Chapter Text
A week ago, the sky had opened up and Gravity Falls was consumed by absolute chaos. Four days ago, an elderly con artist and his dragon had started to take in people and supernatural creatures alike, offering them safety from the weirdness. Two days ago, a pair of twelve year olds had appeared out of the madness and into the arms of their beloved Great Uncle. That morning, a Tourist Trap turned giant robot stood at the heart of the insanity.
Sheba stood on the roof of the Shacktron, head held high, chest puffed out, thin trails of smoke leaking from the corners of her mouth and wings spared to their full length. A challenge, that’s what they would call it in her homeland, a challenge for Bill Cipher to come out of his pyramid in the sky and fight.
She knew, of course, that this was technically a rescue mission and she was meant to keep the group in the shack safe while the rescue team got Ford and the people Cipher had captured out of Bill’s clutches but the dream demon had messed with everything that the dragoness held near and dear for far too long in her mind. He was the root of most of the problems within her clan after all, not all but more then enough of them.
She screeched out a war cry along with Soos and rose on her hind legs while beating her wings. A snarl of frustration rose in her throat when, rather then the triangle that she wanted to set on fire, Bill’s cohorts came out to fight against them. ‘Oh well, might have a little practice,’ she thought as she launched into the air and started snapping winged eyeballs out of the sky. Sheba swooped and spun, lashing out with claws and teeth.
She let out a growl of sinister satisfaction when the master of the hoard showed himself. She swooped down the second she saw an opening and unleashed her fire. Bill yelled in surprise when the flame met its mark and Sheba let out a roar of triumph before firing another round.
She spied the rescue group out of the corner of her eye when Bill started attacking the Shacktron. She smirked and swooped down again, roaring out insults.
“OH, WELL THAT IS JUST RUDE!” Bill yelled in repose to her roar.
Sheba laughed and roared out more vulgar insults, both from her homeland and a few she had learned from her adopted human hatchling, while spitting fire at Cipher’s eye.
Sheba didn’t know how long the fight had gone on, but she hoped that the rescues team would return soon. Her wings were becoming sore and her throat was getting painfully dry from all the fire breathing. Her weakening state must have shown somehow, because Bill’s giant hand was suddenly right in front of her and the world spun.
Sheba yelped in pain when she landed hard on her left wing and skidded across the ground. She lay there stunned, panting heavily and trying to stop the world from tilting. Slowly, she rolled onto her stomach and tried to flap her left wing. She hissed when moving proved to be quite painful, the idea of flying with it made her cringe.
Sheba stood and tucked her bad wing in as close as she could, which wasn’t much seeing as how it was still hung limp at her side. It wasn’t broken, she hadn’t heard the bone snap, but she did have a very serve sprain at the least.
With a shake of her head, the dragoness turned in the direction of the battle in time to see a flood of townsfolk running out of the Fearamind and the Shacktron collapsing.
With a screech, she bounded towards the towns people, ignoring the screams of terror in favor of fending off some of Bill’s monsters with a bust of flame.
The dragon circled around the group, fighting off the larger monsters and letting the Gravity Falls residents handle the smaller ones.
They all fought as hard as they could but they ended up surrounded. Sheba snarled and swiped at the pink female demon, flapping her good wing in an attempt to look more intimidating. The effect was not quite as impressive when she was out of fire and a lame wing.
And then the ground started shake. Sheba blinked in confusion as all the creatures from the nightmare realm and all the madness that Bill had brought with him was pulled upwards and back threw the rift into their own diminution.
The world gave another shake as the Fearamid crumbled and the gateway closed. The flash of light blinded Sheba momentarily. When her eyes readjusted, everything was back to normal.
Sheba blinked again then rose on her hind legs and unleashed a victorious roar. ‘THEY DID IT! THEY DEFEATED CIPHER!’
A collective cheer ran threw the townspeople and creatures as the reality of the fact that they had won settled in their minds.
A very familiar shout made Sheba turn to see Soos running over and hugging her fore leg, “We beat the evil triangle dude!” He cried out happily and Sheba rumbled back while licking the young mans face.
She scanned the crowd for the rest of her clan but frowned when she didn’t see any more faces she recognized.
With a quite huff she used another means of location, the enchanted amulet she had given to her Fiery Spirit. It wasn’t really very extraordinary compared to some magical items but it did help her keep an eye on her hatchling, making it easier to find him if scent tracking wasn’t of much use.
She trotted off, Soos following and asking if she knew where Mr. Pines, other Mr. Pines and the little dudes were. She rumbled reassuringly to him as they went into the forest.
As the aura of the amulet grew stronger, Sheba picked up her pace, excitement making her want to move more quickly. Her excitement, however, ebbed away when the trees started to thin and she saw a small group in a clearing.
Mabel was crying, that alone was very, very wrong. Her Pure of Spirit hatchling was not supposed to cry like that. Dipper was holding his siter close and she could tell he was holding back tears. A little ways from the younger hatchlings, were the older two. At first glance, it looked as though Stan was hugging his brother, but Sheba could see that it was actually Ford who was hugging Stan. The two were wearing each others clothing for some reason.
Soos went ahead of her and crouched next to the children, Sheba moved past them, planning on checking on her Fiery Spirit while Soos handled Dipper and Mabel.
She stopped dead when Stan looked at her.
He didn’t smile or offer a tired wave or even try and stand to meet her halfway. He looked up at her with terror.
It felt like a slap to the face to see Stan looking at her like that, even when they had first met he hadn’t looked that frightened of her. Sheba made a low whine and lowered her self in an attempted to look less intimidating.
Ford turned at the sound to look at her then turned back to Stan, “It’s alright Stan, she’s a friend.”
Stan looked from Ford to Sheba then back to Ford, “That’s a dragon.”
“A friendly dragon, she won’t hurt you.”
Stan looked back at her but none of the fear had left his eyes. Sheba gave another little whimper before shuffling back a few paces. Her distance seemed to put Stan more at ease.
Sheba kept the distance and listened as the kids explained what had happened to Soos. She helped in herding the little ones to the side so their great uncles could trade their clothes back. When the group headed back to the shack she followed, keeping her distance once again so as not to make Stan uncomfortable. The thought of her adopted hatchling being uncomfortable near her was metaphorical another slap in the face and made her ears droop. When the group reached home, Sheba lied down next to the porch while the humans went inside.
Sheba sighed and put her head on her folded fore legs. Dipper and Mabel had said that Stan had sacrificed his mind in order to destroy Bill. The memory gun had left her hatchling little more then a shell of his former self.
Sheba shut her eyes and let out another sad whimper as her own memories began to swirl in her mind.
She remembered, clear as day, when Stan had first fallen into her cave. She had been confused when she woke up and saw a human sitting right next to her, most didn’t even come this deep into the forest. Yet there one had been, staring up at her with a mixture of fear and awe. She remembered how he had tried to, as he called it, smooth talk his way out of a tight spot. She had found his words more humorous then anything else, but she had no interest in causing him any harm so she showed him the way out.
She remembered how surprised she had been when, two days later, she returned from hunting to find the human in the entrance of her cave. She had been quite happy to see him again and was more then happy to help when he asked if she had a book hidden in her cave. She remembered how they had searched her entire hoard and cave and found nothing. Stan had been so devastated when they couldn’t find anything and she had seen how sad and lonely he was. She knew, quite well, how awful feeling alone felt and didn’t want this brown haired blue eyed human to suffer threw something of that nature.
So, she had remedied the problem the only way she knew how, by taking him in as her own. She had given him some things from her hoard and the amulet from her homeland as a sign of accepting him as part of her clan. She remembered walking with him back to his shack and wishing him goodnight.
She remembered his frequent visits to her cave and when she had pushed her way into the house when he didn’t visit for almost a week. She remembered when he had told her about his brother and about his childhood in New Jersey. When he had brought her down to the basement and told her about the tragedy that occurred there.
She remembered when he had asked if he could call her Sheba and how she had started to call him Fiery Spirit. She remembered going with him to look for his brothers journals, when he told her that they needed to start being more careful because he hired a new handy man, when he said he had family coming over. She remembered the fear she felt when she saw the undead taking over the Mystery Shack, the joy when her hatchling and the kids won the night with a song, how content and warm she had felt when they all sat down to watch the television.
Her reminiscing was interrupted by footstep coming her way. She lifted her head, hoping it was Stan, but it was Stanford who appeared in the broken doorway holding a large piece of cloth.
“I…um…” he paused on the porch steps and gestured to her wing. “Your wing doesn’t look so good so…I thought I could help you out a bit…”
Sheba blinked at him before giving a rumble of approval and shifting a bit so her bad wing could be better accessed. Ford nodded and moved closer so he could examine Sheba’s injury.
“Your wing doesn’t look broken just sprained pretty badly, but you likely have some muscle bruising and you have a lot of lacerations and a nasty scrap.”
Sheba made a questioning grunt and turned her head to have a look. She had noticed the wing injury but the bruises, cuts and scrapes were news to her. But sure enough, her left side was cut up like she had…well, like she’d been thrown to the ground and skidded a few feet.
“We’d best wash these out before I fix up your wing. I would recommend stitches but…I don’t think the supplies we have would be good enough. The thread would likely snap before I even got finished.”
Sheba churred softly, hoping Ford would understand that the wing was the only thing they really had to worry about.
When the thoughtful expression didn’t leave the humans face, Sheba huffed and swiped her tail so it hooked the hose lying behind her and threw it to Ford’s feet. The man blinked at it for a few seconds, “That could work for cleaning your injuries.”
Sheba warbled and bobbed her head.
Ford contemplated the hose for another moment before picking it up and turning it on. Sheba hissed as the cold water hit her injuries but stayed still until Ford was satisfied and did her best to help in tying the large cloth tarp around her wing and secure it to her side.
“That should be good, how does it feel?” Sheba gave a rumble and a smile, butting Fords shoulder lightly.
The man cracked a small smile and patted her head before his face grew solemn again. He trudged back to the porch and sat on the steps, burying his face in his hands. Sheba rumbled questioningly and walked over so she could sit next to Ford.
“I am such an idiot,” Ford mumbled. “I was so stupid and it took losing my brother to see it. I couldn’t even get passed a petty grudge from forty years ago.”
Sheba warbled and nuzzled at his neck. Yes, she agreed he had be stupid and she was angry at how Ford had treated her hatchling but she wasn’t so angry she couldn’t recognize the fact that the Stanford had seen his mistakes and was being torn apart by the guilt.
Ford lowered a hand so he could peek out at Sheba, “Starting to see why you were always so cross with me. I deserved much worse then getting smoked it the face a few times.”
Sheba’s ears twitched back and snorted. Smoke seemed to be enough to her, it had worked well enough with Stan when he got too reckless even for her taste or when the kids acted out of turn one time to many.
“And I’m not the only one who’s lost Stan,” Ford’s voice was starting to wobbled a bit. “The kids, Soos, you. I’ve taken Stan away from everyone and there’s no way to get him back and I can’t make things up to him now all because I didn’t want to face my guilt and-”
Sheba knew he was rambling. Stan did the same thing when he was upset and about to cry. With a comforting rumble, Sheba wrapped a fore claw around Ford and hugged him to her chest. The man stiffed at the contact for a few seconds before going almost limp and burying his face into Sheba’s furry chest and cried.
Sheba rumbled softly and started carefully grooming Ford, cleaning off the dirt and grim from his hair and skin and soothing the nasty burn wound on his neck.
Sheba wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, with Ford crying into her chest and saying how he was sorry while she gave him comforting licks and nuzzles, but the sound of small feet pounding on floorboards made both human and dragon look up. Dipper stood in the doorway with one of the biggest smiles Sheba had ever seen on the boys face.
“He’s remembering!” He said. “Grunkle Stan is remembering!”
****************
It took a week of flipping threw Mabel’s scrapbooks and Sheba pulling down whatever past memorabilia she knew Stan had for the man’s memories to return somewhat fully. There were still a few gaps and blank places but the family didn’t care because their Stanley Pines was back and it was more then any of them had hoped for.
And just in time for Dipper and Mabel’s birthday.
Sheba had been ecstatic when the kids told her that, since the whole town knew about her, she could attend their thirteenth birthday party. She had picked threw her hoard for hours before deciding on the flashiest, most multi colored necklace she could find for Mabel and one of her books that she was pretty sure was on paranormal events for Dipper. Reading human language was not a strong suit for her but Ford and Stan had said Dipper would like it so her guess must be correct.
She was overjoyed when Mabel gushed excitedly and put the necklace on while Dipper eagerly flipped threw the book.
She was a bit surprised when Stan said he had an announcement and even more surprised when Soos interrupted her Fiery Spirit with a speech of his own. Then overjoyed again when Stan handed ownership over to a very shocked a tearful Handyman.
The rest of the party went by in relative normality, with much cheering and cake. Sheba loved every second and a part of her wished it would never end.
But it eventually had to end.
Sheba and the kids said their goodbyes at the house, since they all doubted the bus driver would be as quite about a dragon as the rest of the town. Both kids hugged her neck and Mabel insisted that, once Sheba’s wing finished healing that she had to take Stan and Ford on a bonding flight. Sheba rumbled a promise to do just that before Stan called the kids with a gruff, “We’re gonna miss your bus.”
Sheba waved goodbye as they left then squeezed into the house. She curled up in the living room, next to Stan’s chair, to wait for the return of her hatchling and his brother. Actual, now that she was thinking about it, Ford had pretty much become another hatchling to her along with Stan, the younger twins, Soos and Wendy over the past week. She had given him a dragon name after all. Well, kind of anyway, Stupid Genius was just what Stan always called his twin and it seemed fitting enough to her.
She smiled to herself as she thought of her adopted hatchlings, the little clan that had come to be because of a young human falling down a hole. It felt good to have a family again after so many years of being on her own.
She must have dozed because the next thing she knew, an all too familiar hand was scratching at her ears. She lifted her head and smiled at her Fiery Spirit.
“Morning Sheba,” Stan laughed. “Have a good nap?”
Sheba snorted affectionately in his face before pulling him to her chest.
“Sheba!”
‘I know you love this,’ she rumbled as she put her head down so he neck trapped Stan’s legs.
“Ford! I’m being held against my will!”
Sheba chuckled as Ford walked in from the kitchen to see what his sibling was yelling about. The second he was within reach of her, the dragoness caught Ford around his middle and pulled him into the hug.
“Hey! Sheba no!” Ford protested, but Sheba just huffed and trapped him.
Stan laughed at Fords attempts to escape and settled against Sheba’s neck, “Yeah, now we’re stuck. Make yourself comfortable Sixer.”
Ford huffed and slumped back so he was leaning on Sheba’s shoulder. Sheba chuckled and closed her eyes, listening as her two hatchling’s breathing evened and deepened.
********
Two weeks after Dipper and Mabel’s departure found Sheba strengthening her wing behind the Shack while Stan and Ford were out boat shopping.
When the question of when the two should set sail, Stan had insisted they not do anything until Sheba’s wing was out of a sling. Ford had taken off the tarp turned wing sling two days ago and told Sheba that she should do only stretches and light flying until it was at full strength.
Sheba was dead set on taking both her Fiery Spirit and her Stupid Genius for a flight before they went on their adventures at sea and to do that she needed her wing back to normal fast. She had promised Mabel after all.
She would stretched and flap the wing before fluttering onto the roof of the Mystery Shack and glide down again for a warm up, then try a takeoff and try to get as high as she could as fast as she could. Probably not what Ford had been thinking of but it worked for her.
It took almost four days, far to long for her taste, but once she felt confident she could carry a human again without her wing giving out she went in search of her hatchling.
Both were hesitant, Stan because he thought it was too soon after her wing healed and Ford because he was both worried about Sheba’s wing and riding a dragon bareback high up in the sky. But they caved and climb on board.
Stanford yell of fearful excitement and Stan’s whoop of joy was like music to her ears.
They flew over the entirety of Gravity Falls that day, going at a very slow pace and taking in the scenery. Ford had been more then happy to start pointing out various places in the forest once his initial shock at the fact he was hundreds of feet above the tree line wore off.
It was getting close to sunset before Stan patting Sheba’s neck and said, “Best head home Sheba.” She rumbled in agreement before turning around.
“I forgot how much I’ve missed this,” Stan sighed and leaned forward so that he was essentially lying on Sheba’s neck.
“I thought you were petrified of heights,” Ford said.
Stan laughed, “Yeah, until Mabel found out about it. Glad she did, otherwise I would have never started doing this.”
“Flying?”
“Yup.”
Sheba smiled. She was glad Mabel had scared the fear out of her hatchling as well.
When the Shack came into view, Sheba grinned as an idea came to her. Rather then landing in the yard or the Shack’s parking lot, she touched down on the roof.
“Why did she land her?” Ford asked as he slid off Sheba and onto the roof.
“That’s why,” Stan stated and gestured towards the east.
The sunset was a sight to behold. Bright golden rays of sunlight seemed to dance threw the trees and bath everything they touched in various shades of yellow and red, while the sky was a mix of reds, blue, purples and gold’s.
“Always a sucker for a good sunset,” Stan chuckled and patted Sheba’s neck.
Sheba chuckled back and smiled, feeling a comforting warmth spread threw her entire body.
The three watched the sun sick further down until the golden color when to a deep, dark blue with white sparkles of the night sky, all content and happy and at home.