-

"The river!"