Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Feet pounded against the ground, two pairs in and out of sync as they chased after the smaller, lighter, pair darting around the trees ahead. 

“Get back here you runt!” One of the men spat. 

“Can’t catch me assholes!” The younger voice called back, farther away than the pair thought. 

The damn kid was clever and fast, they knew they weren’t going to catch him. Not on their own. But every time the brat stole from them, they still gave chase unlike the rest of the town. While Lazy Susan or Bud Gleeful didn’t care as much, the lumberjacks did. They needed that wood, damn it. They didn’t need it wasted on a demon spawn. 

Which wasn’t an exaggeration either; the kid was a literal demon, everyone knew that from the moment he got old enough for it to be shown. Even his own parents knew what a monster he was, hence why they abandoned him in the first place. Gravity Falls just wished the parents didn’t decide to leave him here , to live and then scavenge for food and steal the stuff from the locals. 

The pair of lumberjacks spent the next few more minutes trying desperately to find the demonic beast, to capture it and maybe,  finally , be rid of it.

But Cipher knew this game well. He’s been avoiding them for thirteen years so far, he knows how to escape them. 

So, when he’s far enough to not be spotted, the eighteen year old demon kid climbs up into the trees and turns invisible. As he does, the colors of the world fade to gray around him, until he’s the only spot of bright in the dullness. He can’t stay in this form for long, but it will be just enough to not be spotted as long as he stays up high. Like always, it works. The lumberjacks spend another couple of minutes and then they leave him be. He can freely run back to his den with his prize; a big piece of wood. That should be enough to last the fire for days ! 

After double checking the lumberjacks are truly gone, Cipher takes off his invisibility glamor and quickly climbs down the tree, holding the log in his arms. Then he runs as fast as he can to the cave he calls his home. Deep inside, the fire burns bright and the smoke billows towards the small hole in the ceiling, which fades before it makes it all the way through.

By the fire, safe and sound like they should be, is his siblings. His clever Pine tree and his wild Shooting Star were curled up together and sleeping peacefully in the makeshift nest they managed to build with stolen blankets and pillows. 

They weren't really his siblings- at least they didn’t think so– but when you’ve been with someone for nearly ten years you can’t help but think of the other as such. They were his family. They were the most important thing Cipher had.

Careful not to wake the twins (they always assumed they were twins, given how identical they looked), Cipher set the piece of wood aside and laid beside them. Once it got a bit darker out, he’d go to the local diner and steal a pie from the window. But for now, he can simply rest with his siblings. He had been running for quite a while… 

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When Cipher awoke, it was much darker outside. It was colder too. The light no longer streamed in from the hole in the roof or from the front of the cave, but instead only from the embers of the dying fire. Quickly, Cipher flicked his finger and a burst of bright blue fire came out and lit the embers, the flames turning red upon reaching the rest. He then added the new wood to keep it going. They couldn’t let this fire go out, especially when Cipher was gone, or else they’d never be able to see, cook meat scraps they find, or be warm when it got cold like this… Cipher’s flames only did so much and lasted for minutes at a time, they needed the bigger fire. 

Pine tree and Shooting Star were awake, playing patty-cake and giggling about something or another. Cipher smiles at them and stands. “Alright rascals, I’m going to get us some food okay? Stay here until I get back.”

The twelve year olds (at least, that's what Cipher assumes their ages are) both rolled their eyes in unison. “Duh,” Pine tree complains, “We always have to stay here, you never let us explore!” 

“You know it’s for a good reason,” Cipher says softly and the pair’s expressions somber, nodding in agreement. 

The town practically wants Cipher dead because they all know he’s a demon. What they don’t know is he’s protecting two other, much younger, demons (because that has to be what they are, why else would their parents suddenly abandon them like they did him?). If they were found… who knows what the town would do to them. Maybe they’d pass by as humans– you can barely see the unnatural twinkle in their eyes unless you really look and you don’t notice the constellation birthmark on Pine tree's forehead when his hair is in front of his face– but then that could mean even more than just death for Cipher… It was best not to think about it. It didn’t matter. 

What mattered was that he had to protect them. They’re the only thing keeping him going. 

Once the twins were settled again, and hidden from immediate view of the cave’s entrance, Cipher snuck back out into the woods and headed towards town. 

Greasy’s Diner was the easiest of all the local restaurants to steal from. The owner, Lazy Susan, wasn’t exactly the brightest tool in the shed, which made stealing from the place rather easy. For example, when Cipher got closer to the diner he noticed a pie left in the window to cool. He could hear Susan talking to someone as she closed up shop. Now was his chance. 

He crept behind a tree, double checking that no one could see him, then darted over to the window and hid below. He was about to reach up to grab the pie when he overheard the conversation Susan was having. 

“Well, okay, let’s see- It has blonde fur and yellow eyes, it constantly steals from the diner! I have pies go missing every other day, I don’t know how it does it!” Cipher heard Susan exclaim. He rolled his eyes (which really made his left one hurt, he got a nasty scratch to it a couple days ago). Lazy Susan was talking about him, of course, like he was some pesky vermin. That’s always how the town talked about him.  

‘At least I bring the plates back.’ He thought bitterly.

Then a new voice spoke up, one Cipher has never heard before. It was deeper– but not as deep as Manly Dan’s– steady and careful with its words. “I see, ma’am. Do you happen to have any theories on why it steals food? Usually demons don’t need normal human cuisine.”

Curious, Cipher crept closer to the edge of the wall.

He heard Susan’s voice giggle and reply, “You use such funny words! But no, I haven’t got a clue! Tyler thinks maybe it has-”

As Cipher listened to Susan ramble, he crept closer to the edge of the wall until he could just barely peek around the corner. 

There, standing at the front of the diner and talking to Susan, was a pair of older men. Both had gray hair and glasses, one had a bit of a shaved beard while the other had more of a five o’clock shadow. The one guy was wearing a fez, why is that? Cipher’s never seen these guys before… Why would they be here and interested in him ? 

Then he noticed the car parked beside them, and the symbol painted across it and Cipher’s blood ran cold. He didn’t dare breathe as his focus zeroed in on the golden six-fingered hand, with the strange backwards crescent moon and dot. He also realized, with a start, that the one guy’s fez had that moon symbol.

Demon hunters.

He’s seen the flyers around town that someone put up a week ago, with the same symbol on it. He’s heard the townsfolk debating whether to beg the hunters to finally put an end to Cipher…

But he didn’t think they’d actually call them . Sure, he steals a few pies or some wood here and there but it’s not like he’s hurt anybody purposefully! The worst stuff he did was always in self defense, a scratch or a bite to get them to leave him alone. He’s never meant to do anything bad to- to anyone ! 

He’s… He’s just a kid… He’s lived in the woods for years, since the town realized what he was and gave up trying to raise him, kicking him to the curb. 

Tears burned in Cipher’s eyes. 

They- they wanted him dead… They wanted Cipher dead, so much so they called demon hunters, and for what?! Because he was slightly different?! Because he had powers and glowing eyes, because he was a demon.

Just like his Pine tree and Shooting Star…

Cipher paled.

The kids!

As quietly and carefully as he could, Cipher stepped back towards the window. He had to get out of there before anyone could notice him… He’d have to just abandon the pie. Normally he’d just run and hide for a while, but if there’s demon hunters then he had to protect his family. He couldn’t bear to let anything happen to them. He had to get them out of there and fast . 

He needed to leave the pie behind and move, now.  

But… the twins needed food… Cipher could go hungry if he needed to, but the twins-

Quickly, he snatched the pie out from the windowsill and booked it. As he reached the edge of the woods, he heard shouts behind him, one distinctly Lady Susan and the others having to be from the men. Glancing back, he noticed the demon hunters running towards the woods.

Oh no-!

Cipher ran faster, darting behind and in between trees, hopping over fallen logs and bushes, as swift as a fox as he desperately ran from the hunters. 

He darted around behind a tree, clinging the pie close to his body as he threw up a glamor of invisibility. The world faded to gray around him and he held his breath and waited. 

He heard one of the demon hunters, the man’s voice was gruff and low as it rumbled, “Come out, come out wherever you are, demon…”

The other one, the one Cipher heard talking to Susan, called over to the man from farther away, “See anything?” The closer one walked towards the voice.

They weren’t that close to him. Good. His glamor didn’t work as well when he moved but if he could climb up into a tree and hide, he’d be safe. He’s done it thousands of times, he… this has to work…

Carefully, he glanced around before darting to a bigger tree as color suddenly swarmed back into view. Glancing around once more, he quickly climbed as far as he could and hid, reapplying the glamor and double checking that it stayed intact. It wouldn’t last long, but it had to do.

Just in the nick of time too, as suddenly both the hunters came into view. They looked even more gray than before due to the effects of the glamor. 

“I still don’t see anything Sixer, you?” The one wearing the fez, with the gruff voice, asked. 

“Not yet,” The other– Sixer, huh? That’s a dumb name – replied. 

“How sure are we that he can’t turn invisible?” The fez one asked. 

Cipher could see Sixer roll his eyes. “We’ve talked about this. He couldn’t because no demon known to man can do that, Lee. The only demons who could even try to go invisible are mind demons, and that’s because they just appear in a person’s mind then dart out. They’re not physically there in the first place. This thing can't possibly do so if the town can see it. Come on, let's keep looking.” That meant they wouldn’t even suspect what Cipher is doing. Good, he has leverage here. They won’t know he’s invisible.

  That also means you’re even more of a monster, a voice whispered in the back of his mind, maybe they won’t just kill you if they get a hold of you… Maybe they’ll do worse… He tried to ignore it.  

The pair disappeared into the woods. Cipher let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and quietly got down from the tree. The glamor dropped as he ran back to the den. 

Rushing inside with the pie clung tight to his chest, he went over to the twins, his sturdy pine tree and his precious shooting star, about to excitedly greet him and he shushed them quickly.

Quietly, he spoke, “We have to get moving. There’s demon hunters out there, we’re not safe here anymore.” They were never really safe to begin with, but they stayed because where else could they go? 

But now they had to leave this place, the only home they ever knew, in order to be safe. In order to stay alive . 

Pine tree and Shooting Star frowned but stayed silent as they gathered up their things. While they did so, Cipher put out the fire and gathered some of the ash and part of the burnt log. They managed to steal a couple drawstring bags for storage a while ago; one for firewood, the other for food. Cipher shoved what he could of the ashes and burnt wood into the associated bag, then grabbed the pie and dumped it into the designated food bag. He set the plate aside– for once, he won’t be returning it– and then gathered the bags onto his back with the straps around his shoulders. 

“Come on, follow me and stay quiet,” Cipher murmured as he crept out of the cave with the pair close behind him. Glancing around to make sure the hunters weren’t there, the trio quickly ran out of the cave and into the woods. 

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Stanford was getting frustrated. Normally, investigations like this were easy and quick. Demons give chase, sure, but they certainly cannot hide for long. Not from the best twin demon hunters in the world. Usually the chase lasts a few minutes, not a few hours like it was currently. The sun had barely gone down when they began, and now the moon was closer to lowering than it was to rising. 

The fucker was far faster than either of the twins anticipated, like it had some sort of super speed. Which was strange, because demons could be fast but certainly not faster than a human since they relied so heavily on their powers. But this one was different…

The pair had recently moved into an old shack at the outskirts of town, due to the high traces of paranormal activity in the area, and when they caught wind of the demon they knew they needed to help. The demon haunted this town according to the locals; It had been stealing their things and terrorizing them for years . No one had ever caught it. That's why they asked the professionals to do so. Plus, the town offered a hefty sum for the effort…

But now Ford was thinking it wasn’t worth it. Maybe they should give up, call it a day. The demonic energy tracker they were using said the demon was heading away from town after all, maybe it was finally giving up? Knew it couldn’t win this fight and decided to run? That didn’t sound like a demon but this one was rather odd, if the stories he was told were to be believed. Why would a demon need blankets and firewood anyway? 

Then the tracker started to pick up two more demonic energies, much fainter than the one they were chasing (who was surprisingly low powered for a demon, which meant it was fairly weak- how did it get away from them so easily- ) and Ford… didn’t know what to think of that. Usually when there's faint demonic energies like that, it meant there was a baby demon or maybe another creature who hung around a demon for too long, but… the locals never mentioned seeing anyone else with the one they were hunting. Then again, demon babies are usually left in a nest of sorts until they’re ready to follow their parents around, so maybe the babies are still too young to move? It's possible the demon is pulling something or using magic to carry them…

The tracker points suddenly stopped moving, and now he was finally getting close to them. So, Ford tapped his finger against the ear comm, speaking quietly in case the demon had sensitive hearing, “Stanley, come in Stanley.”

For a moment, it was static, then Stan’s voice came through. Ford had to strain his ears in order to hear the whisper,  “Ford…”

“Lee, did you see your tracker? It says two more appeared-”

“Ford, I see them.”

Ford paused, frowning. “What?”

“They’re right in front of me, I’m hidden… Get over here. Now. ” Stan gritted. He.. didn't sound happy to have found the demon… Something is wrong. 

Whatever it was, it made Ford quietly head towards the dots faster than before. They really were surprisingly still… Maybe resting before running? But why would a demon need rest? More likely they thought they weren’t being chased anymore-

Then he saw them. Through the trees, on the outskirts of a clearing behind some bushes… 

One was clearly the demon they were hunting; blonde hair, bright yellow eyes, wearing ragged and dirty clothes he had to have stolen. Next to him were two more beings, clearly twins, also wearing stolen clothes with brown hair and hazel eyes…

The one rule Stanley and Stanford Pines decided when they first began this business was that they refused to hurt innocent demons. Demonic beings who had mercy, or were too weak to even bother causing problems in the first place. Most of all, they left the young alone. They always had a chance to be good, always had the ability to grow and decide to protect humanity rather than harm. Not all demons grew to be evil. The pair made it explicitly clear to their clients that they would never harm those that don’t deserve it. 

Ford thought he was going to be sick. 

Because demons or not, those were kids … 

They were hunting kids…

Chapter Text

Cipher knew it wasn’t safe for them here, not until they got to the next town over, but Pine tree and Shooting Star haven’t eaten all day. They’ve been running for a long while, and they needed a break. They wouldn’t last as long as Cipher could if they kept going like this. 

After making sure they were safe at the edge of a clearing, Cipher decided to stop and let the kids take a rest and eat. They needed to hurry, but maybe the hunters gave up or are taking a break too? He scanned the area but didn’t see anything… Still, to be even more safe he made sure the trio were partially hidden by bushes and shrubs. 

Pine tree tried to get Cipher to eat some too, but he refused. He could go without eating, even if his stomach rumbled mournfully at the thought. The other two needed the food more. Besides, they needed to get moving and the faster they did, the faster they would get to safety. He couldn’t let them get hurt. Cipher had to protect his family, they were all he had left, the only family he’s ever known, the only ones who ever cared about him-

Warm arms wrapped around him and he looked down to see his precious, perfect, Shooting Star hugging him tight. She had tears brimming in her eyes as she looked up at him with worry and concern. Cipher frowned and blinked hard to keep his own eyes from watering. His left eye was really starting to hurt, but he ignored it and held her close. “We’ll be okay…” he whispered, “We’ll be okay…” He wasn’t sure if he was trying to assure his siblings or himself. Maybe both. 

Cipher made her let go and she finished eating. They only had a quarter of the pie but that was okay, they needed to save the rest for travel anyways. Who knows when the next time they would get food would be. Cipher could hunt small critters, but he wasn’t great at it… 

They were about to leave when Cipher heard the snap of a twig. Whipping around, he saw one of the hunters standing in the clearing and staring at him. It was the one who talked to Susan– Sixer? Wasn’t that his name? Not that it mattered– and he had his hands up in what was supposed to be a placating gesture. (The guy had six fingers on each hand which was really strange, but also explained his name-) There was nothing in his grip but Cipher didn’t trust that for a second . 

But there were two. There were two, where was the other-? 

He heard the crinkle of leaves behind him and his blood ran cold when he whipped his head back around and saw the other one standing there, much closer, with his arms also in the air. 

Pine tree and Shooting Star clung to Cipher’s sides, eyes wide and terrified. Cipher snarled at the hunters, baring his sharp teeth and keeping his siblings safe under his arms. He wouldn’t let them near, wouldn’t let them even think about hurting the twins-

Pine tree whined, looking between the two hunters and Cipher tugged him closer. 

“When I tell you to… run.” Cipher murmured to his siblings. They looked up at him teary eyed and horrified at the suggestion, but Cipher kept his focus solely between the two hunters facing them. Sure, they weren’t quite surrounded but who knows what these two could 

It was the fez wearing one that spoke first, “Calm down. We aren’t going to hurt you.” 

Cipher barked a laugh. “Ya right! A couple of demon hunters not hurting a demon like me?! Fat fucking chance!” He wasn’t going to mention that Pine tree and Shooting Star were demons too, just in case. 

The other one, Sixer, spoke up next, “He’s right. We aren’t going to hurt you. We just want to talk, I swear.” 

Cipher adjusted him and his siblings so the hunters were on either side of the trio and adjusted his grip on the twins slightly so he could turn them enough to have the hunters in front and behind them. That way, it was easier to shove his siblings away and tell them to run if he needed to. They’d be separated, but the hunters wouldn’t be able to go after both of them as long as Cipher attacked them first. His nails were sharp, practically claws, and his teeth were fangs that sunk into flesh easily, he could do some hefty damage-

“How old are you three?” Sixer asked suddenly. 

If looks could kill, the man would be dead. 

“Why do you care?!” Cipher snapped. He had to get an opportunity, he had to get a chance, he needed to protect his siblings-

“You’re very obviously young,” Fez said. His voice was soft, soothing. Cipher didn’t dare fall for it, not for a second-!

Shooting Star piped in, voice quiet and high pitched with worry, “Twelve…” 

Cipher should be mad at her for speaking, but he can’t dare to snap at his siblings. He couldn’t show weakness in front of these monsters trying to kill them. 

“All three of you?” Sixer asked, his voice also soft, he sounded kind, caring… He glanced up at Cipher like he wouldn’t be surprised that Cipher was twelve as well. Bastard, he’s not that skinny and he’s rather tall, thank you very much. 

Shooting Star shook her head and then scooted closer to Cipher. 

“Okay… Just you and your sister?” Sixer asked. 

Pinetree bristled, a sound akin to a growl bubbling from his throat as he yelled, “I’m a boy!” Cipher tugged him closer, terrified over his brother yelling at the men trying to kill them, but he channeled the energy into his own kind of growl towards the hunters. 

Instead of suddenly lunging for them like Cipher expected he’d do, the demon hunter just smiled apologetically. “Sorry kid, I didn’t realize. My mistake. If you two are twelve, how old is your guardian there?” 

“I’m their brother.” Cipher snarled. “And I don’t need to tell you jack shit!” 

Sixer nodded, as if Cipher’s answer was expected. “That’s fine. You don’t have to right now. We just want to help you kids, just want to keep you safe.” 

The man dared to take a couple steps closer and that’s when Cipher moved. 

Twisting them and shoving his siblings to the side, Cipher screamed, “RUN!” Then he lunged for Fez, claws and teeth out. 

The twins ran in opposite directions of each other, as fast as they could. Cipher dug his teeth into the man's shoulder until he tasted blood, and clawed at his face and chest. It was enough. It had to be enough. 

He heard the man yelp in surprise. “Shit, kid!” Then his arms were being grabbed at. Cipher kicked the guy in the gut, throwing him off and running. 

He didn’t get very far though when a pair of arms wrapped around him and he screamed. 

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Ford knew demons were stubborn, just as much as kids were. Combining the two was sure to raise hell, but gods damn it . 

It all happened so fast, so suddenly. One minute the kids were talking to him and the next his brother was bleeding with his arms wrapped tightly around the demon, the child , that bit him. 

The poor thing was so thin and frail. The demonic energy in his veins was probably the only thing keeping him going. He was too young to be away from his parents, demon or not. He looked like couldn’t have been much older than fourteen, maybe fifteen at the max. Fuck, speaking of which both his sister and his brother just fucking ran off and now they’d have to find them too. Great. 

But for now, he had the one demon to deal with, he’d have to focus on that. They could find the other two later. They were much healthier looking, but they were still weak. They wouldn’t get far. 

The demon kid was snapping his teeth and struggling against his brother’s grip. If it had been Ford, he might have had trouble holding the kid back. But his brother was physically far stronger than he was. Ford was more of the intellect, the planner. Stanley was all brawn. Even bleeding and with scratches across his face (they aren’t too bad, he can deal with the demon first and then help his brother’s bleeding), Stan was holding onto the kid with a tight grip. 

“Hey, hey kid calm down, it’s okay,” Stanley said to the boy. The poor thing was losing far too much strength quickly, movements slowing already. He was so weak and frail .

Ford walked closer and the kid whimpered. “Please!” He begged pitifully. There were tears gathering in his eyes (one of them didn’t look quite right; it was watering more heavily and it was bloodshot, but the kid seemed to see just fine regardless). “Please don’t hurt them, do whatever you want with me but leave them be, please!” 

“Kid, we aren’t going to hurt you or them, we promise. We just want to bring you somewhere safer,” Ford said as he walked over. 

The kid shook his head rapidly as he squeezed his eyes shut tight. “You’re lying, you’re lying! You’re going to kill me, kill them ! Hang up our heads like some sick trophy, that’s what the townsfolk always say is going to happen!” 

Stan and Ford looked up at each other with equal expressions of pity and horror strewn across their faces. Demon or not, children were children and these ones were practically babies in regard to demonic lives. 

The town was practically ready to tear the kid apart and for what? A few kids stealing a couple pies, hanging around town? He was so weak too, really starting to falter in struggling and practically falling limp in Stanley’s arms as he continued to beg them not to hurt his siblings. The kid wasn’t even abnormal looking either, just a little on this side of weird (Ford could relate to that), which meant whoever his parents were even had humanoid forms and- 

Ford froze, eyes suddenly widening as he looked over the kid then pulled out his tracking device. The energy radiating off of the kid was low, maybe half that of a normal fully fledged demon. For the age that the kid had to be, a normal demon would have had much more power, weak or not. Hell, now that he really looks at the two other dots running away from them, he realizes that even they had far less power, less than even newborn demons would. 

Which could only mean one thing. 

“You’re a halfling…” Ford breaths. Stan’s eyes widened too. 

“A… a what?!” The kid squeaks, eyes snapping open and looking between the brothers. “Is that some demon hunter talk for ‘you’re dead’ or some shit?!” 

“No, no, that means you’re only half demon,” Stan said, “which explains why your siblings have far less power. They’re two really young humans gaining power from being around you. How long have you kids been together? It has to be years. Since those two were even smaller,  right?” 

The kid doesn’t respond for a moment then slowly nods, looking towards the ground. His voice is shaky, cracking with fear and worry, “I- I wouldn’t hurt them, I never hurt them, they’re all I have, please-! Please let me go, please, I just want my family! Don’t hurt me, don’t hurt them, please…” His voice trails off into a sob, trying to thrash in Stan’s grip yet again but without nearly the amount of force as before. 

“Kid, kid shhhh, it's okay,” Ford whispers, kneeling in front of the kid so he can be seen by the younger. “I swear we are not going to hurt them or you. I promise. Kid, you being half demon means you’re also half human . The village is very awful for even sending us after you, they should have never been so mean to you.” Because, unlike normal demons, halflings could become humane so long as they lived with humans. They would never be fully human, of course, but halflings raised by humans would be more inclined to listen to their human instincts and feelings. It was only if they were raised solely by demons that they became demons as well.

But that also meant they were social beings. They needed a family, someone to learn from like a mother or a father. This kid had no one to learn from; not a demon, not a human, just his own instincts and what he’s learned to survive. On top of that, he was raising two even younger kids as well. It's a miracle they were even alive . 

“We’re going to keep you safe. We’ll protect you. You are so brave, raising those two on your own. So strong. There aren’t many creatures out here who could have done what you did, who could not only protect themselves but those closest to them.” Ford gently, oh so gently, brushed some hair out of the kid’s face (gods, it was matted to hell…). The kid gasped like he’d been stung and flinched away. Ford dropped his hand. 

Stan continued for his brother, his voice softer than Ford has ever heard, “You’ve cared for them for so long, haven’t you kid? But who's been caring for you?” 

The kid shut his eyes again and looked away, stifling his sobs and he tried to thrash once more before slumping completely. “Please… Just let us go…” He begged one more time, one last attempt to make them let go. 

They couldn’t, they knew that. As much as his cries tore Ford’s heart in two, they couldn’t leave three starving and sickly kids out here alone. On top of that, they were demonic beings. If they didn’t take them in, it was only a matter of time before either the town killed them or full demons came to whisk them away and ruin their chances at humanity. 

These kids didn’t know it yet, but bringing them home will be for the best. 

“It’s okay,” Ford whispered as he pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to his brother, “just rest now. You don’t have to be strong anymore, we’ll take care of everything. We’ll make sure you and your siblings are safe.” 

Stan carefully stabbed the needle into the kid’s neck, and just like that he was asleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tears ran hot down Pine tree's face as he ran as fast as he could away from the clearing. He could hear Cipher cry out behind him and it took everything in his power not to jump out and start screaming at the hunters to leave his brother alone .

But he was too small and scared for that. He wasn’t as strong or as clever as his big brother and he hated that in times like these. He just wanted to protect his family… But right now, he can’t. He had to get away first and then he could form a plan. 

So he kept running.

He knew where he was at, so he quickly darted right and followed the path to the river. It was a place they went to all the time, a great place to clean themselves and sometimes even drink from if they desperately needed to. They even went there during hot summer days to simply cool off, splash around and have fun. 

Pine tree didn’t think they’d ever do that again now. He tried not to think about it. He just hoped his sister could meet him up there. He was always stronger with his sister beside him. 

As he broke through the clearing by the edge of the river, he sighed in relief. There his sister was, curled up in a ball by the water as she sobbed. His heart clenched (he hated seeing her cry) and he ran over. 

“Mabel!” Pine tree called. They didn’t use those names often, because they aren’t their ‘true’ name. True names have power, Cipher always said so. Whenever they were in risk of danger, they always used the names Cipher found in their original clothes to ensure their names couldn’t be used against them. 

“Dipper?” Shooting Star looked up and let out another sob, this time in relief, as she stood up. They ran to each other and hugged tight. 

“It’s okay, we’re okay,” Pine tree muttered, voice cracking. “I’ll make sure we’re okay. But come on, we have to go-” He started to pull away from the hug. 

“What about Bill?” Mabel asked. 

“We- We have to get away first… We can’t help him if we get caught too. We’ll find him, we’ll get him back, but for now come on- ” Pine tree let go of his sister only to grab her hand and together they ran. 

For a while, all they could hear was the pounding of their feet and the noises of the forest as they ran as fast as they could. All the while, Pine tree calculated. 

His brother could very well be dead, or maybe captured. The demon hunters seemed adamant they weren’t going to kill the trio, but it is also very possible they wanted to keep them as pets. They were so young after all, it would be easy to cage them up and display them… That was something Pine tree overheard the really rich guy- Preston something- say to Cipher when the twins had secretly followed him as he searched for food. 

But adults always underestimate the power of a kid. If he could steal some resources from the town, gather some supplies, they may be able to find the hunters and follow them… If Cipher was already dead though, well…

Then they’d leave town. But Pine tree hoped that wasn’t the case, please don’t let that be the case…  

Pine tree started to lead his sister closer to the village, and that’s when he heard them.

“Kids! Kids, where are you?!” One of the hunter’s voices rang out. “Come on out, we promise we aren’t going to hurt you!” 

“We have your brother safe and sound, we promise! We just want to make sure you’re safe!” The other called. Their voices dripped with concern and worry… 

Shooting Star made a quiet whimper and Pine tree quickly shushed her, pulling her towards a tree and hiding behind it with her. 

The hunters are coming closer, they’re drawing near. They need to run, they need to run!

“Kids?! Kids?!” The hunters called. Like they’d just run up to them. Pathetic. 

They’re hunting them down, trying to act all sweet as if they just want to help. Lies. Cipher taught him better than that. 

“If something happens to me, there’s one thing you guys need to know. Out there, in the world, there is no one else you can trust besides each other. If you ever find yourself alone, remember; Trust No One.”

He’s certainly not going to trust these demon hunters trying to track them down. Pine tree is certain they’ll search the whole forest until they can find him and his twin. 

But that also means Cipher might be alone in that clearing. Either dead, or maybe… Maybe alive… 

Maybe they could go back and save him…

Pine tree looked at his sister. The normally cheery, bubbly girl, had a look on her face that he never saw often; anger and determination (and fear, of course there was going to be fear). She looked at him and they grinned at each other. Seems like they were on the same page. 

Quietly, carefully, Shooting Star picked up a rock on the ground and chucked it as far as she could in the opposite direction of the twins. They waited for a beat as the stone thumped across the ground, then they heard two heavy sets of footsteps run towards the sound. 

Pine tree let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, then ran back towards the clearing with his sister. 

Cipher’s wrists and ankles were tied together and he was laying on his side. He looked asleep, but upon the noises of their movements he stirred. His eyes were half-lidded and he looked really out of it. Pine tree frowned and ran over to his brother’s side. 

“Quick,” Shooting Star said, kneeling next to Cipher, “we need to untie him and move.” 

The pair worked to get the knots of the ropes apart then tried to pull Cipher to standing. He wouldn’t budge. 

Shooting Star’s brows furrowed. “Bill-! Bill, come on! We need to leave!” 

Cipher barely opened his mouth to reply and instead of words he made some low sound in his throat. 

Pine tree frowned. “Somethings wrong- They did something to him!” Pine tree tugged at Cipher’s arm. “Bill, come on!” 

Shooting Star grabbed Cipher’s arm and managed to pull him upright. Then she tucked herself under his armpit. “Come on Dipper, we’re going to have to carry him.” Pine tree tucked himself under Cipher’s other armpit, and carefully they managed to pull him into standing. 

Their brother was heavy and his feet dragged behind him, but they still managed to carry him a couple of feet into the woods. They were already out of breath and had to pause and nearly dropped him. Carefully, they lowered Cipher back down. 

“We’re going to have to just leave him, Mabel…” Pine tree sniffed, eyes watery. 

Shooting Star nodded solemnly. “We’ll come back for him, we’ll get him back. But we have to leave!” She grabs Pine tree's arm and the pair glance back at their brother, lying on the ground. He was reaching towards them, arm outstretched and shaking as he made a noise in the back of his throat. 

Then an arm wrapped tightly around each twin suddenly, and they screamed.

Chapter Text

“Stanford I got them!” Stanley yelled, arms wrapped tight around the two brunette twins. They were struggling against his arms, trying to bite or scratch him but they were so scrawny and small that they couldn’t even leave a mark. 

“Let us go!” “Leave us alone!” The kids screamed together, making Ford’s heart clench. 

“Can you hold them while we bring them to the car?” Ford asked his brother as he ran over. 

“Maybe, but I think it’s better if we get them to calm down or we’ll never be able to bring them anywhere,” Stan said. 

“You’re not bringing us anywhere you stupid demon killers!” The girl yelled. 

“Let us go! Leave us and our brother alone!” The boy snarled. 

Ford frowned. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, kids, but we’re really trying to help. You guys can’t be living alone in the woods like this-” 

“Ya, especially with that damn town salivating over hunting your brother down, who knows what they’d do to you kids as well,” Stan finished. 

The girl paused while the boy continued to struggle. She looked over at Ford with wide eyes. “Would they… really hurt us…?” She whispered, voice just loud enough for Ford to hear over her brother. 

Ford frowned. “I don’t know… But they sent us to kill your brother-” He gestured to the older boy lying on the ground- “so it’s very possible they would want to hurt you kids. They talked about him like he was some sort of - I don’t know- boogeyman? The monster in your closet? Not, well, what he actually is.” 

The girl stared at him with a contemplative look on her face. The boy paused to look at her then at Ford. Ford purposefully relaxed his body posture, trying to look harmless to them. He gave them a soft smile. “We don’t want you to be hurt, truly. If we wanted to, we would’ve done so already… But you’re just children. We want to keep you safe.” 

A moment passed, then the girl murmured, “Mabel.” 

Stan frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“What are you doing?!” The boy hissed. 

The girl just kept looking at Ford, no longer struggling in Stan’s arms. “My name is Mabel.” 

Ford knew that the name she gave was not her true name… But that was okay. He knew they didn’t trust him, nor his brother, but at least he had something to call her. 

“My name is Stanford, but you can call me Ford.” He replied. “That’s my brother, Stanley, but people usually just call him Stan.” Even if they didn’t share their true names, Ford was perfectly fine sharing his and his brother’s. These kids couldn’t use it against them even if they tried. 

The girl, Mabel, nodded. “You really won’t hurt us?” She asked.

“We swear on both our lives, we won’t hurt you kids,” Stan chimed in. 

Mabel looked at him and nodded again. “Okay… I trust you.” 

Her brother stared at her incredulously. “What?!” 

Mabel tried to pull her arm out of Stan’s hold, and he relented enough to let her wrap an arm around her brother and whisper something in his ear. Ford couldn’t pick up on it. 

Finally, the boy groaned and looked between Stan and Ford. “Dipper. That’s my name.” 

“Well, Dipper and Mabel, we’re going to bring you and your brother here back to our car okay? We’re going to take you home.” Stan stated. 

The pair nodded and Ford walked over to the halfling, gently scooping him up into his arms. 

Stan loosened a grip on the twins so they could walk but kept an arm wrapped around each of their shoulders just to be safe.

The teen boy made a noise, arm shaking as he reached towards the twins. Ford frowned. 

“They’re okay, I promise,” He whispered. “We won’t hurt you guys.” 

They made it to the car and Ford carefully opened the door and set the oldest boy in the backseat, buckling him in. Stan let Dipper and Mabel go and they climbed in after. 

“What is this thing on him?” Dipper asked, tugging on the seat belt. 

Stan and Ford shared a look. “Have you ever been in a car before?” Ford asked. The pair shook their heads. “Well- That's a seat belt. It keeps you secure while the car moves, in case something goes wrong.” 

“Do things go wrong often?” Mabel asked worriedly. 

“Not with this one driving,” Stan patted Ford’s back. “He makes sure nothing bad happens, you’ll be okay. But we’ll buckle you in just to be safe.” 

The kids looked at each other and had what looked to be a silent conversation before they relented and let Stan and Ford buckle them in, closing the doors. Then the older pair went up to their respective sides of the car and opened their doors. 

Right before the men were about to climb into the car, one of the townsfolk came out from a local shop and stopped them. 

“Did you kill it?” They asked. “Did you kill the monster?” 

Ford tried to reply when another person walked over. “That awful thieving demon is dead right?!” 

Stan tried to interrupt, but another town member came up. “What did you do to it?” 

Another person. “Did you chop its head off?”

Another.  “Did you stab it in the heart?”

Another.  “Burn it?”

Another. “Shoot it?”

Soon a whole crowd surrounded the demon hunters asking a million questions a minute, of all the various ways they could have killed the poor halfling demon and dispose of his body. It made the pair sick. 

Stan’s hands clenched into fists and he shouted, “ Shut up, all of you! Let us fucking speak! ” The crowd went silent. 

A six-fingered hand gripped the edge of the car door so tight his knuckles turned white but his voice remained calm as Ford announced, “We didn’t kill him.” The crowd broke out into murmurs but Stan glared at them and they quieted down. Ford continued, “The reason we didn’t kill him is because, as you failed to mention, he is a child. We have very strict rules against sending us hunting down children !” 

One of the lumberjacks chimes in, “But he’s still a demon!” 

“Ya!” The crowd agreed.

If possible, Ford gripped the car door tighter to keep from punching someone. “He’s not even a full demon, he’s a halfling! You could have raised him when he was abandoned and he would have become more human and suppressed his demon instincts!” 

Someone yelled, “Could’ve fooled anyone! His eyes started to glow and he grew fangs and teeth, he was unnatural, a freak-!” Ford nearly growled at the word- “And we did try to raise him and that little devil instead acted out against us and even bit someone!” 

“And how exactly were you raising him, hm? What were you doing? Treating him with love and kindness?! Or hitting him whenever he made a mistake?! Did he, perhaps, learn to use violence when someone wronged him because that’s all you ever taught him?!” Stan snapped. No one replied. Bastards. 

“Regardless, a child is a child. Just because he’s partially a demon means nothing.” Ford stated.

Stan spoke with gritted teeth, “Also, you failed to mention he was also taking care of two other children you abandoned, even younger than him! So not only was a child living in the woods alone, but was also raising a family when he should’ve been being taken care of. ” 

A man stepped out from the crowd towards the pair. He was young, with a green and white baseball hat atop fluffy brown hair. He also had a mustache and was wearing a suit and sash; clearly, this was the mayor. 

“Excuse me gentlemen, my name is Mayor Tyler. Did you just say that the demon had two children with him?” 

Ford nodded. “A boy and a girl. Most likely twins. Clearly been with him for a long while too, they have demonic energies readings. Not that that means anything, they would never become even part demon by hanging around a halfling but it is an indicator of how long they have been together. If I had to guess, they’ve been together for maybe nine? Ten years? Based on the strength of the energy readings. ” 

Tyler glanced at the town before he straightened and spoke carefully. “Ten years ago a family was attacked. The parents' bodies were found, torn to shreds, but the kids disappeared… we presumed them dead…” 

“Are you implying that the kid killed their parents?” Stan snarled. Tyler tried to speak but Stan plowed on, “Because that kid can’t be older than fifteen at most, assuming he isn’t malnourished which he probably is, meaning he would’ve at most been five.” 

“First off, sir, he is closer to eighteen years of age as he has been around for a long while. Secondly, I am not saying that he would have done it himself. However, if he’s a halfling like you are saying-“ 

“So you think his demonic parent did it then? Demons don’t operate like that. They don’t kill unless they have an explicit deal in place and even then, they certainly don’t tear someone to shreds . They steal their souls, or run the bodies dry. We’ve discussed this, it’s why we found this situation so strange when we took it on. Where were the bodies found?” 

“The main parts were by the local creek, but their blood and pieces of them were found scattered across the woods…” 

“Then certainly not a demon attack, demons attack in homes not in public. And if there had been demonic involvement, everything would’ve been whole.” Stan stated, crossing his arms. 

The mayor went silent and the crowd began to murmur again. 

“Regardless,” someone piped up, “those kids belong to Gravity Falls and should be returned to us!” 

Ford snorted. “Ya, right. So you could do, what exactly?” 

“Well we’d put them to work helping people around the town. Teach them some manners and civility and discipline them if they break any rules,” Mayor Tyler said. Stan and Ford shared a look. 

Ford asked, “What about finding them a home? Someone to adopt them and raise them properly?” 

“Uh… well-“

“Ya, we’re done here. We’re taking all three of these kids from you assholes and we’re going to raise them properly.” Stan huffed. “This town should be real lucky we aren’t going to an authority about this.” Then he climbed into the car and slammed the door shut. 

Ford went to follow his lead but paused and looked the mayor right in the eye. “Also, just for reference?” He held up one of his hands and wiggled his fingers. “Just because someone is a little different doesn’t mean they’re a freak, or a monster. Maybe try going at the world with love and care, instead of hating those who are against your norm,” He climbed into the car and slammed his door shut too. 

The crowd parted as Ford and Stan buckled and drove away from the town. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The drive was mostly quiet. Ford tried to bring up conversation every once in a while, but the twins in the backseat refused to answer him. Dipper in particular stayed staring out the window as the world passed him by. Mabel did answer Ford’s question of what the older boy’s name was– apparently it’s Bill– but other than that she stayed quiet. 

Finally, after 20 minutes of driving, they pulled into the long dirt road that led to the log shack (more accurately a cabin) up ahead. Ford parked the car and turned to face the children in his back seat. “We’re here,” He said gently. 

Mabel was slumped against her older brother, asleep, and Dipper was tensely staring out the window still. He glanced at Ford and gave a stiff nod then nudged his sister to wake her up. All four of them climbed out and Stan scooped up Bill and carried him inside, the others following close behind. 

The main rooms of the house were not very child safe, with weaponry, equipment, and/or papers and books scattered around the living room and the couple rooms Stan and Ford claimed as offices, so the older pair decided to bring the kids up to the attic. Ford gathered a bunch of blankets and pillows and brought them up, making a makeshift nest that Stan laid Bill upon. They shoved some of the old boxes of various nature out of the way, making sure there was nothing dangerous inside (it was really old stuff from their childhood; toys, board games, and what-not, which hopefully the kids may find entertaining should they decide to snoop). 

“Alright… That should be good,” Ford says as he puts the last box up on a shelf. He turned towards the trio laying on the blanket nest. 

Dipper and Mabel were sitting close to Bill, who was still asleep. Mabel looked over at Ford in concern. “Is he going to be okay…?”

Ford nodded. “When he wakes up he should be perfectly fine, I promise.” 

“Okay…” Mabel murmured, brushing hair away from Bill’s face and then tucking herself under his arm. 

“Well… Are you kids hungry? I could go make you some food?” Stan asked.

Dipper glared but slowly nodded. They lived in the woods, Ford could bet they’d never turn down food. 

Stan walked out. Ford watched him leave then turned to the trio. “We’ll have to leave you guys up here for now… We’ll be locking the door for your own safety, we have to reorganize and put away some stuff before we even consider letting you guys into the rest of the house…” 

Dipper nodded stiffly. Ford walked to the door and glanced back at them one last time before finally leaving the room. 

He headed downstairs where Stan was making the kids some soup and decided to start putting stuff away. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the six-fingered guy- Ford- left the room and his footsteps faded away, Pinetree collapsed against his older brother and glared at Shooting Star. 

She glared back. “What?!” 

“Why are you being so friendly with them?!” He snapped. 

Shooting Star sighed and sat up a bit. “Think of it this way. We’re stuck in this room. Even when Cipher wakes up, they may not let us out if they think we’ll be a danger to them or ourselves. But if we’re careful and sweet, they may slip up and give us a chance to escape.” 

Pinetree thought about it for a moment then nodded slowly. “I guess you’re right… I don’t like them though.”

“Neither do I,” Shooting Star agreed. “Let’s just try to relax for now okay? Take it easy. We’ll plan what to do when Cipher wakes up.” 

Pinetree nodded and the pair curled up close to Cipher. Without meaning to, they both fell asleep. 

They woke up to the sound of gentle knocking on their door. When they sat up, the fez guy—Stan—came into the room holding two bowls, with steam curling up from the tops. 

“Hope you kids like soup,” He said gruffly but not unkindly. 

He handed them the bowls and the pair saw the weird metal pieces sticking out of them. Pinetree carefully picked it up and squinted at it. Next to him, Shooting Star did the same. 

Stan frowned at the action. “It’s a spoon. Have you guys never seen one before?” He asked.

Shooting Star shook her head. “Nope! What does it do? Is it edible?” 

Stan blinked in surprise but recovered quickly as he knelt down in front of them. He didn’t move close to them though, which Pinetree appreciated. “You use them to eat, but they’re not edible. The indented end allows you to scoop up whatever's in the bowl and pour it into your mouth.” 

Shooting star hummed and attempted to do as Stan said. It took a couple of tries to get the angle right, but she eventually managed to scoop up some of the soup and a chunk of meat, then dump the contents into her mouth. She grinned in triumph after swallowing her mouthful. Stan smiled in return. 

Pinetree looked at the ‘spoon’ suspiciously for a moment, then followed Shooting Star’s example. It also took him a second but soon he was able to eat with the spoon as well. 

The soup was actually pretty good. Warm and savory, with chunks of meat, carrots, and celery into the mix. The pair quickly scarfed down the food, though the spoon made them not go too fast. 

 Stan chuckled, “Careful. You’ll make yourselves sick if you eat too much too fast. We’ll give some to your brother when he wakes up.” He waited for the pair to finish their meal then gathered the dishes up. “Why don’t you kids get some sleep? We’ll talk more in the morning.” 

The twins nodded in agreement and Stan left the room, flicking the lights off in his wake. Then the pair curled back up with Cipher and fell asleep. 

Chapter Text

Cipher awoke with a groan, squinting his good eye against the light of the sun, the other he kept closed as it throbbed. This is strange… Usually the hole in the den wasn’t that bright. Maybe it was the fire too? Did he roll too close to it? 

    He felt two figures shift on either side of him. Shooting Star and Pine tree, it had to be. Good, they were safe and sound in his arms just like they always should be…

    Cipher sat up slowly and rubbed his head. He blinked a few times to adjust to the lighting—which didn’t do much good for his bad eye—and looked around. This… wasn’t the den…

    The walls were wooden, there was some sort of sheet covering the wall in front of him, and a door beside that. Where was he…? 

    Everything came back to him in a rush. Stealing the pie, the Demon Hunters, telling Pinetree and Shooting Star to run, getting knocked out, barely registering as he saw his precious siblings being grabbed-

    They were in a house. They were in the Demon Hunters’ house. 

    Frantic, Cipher shot up out of the nest of pillows and blankets he had been lying in and ran to the door. He tried to open it, but it was locked, so he turned to the window. 

    He was tall enough to reach the glass, so he tried to push it open but it wouldn’t budge. He looked for some sort of lock, but there was nothing. Then he tried to punch through it again and again- Maybe if he could break the glass-? 

    There was a shuffle behind him and he heard Shooting Star’s voice say, “Bill..? Woah, okay!” In an instant, Shooting Star was beside him and grabbing his arm. “What are you doing?!” 

    Cipher let his arm be taken. “Trying to break the glass. It’s not working out so well.” 

    Shooting Star rolled her eyes. “Well, duh, stupid. Did you really think a pair of demon hunters would let us into a room that wasn’t Demon safe?” 

    Cipher sighed and pulled Shooting Star into his arms. “Are you ok?” He asked. 

    Shooting Star hugged back tightly. “I’m fine, are you okay? You passed out for a while…” 

    “I’ll be fine,” Cipher responded automatically. 

    In truth, he wasn’t doing fine. His head was pounding, his eye was throbbing, and he felt his heart beating at a million miles an hour in his chest. Thoughts kept swirling around his head of all the horrific things that could happen to him or his siblings; would the hunters experiment on them? Toture them? Maybe use them for some sick game or practice hunting with them? 

    But Cipher tried his best to put all that aside and focus on the steady breathing of his sister in his arms, and the fact that she was safe and alive . 

    There was a groan and the pair glanced over to see Pine tree waking up as well. “Bill…?” Pinetree questioned as he blinked awake. “Bill!” He exclaimed, scrambling over to the pair and wrapping his arms tightly around them. 

    Cipher wrapped one of his arms around Pinetree and held the both of them close. “You okay?” Pinetree nodded. “Good.” 

    For a few moments, they stood there holding each other in their arms. 

    “What are we going to do now?” Pinetree asked after a moment. 

    “Plan out a way to escape,” Cipher replied. 

Shooting Star looked up at him. “How? We can’t exactly leave. They have us locked in here, and I heard them checking in on us while we were sleeping constantly.” 

Cipher frowned and started chewing on his lip while he thought. 

How would they escape? The door is locked, the window is mounted in, and unless they get something to break it they won’t exactly be able to go anywhere…

And even when you do escape, where could you go? A voice whispered in Cipher’s mind, one he actively tried to ignore. Would you even get very far? Maybe it’ll all be in vain, once the town gets a hold of you and your siblings… 

Cipher shook his head internally and led his siblings back to the nest. “We’ll figure something out… For now, let’s just lay low and try not to get on the hunters' bad sides okay? Perhaps we’ll get an opportunity then.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ford could hear the kids muttering to each other on the other side of the door when he came up to bring them some more food. He rapped his knuckles along the wood and the voices died down. “Can I come in?” He asked. 

“... Sure.” One of them quietly responded a second later. 

Ford unlocked the door with his free hand and stepped inside, carefully holding the bowl of soup and pieces of bread. All three of the kids were awake, sitting on the pile of pillows and blankets. Mabel was sitting on Bill’s lap with his arms wrapped around her and Dipper was pressed close to them. 

Ford forced his posture to stay relaxed when the halfling glared his way as Ford sat the food down, then plopped criss-crossed on the ground, hands holding his weight up behind him. He didn’t want the other to think he was some sort of threat, he wanted to get them to trust him. 

“Hey, you’re up,” Ford said softly, “I brought you guys some food.” 

“Is it poisoned?” The eldest accused. 

“I assure you it is not. But if you’re worried, I can try it before you,” Ford replied gently. 

“I’d rather take the risk,” Bill said. Ford stifled a chuckle and carefully pushed the soup bowl towards Bill and handed the twins the pieces of bread. 

“You two ate not too long ago, so I just brought some bread but if you want more let me know.” They nodded and immediately began to scarf down the food. 

Bill hesitantly took the bowl. He stared at the spoon for a moment then threw it at Ford and began to simply slurp down the soup directly. Ford easily dodged the flying silverware and picked it up when it clattered to the floor, still keeping his posture as untroubled as he could. 

“So Ford,” Mabel began around a mouthful of bread. She swallowed, then continued, “Why do you have six fingers?”

Bill startled and choked a bit on his soup. Dipper yelped. “Mabel! You don’t just ask someone that! You don’t know what they could be!” 

Ford laughed.“No, no, it’s okay. I’m guessing you haven’t seen anything like this before huh?” He lifted up his hand and wiggled his fingers. Mabel attempted to stifle her giggle. 

“Nope! Bill kept us in the den most of the time. Though I did see a gnome once! He tried to make me his queen, it was weird,” Mabel said. 

Bill huffed and muttered something about ‘stupid gnomes’ and proceeded to down the rest of his soup, setting his bowl on the floor. 

“They tried to do that to me when Stan and I first moved here, but they quickly gave up when they saw I wasn’t exactly ‘queen’ material,” Ford snorted. “But to answer your question, I was just born with six fingers on each hand.” 

“Are you magic?” Mabel asked.

Ford shook his head. “Nope, just a scientist.” 

“A what?” Dipper piped in to question. The young boy then grimaced, as if upset at himself for even asking. 

“A scientist. It means a person who is studying or has expert knowledge of one or more of the natural or physical sciences,” Ford said. The trio all blinked in confusion. Ford scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “It basically means I look into how to solve problems in the world using non-magical materials.” 

Bill frowned. “Everything has magic though. Even down to the smallest pebble, there’s always some sort of magical aura.” 

“Maybe in Gravity Falls,” Ford agreed, “but not around the world. I’m not exactly magical.” 

“Well, ya you are. At least a bit. I can see it!” Bill huffed. 

Ford brows furrowed thoughtfully. “You can see magic around me? Interesting… Not a lot of halflings can do that…” 

Bill blinked then spluttered, “Well, um- I- uh- I didn’t- I don’t-” 

Ford held up a hand. “Relax. It’s not a big deal if you can, but it does make it a bit easier to narrow down what kind of demon you are. Which will also help you figure out what kind of powers you may have.” 

Bill hummed, a look of concern still present on his face. 

Ford ignored him and stood, gathering up the empty dishes. “Well, I’ll get out of your hair for now. I’ll stop by later to check on you.” Then he left the room and headed downstairs. 

“How’d it go?” Stan asked from his spot on the yellow loveseat. 

“Good, actually. Bill is still mistrusting and I can’t get a good read on how Dipper feels about me, but Mabel seemed easy enough to talk to.” Ford called back, setting the dishes in the sink. 

Stan was flicking through the channels on the TV when Ford walked in. “Don’t sweat it too much poindexter, I’m sure they’ll come around. It’s barely been a day and they’ve been on their own for literal years. They’re gonna be mistrusting.” 

“You’re right.” Ford sighed. He shoved Stan over, who huffed in response, and plopped himself down beside his brother. 

The next couple of days went by much the same way. Either Stan or Ford would go up a few times a day and bring food for the trio, and sit there waiting for them to be done. Sometimes they would chit-chat, other times they’d sit in silence. Then the older males would gather the dishes and leave the kids alone for a while. They also went out and bought a bunch of clothes for the kids, but they refused to wear them. 

Eventually though, it was clear the kids were bored. So one day, Stan went out and bought art materials for the kids. He went up after they had finished eating and showed them the coloring books that he’d got, teaching them to color with markers, crayons, glitter pens, and colored pencils. Mabel, in particular, fell in love with the supplies and quickly got to work filling out a unicorn themed book. Dipper tried it but got bored of it quickly, and Bill refused to touch any of the materials Stan brought. 

Ford decided to find some of his old Sibling Brothers novels and also bought some easy-level math texts, bringing them up for the kids. Mabel didn’t care for the materials but Dipper quickly fell in love. Thankfully, the kids were taught how to read by Bill which made teaching Dipper how to write all the easier, and soon the kid was quickly browsing through the texts. Bill seemed intrigued by the novels but didn’t move to touch them. However, when Ford stopped by their door later that day, he overheard Bill reading the novels out loud to the siblings. He decided to buy a couple different genre books after that. 

After some time, it became apparent that the kids really needed to take some baths. 

Thankfully there was a bathroom next to the kids room, so Ford gathered some towels and soap and Stan filled the tub with warm water. 

It took some convincing for the kids to go one at a time and clean off, but the pair managed. Each one went in and cleaned, then came out and finally picked out some clothes from the pile Stan and Ford gave them. 

Mabel picked a hot pink sweater with a rainbow shooting star across the front, as well as a purple skirt. She quickly fell in love with all the other sweaters in the pile too. Dipper picked out an orange t-shirt with a blue pine tree across the front, as well as some shorts and a blue vest. Finally, Bill hesitantly selected a yellow hoodie with a white eye in the center of it and some black sweatpants. 

Ford was also able to coax them into letting him brush through their hair. 

Dipper, in particular, was very concerned about having his hair brushed but relaxed after some time. Ford figured the kid was concerned about the older men seeing the birthmark on his forehead, so they didn’t mention they already knew it was there and pretended like they didn’t see it at all. 

Their hair was difficult to brush and they needed to use a lot of detangler, and even had to cut off a matted chunk of hair in Bill’s case, but in the end the kids were clean, dressed, and well groomed. It made Stan and Ford feel much better about the kids’ well being. 

Which is of course when things went wrong. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cipher had to admit that being clean and well-fed was a nice change of pace. It had been so long since he was able to get decent, nourishing, food for the kids rather than too-sugary pies or granola bars he was able to snatch. The clothes were nice too; the clothes they did have were dirty and ragged, which made them uncomfortable to wear but at least they weren’t too bad. 

But all of this was soured with the fact that they were still trapped in an attic, in a house with two demon hunters. 

Sure, Sixer and Fez claimed that they wouldn’t hurt them, but Cipher knew better. They were just- preserving them. Waiting for the moment that the trio trusts them and then- then… Cipher wasn’t quite sure. Kill them? Seems unlikely. Sell them like some sort of animal? Probably. Study and experiment on them? Most definitely. He would still be courteous to the hunters, but unless Cipher has to trust them, he refuses to do so. 

Cipher curled closer to his siblings. Shooting Star was currently coloring in some sort of deer with a horn instead of antlers (a unicorn is what Ford called it, but Cipher has never seen one so he couldn’t confirm if Ford was telling the truth). She was using all sorts of colors, and Pine tree was learning how to “addition”, using his fingers to count when he wasn’t immediately sure. Cipher was just content to watch them. As long as they were safe and happy, he was fine. 

Cipher felt his stomach rumble slightly and right on cue, someone knocked on the door. 

“Come in!” Shooting Star called. Sixer walked in a moment after, balancing three plates on one arm and quickly switching to both. 

“Hey kids!” He smiled. “Brought you some waffles.” 

The twins cheered and quickly grabbed a plate from Sixer. Sixer set the last one on the floor and Cipher snatched it up when the hunter stepped away. While the trio ate, Ford sat down and leaned against the wall. Cipher had to admit that these waffle things were always really good. The kids certainly liked them. 

“So we’ve been thinking,” Sixer started after a moment. “We’ve cleaned up the downstairs and, while this is still the best room for you to stay in, we think maybe it would do you some good to get out and maybe watch a movie or something?” 

“What's a movie?” Shooting Star asked around a mouthful of food. 

“You know the stories that your brother has been reading to you?” The trio nodded and Sixer continued, “They’re kind of like that except you can physically see what is happening, instead of just imagining.” 

The twins seemed intrigued by that and Cipher reluctantly had to admit he was curious as well. It took a bit more convincing, but finally he agreed to go. 

It was as they left the attic room that Cipher realized this was it . This was the opportunity they were waiting for… They just had to play their hands right, had to convince the demon hunters to ease up on their watch and then Cipher could gather up his siblings and run. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Usually the place was full of clutter; Ford’s research notes, Stan’s magazines, their guns and hunting equipment all strewn about the house in various piles, the only exceptions being their rooms, bathrooms, and the kitchen. But after a week’s worth of cleaning— has it really been that long already?— the place was free from anything that could scare or harm the kids. 

Stan was in the kitchen humming a small tune while he heated up some popcorn and gathered various snacks and drinks. Ford led the trio into the living room and gestured to the two boxes in the corner labeled “DVDS” on the sides. “Those two boxes should have what we’re looking for. Why don’t you guys go ahead and see what interests you? Stan is just in the kitchen if you need him, I’m going to run upstairs and grab a couple more blankets. Sounds good?” The children nodded.

Dipper and Mabel knelt beside the boxes and Bill hovered behind them, peering over their heads to look as well. Ford trotted up the stairs into the second floor and headed over to the supply closet. If there weren't any blankets in there then he could just grab some from the bottom of the nest the kids formed. Ford reached the closet and started to reach out for the knob. 

Then, suddenly, there was a crash coming from downstairs…

Chapter Text

It was an absolute miracle. It had to be. 

When Pinetree and Shooting Star peered into the boxes that Sixer told them to, resting atop a pile of various other equipment was none other than a grappling hook . 

Cipher had seen one once before, when the strange men in black suits came to visit town and Cipher watched them use the contraption to launch themselves into a tree in order to escape from a scampfire they thought was his. It was shortly after he was kicked out of town, and they had been nice enough to teach him some stuff because they thought he was a human kid out playing in the woods. 

But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that they had one now . Shooting Star picked up the item and Cipher quickly whispered to her how to use it. Without hesitating after the explanation, she stood and pointed it at the TV and whispered, “Run,” before launching the metal grapple into the glass.

It shattered apart at once and the trio scrambled for the front door and bolted. Thankfully, Shooting star was also able to call the grapple back into its gun so they could use it again later. 

Cipher heard Fez chasing after him and quickly grabbed his siblings’ arms, weaving them between trees in the woods. He heard Sixer calling for Fez shortly after, which gave the trio a chance to wind up even further into the trees. 

Once safe, Cipher encouraged them to climb up into a bushy, yet tall, tree in order to hide. Shooting Star had other plans, however, as she grabbed her twin brother from around the waist and launched them into the leaves with the grappling hook. Cipher climbed up the normal way and hid in a low branch, casting the invisibility glamor over himself. As the world turned gray around him, he double checked on his younger siblings and was relieved when he could see that they were well hidden. 

A moment later, they heard both Fez and Sixer calling their names. The sounds drew closer and closer as the pair neared where they hid, and Cipher saw them pause in a clearing up ahead. He couldn’t hear what they said, but eventually the pair began to walk in the other direction. 

He made sure the pair left then cleared his glamor and quickly climbed down. Shooting Star and Pinetree landed beside him after a moment. Shooting Star yanked the grapple back into its hold.

“Everyone okay?” Cipher asked. They nodded. “Okay… I have a feeling those two won’t let up on their search for a while, so we need to find somewhere safe we can hide until they give up and we can head back to our old den safely.” 

And so, they wandered further into the woods in search of shelter. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“They couldn’t have gone far, could they?” Stan asked. 

“I don’t think so, but—” Ford chewed his lip as he continued looking around the forest— “We don’t know what kind of abilities Bill has. It’s very possible he has some way to easily get away from us. He did it before, after all. The only reason we caught them was because they had taken a pause to eat, but they're on full stomachs now. They could go pretty far.” 

Stan looked up into the sky, where gray clouds had begun to form. “I just hope they find shelter. It looks like it’s going to rain…” 

“But just in case they don’t, we need to keep looking. We can’t leave them out there alone,” Ford frowned. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They made it to a cave. 

It was deep in the woods, a waterfall close by that flowed into a stream, which meant easy access to food and water.

The cave itself was cold and damp, but it was deep enough to hide from the entrance and spacious enough for all three of them to fit. Sure, it was certainly worse than the one they had back in town… but it was something. 

They couldn’t risk trying to go out and gather resources with the demon hunters after them, so Cipher gathered his siblings close and used his body heat to keep them warm that night.

When the rain began to pour, they somehow managed to fall asleep to the sound. 

During the next day they stayed mostly hidden, still able to hear the hunters call for them.  But as night fell and the voices had silenced, Cipher dared to go out and managed to gather some wet sticks and just barely managed to catch a small fish from the pond. They weren’t much… but Cipher was not going to risk trying to sneak into the hunters’ house. 

When he got back and tried to light the fire, things went wrong. 

The fire simply wouldn’t light. No matter how many times Cipher used his fire to light the sticks, they merely sizzled out. They were far too wet from the rain… So, tediously, Cipher cooked the fish he caught with the flame on his finger. 

It took a long time and it probably needed to be cooked longer, but thankfully Shooting Star and Pinetree didn’t mind. When the fish was done, Cipher handed it off to them.

“You should eat some too,” Shooting Star worried. 

Cipher shook his head. “I uh- had a couple berries I found when I was out. There wasn’t anything to bring back, but don’t worry about me, okay?” It was a lie, but thankfully the kids bought it. 

When the kids fell asleep, Cipher pulling them close for warmth again, he felt his stomach groan. He thought back to the hunters’ house… The warmth, the food… But Cipher quickly shoved the thoughts aside. 

We’ll be fine, he thought. We’ve been through worse… This is safer than with them. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stan and Ford kept searching for a few days with no luck. Every day they would search the woods in hope the kids would turn up. Every night they laid out materials a small ways away from the shack so that maybe Bill would gather the materials and be able to take care of his siblings further. Using their energy trackers proved useless too, somehow shorting out or simply not picking up on the local signatures. It was almost like something was keeping them from activating or processing the information.

They tried everything that they could, yet every time there was no sign of the kids. 

They even tried driving into town in hopes of finding them, but they found nothing except their old den (clearly abandoned) and the townsfolk living their lives just sickeningly happy that Bill was gone. They did end up taking anything left in the den, which was nothing more than a couple worn blankets and old clothes. 

Hunting the kids was stressful and worrisome. Ford eventually did what he did best; research. He researched every possible known demon, hoping to find out what kind of demon Bill could be. If they could find that out, maybe they’d be able to figure out how to track the kids down. 

He knew that Bill could see magical auras, which narrowed down the demon type quite a bit. Most half-lings were of succubi and incubi descent, and their power set only consisted of increased strength, agility, and the ability to feed from people’s energies. They couldn’t do much more than that. Rarer were more powerful demons having kids, although not uncommon, such as imps. But they could not see auras, they could solely make deals (like most demons above succubi/incubi level). 

Out of the demons that could see magical auras, only three kinds truly could; Royal demons, Pure-eyed demons, and- most notably- dream demons (otherwise known as mind demons). 

While they can see magical auras and are extremely powerful, Royal demons never have human children and are rarely ever seen on Earth in the first place; they are often ancient and immortal, and have no need for cross-species children like lesser demons do. Plus they’re busy running around and ordering lesser demons. Pure-eyed demons– which are demons with solid-colored eyes– can see auras pretty strongly and do have children every so often, but it is easy to spot a pure-eyed half-ling since the child’s eyes do not have clear pupils, only outlines where the pupils should be and a darker shade of their eye color within. They also don’t have whites in their eyes. 

Bill’s eyes, meanwhile, have slitted pupils and the iris’ are bright yellow; you can still see the whites of his eyes. Which only leaves one option. 

“But he couldn’t be a dream demon, could he? There has never been a recorded case of a dream half-ling…” Stan stressed. 

“It’s the only option I have been able to find. There’s no way he’s a pure-eyed demon and it’s highly unlikely he’s a royal demon, since they’re disgusted by humans. But just because there’s no recorded case of a dream demon having a human child doesn’t mean that the possibility isn’t there entirely. It may also explain how he’s hiding from us so well; perhaps he has the ability to hide his physical form from our minds?” 

“If that’s the case, Sixer, then how the hell are we supposed to find those kids? Who's to say he can’t hide them all from us?” Stan asked. 

“I don’t know… But we have a start. And that’s important,” Ford replied. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every day, Cipher and the kids stayed hidden in the den, listening to the sounds of wild animals and the hunters calling for them. And every night, Cipher went out to gather food and fuel for fire. They also went to the nearby stream together to drink from. Occasionally, he found supplies the hunters left behind. The only thing he would take was food, not wanting to risk them somehow tracking him down. 

Cipher made sure his siblings were always well-fed, only eating when he absolutely had to. It was just like how they lived prior, with the expectation of being hunted. 

The trio debated risking going out and trying to make it back to their old den, but the twins reminded Cipher of what the townsfolk had said, and they decided against it for the time being. When they get stronger, they can leave. But for now, staying was the better option. 

Cipher sat in the cave, slowly stoking the fire they finally got to light. It was weak, but it was there and that's what mattered. His left eye throbbed from the light, making his head hurt, but he ignored it. 

It was late, and Pinetree and Shooting star were curled up against each other asleep. Cipher would normally be out at this time, but it was storming outside.

It was downpouring, leaking into the entrance of the cave with lightning flashing outside and thunder following shortly after. The wind blew into the damp space, causing Cipher to shiver. He ensured that the fire would keep going, then walked over to his siblings. He plopped down beside them and pulled them into his arms, hoping to warm up the twins. The clothes they got from the hunters and the burning fire helped, but they weren’t a cure all in the chill. 

Cipher closed his eyes, his left one stinging from finally getting a break, and he leaned against the wall. Slowly, he managed to fall asleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It’s been a week , Sixer, and we still haven’t found a thing!” Stan growled, throwing his tracker into the dirt. “I don’t understand what’s going on with these.”

Ford watched it clatter against the ground and heaved a breath. He looked at his own tracker, frowning at the ‘Error’ message it was displaying. “If he’s a mind demon, then he can probably short out technology. We have no way of knowing for sure. He didn’t know we were tracking him last time until we found him; he knows we will be now.” 

“Right… Which makes finding these kids even harder.” Stan groaned, rubbing a hand down his cheek. They stayed silent for a moment, both staring down at their own trackers. Finally, Stan spoke up quietly, voice barely above a murmur, “What if we can’t find these kids, Ford…? What if we can’t save them…? What if we-”

Ford’s face hardened and he grabbed his brother’s shoulder firmly. Stan looked up at his brother’s determined expression and frowned as Ford stated, “We’ll find them, Stanley. We’re hunters, so let’s start acting like it. We will find them .”

“Even if it’s the last thing we do?” Stan questioned. 

“ Especially if it’s the last thing we do. We aren’t going to fail, not again. Are you with me?”

“Until the end of time itself.”

Chapter Text

Cipher awoke to the feeling of shivering. He frowned, slowly blinking open his eyes and wincing as his left one ached from the sun leaking into the cave. The ground wasn’t shaking, so not an Earthquake, and the ceiling wasn’t either, what was-?

The twins!

He quickly glanced down at his arms to see Shooting Star and Pinetree huddled as close as possible, both shivering like leaves. How did they get so cold so quickly?! We were fine earlier…

Cipher snapped his gaze towards the fire. Water has leaked into the cave from the rain, snuffing out the flames and all that remained was the wet, burnt, wood. Cipher’s eyes widened, making him wince, and he quickly adjusted his siblings so they were clinging to each other instead of him. He ran over to the fire pit and quickly tried to light it again with a flick of his fingers but it was too damp. 

He tried again and again, the fire merely sizzling off of his fingers instead of lighting the wood. He ran to the edge of the cave and looked around the trees, but they were all soaking too. There was no way he could get enough dry wood to warm his siblings, so he had to do the next best thing.

Cipher hurriedly ran over to them, gathering the pair in his arms and wrapping as much of his body as he could around them, hoping his warmth would help them. 

Shooting Star sneezed and Pinetree coughed, and Cipher prayed to whatever being would listen that his siblings would get better soon. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The twins didn’t get much better after that first night. 

Instead of trying to entertain themselves and playing games, they slept constantly. Both kept coughing or sneezing. Despite their shaking, every time Cipher felt their heads they were burning up. He tried to get them to eat, but they either didn’t want to or were too tired to.

Cipher did manage to get some dried wood and relit the fire, but it didn’t do much to help.

He even gave in and gathered blankets from the packs the hunters had left him, despite his earlier protests, and gathered the pair in blankets. 

Whenever he wasn’t trying to get food or water for the pair, he was holding them close and desperately praying for them to get better. They’ve gotten sick before, but at that point they had been able to steal medicine in town. They had nothing now. 

The worst moment came a few days later when Cipher finally encouraged Pinetree and Shooting Star to eat something, only for Pinetree to throw up not even 5 minutes later and Shooting star following suit. Cipher panickedly cleaned up the mess with his own bare hands, not wanting to risk the twins losing any warmth and safety. 

While washing his hands in the nearby stream, his thoughts raced with panic and fear, crying out and berating him for not taking care of the twins.

They’re sick because of you. They were happy before, they were safe, and you decided to risk it all. How dare you? None of this would have happened if you didn’t get caught by them .

He shook his head, trying to dislodge the thoughts that kept coming.

You did this to them, this is all your fault. If you don’t fix this, you’ll lose them forever! You’ll be all alone again!

“Stop it, stop it, stop it-!” He muttered, stumbling away from the water and running back to the twins. 

When he got back to the cave, he stared at the lumps that were his siblings. Their skin looked almost discolored, far too pale for the bubbling twins, and Pinetree had vomit splattered across the floor and his blanket. Shooting Star wasn’t fairing much better, practically limp on the ground and hacking up snot and puke every few minutes or so.

They needed help. Desperately.

Cipher wasn’t cut out for this. This wasn’t something he could fix … Not without help.

But did he really want to risk it? Could he really give up his siblings to the enemy, at the risk of his own demise?

Anything for them. Everything for them.

The thought rang in his mind as he laid down beside the twins and pulled them close. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’d been damn near a month since the kids ran away from Ford and Stan, and at this point they were convinced the kids were lost somewhere. They were finally getting back to work, hunting down demons in nearby towns and setting up conference plans. But despite all of it, they kept looking in their free time.

Mainly Stan, surprisingly, who was the most convinced the kids would be found with their heads on stakes in the local town. He was determined and stubborn, almost desperate in his searches. 

On this day, they were looking through the woods they’ve searched so many times before, hoping maybe they missed something. Maybe there was something they forgot about or brushed over, any sign of the kids.

They did find more of the supplies they left out had been taken, practically ransacked. That could mean the kids took the supplies, or a beast did instead. Either way, at least they’d be used. 

“Bill! Dipper! Mabel!” Ford called, cupping his hands to his mouth. “Where are you?! We just want to help!” 

“Ya!” Stan added in a shout. “We won’t hurt you kids! Please, come out!” 

There was rustling in a bush nearby and the pair instantly paused, glancing at each other and then slowly creeping towards the bush…

Only for a cross-eyed gnome to walk out. “Shmebulock?” He asked. 

Stan huffed and kicked the gnome away, who squealed and ran. “Damn it sixer, this is pointless.” 

Ford sighed and rubbed at his eyes under his glasses. “I know, I know, I just- They were just kids Stan…”

Stan sighed as well, resting a hand on his twin’s shoulder. “Let’s just go back to the house, ok? We can look la-”

Before Stan could finish his thought, they heard it. 

In the distance, a voice calling out into the world, desperate and terrified. They couldn’t quite make out the words, but they recognized the sound. 

The half-demon they’ve been looking everywhere for. 

The pair looked at each other with wide eyes, before they bolted towards the sound. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He doesn’t know what went wrong. 

One moment he was asleep with the twins in his arms, and the next he awoke to both of them limp and gasping. There was sweat trickling down their faces, eyes glassy and mouths open. He felt their heads and despite the sweat, they were cold. 

Cipher panicked, trying to shake them. “Shooting Star? Pinetree? Come on, you’re scaring me!” They barely moved, just slumped over by the force of his movements. 

Cipher’s breath quickened, looking around with wide eyes and grabbing every and all blankets he could, pulling them closer to the fire and bundling them. “No no no, come on, come on-!” He muttered, tears starting to fill his eyes. 

They needed help. There was no way he could help them on his own, he didn’t know medical stuff and being a demon (or.. Half-demon?) meant he got over sickness really easily… 

He was just a kid himself, and he barely had been taught this kind of thing. He’s had to fend for himself, and for the kids for so long, he… He never learned how to handle this…

He couldn’t- He can’t help them… He wasn’t able to, he wasn’t-

… He wasn’t good enough for them… 

He thought back to the hunters. Kind words, food, shelter, clothes, warmth …

They would’ve been able to handle this. They- 

… They were human… And if they’re to be believed? So were the twins…

Cipher knew what he had to do. 

Chapter Text

“Help! Please, help!” Cipher cried out, legs shaking under him as he stumbled out of the cave. “Help! S-Stan! Ford! Anybody, please!” In his arms were Pinetree and Shooting Star, limp and lifeless but still breathing shallowly. He collapsed outside the cave, screaming for help as loud as he could over and over, desperately clinging to his siblings.

Cipher’s breath hitched into a sob, shaking his head to get rid of the tears filling his eyes. He couldn't break down now. He needed to get the kids help and fast . He struggled to his feet, shifting to more easily carry the twins as he stumbled further into the woods. They were getting too big for him to carry them like this, but they still were always so light and right now… that terrified him.

He would get the twins - his precious siblings, his Shooting Star and his sturdy Pinetree - to safety if it's the last thing he does. Cipher has to save them. He has to. Nothing else matters, nothing else will matter except for the twins being happy and healthy.

If only he could find the damn demon hunters . 

He had heard them, he knew they were around; he kept yelling for them, “Help! Stan! Ford!” as loud as he could. But maybe they wouldn’t come? Maybe they didn’t care anymore?

Maybe he misjudged the situation, maybe he was right in that they couldn’t be trusted…

His thoughts spiraled as his desperate screams faded in his own ears. He could barely feel them coming up his throat. 

Maybe he could try and find his way to town? Even if he's killed, at least the kids would be safe, right…?

Maybe- maybe he should-

… But then he heard it. The distinct call of his false name…

“Bill! Bill, where are you?!” Someone’s gruff yell cut through the air. Cipher couldn’t tell which of the hunters it was but he gasped in relief and stumbled towards the voice as he screamed again.

“Over here! Over here please!” He called, stumbling even further into the woods and looking around frantically for the pair.

“Kid!” He heard to the right of him and whipped towards the sound with a cry of relief. The pair of hunters burst through the trees, eyes wide and frantic as they searched. Cipher could practically feel the mix of concern and relief splaying across their faces when they finally laid eyes on him.

“Kids!” Stan sighed in relief, running over with Ford close behind. “Ar-”

Before he could finish his sentence, Cipher stumbled into him and practically shoved the kids into his arms. “Please, please, you have to help them! You have to save them, they-they’re- they’re sick and I- I don’t… I don’t know what to do !” 

The dam finally broke as Cipher sobbed, tears pouring down his face. “Please save them, please, I’ll give you anything, everything, please, please-!” 

Everything finally hit him all at once. The fear and desperation of trying to stay so strong for so long, only for it all to go to waste. He spent the majority of his life taking care of those kids, of protecting his Pinetree and his Shooting Star and they- they could be lost all at once now. Cipher would be alone again, no one to care about him.

Cipher had been abandoned and alone, no one looking out for him.  He didn’t want that for the twins. They deserved more, deserved better, so that's why he did whatever he could, he was always there for them. 

…. But who was there for him?

He was still so young ; he was just a kid, left alone in the world…

Forced to grow up way  too soon to protect himself and, later, the twins…

… he just wanted to be a kid again…

He choked on his tears as his legs gave out from under him. Before he hit the ground, strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him into a sturdy body. He clung to their shirt, assuming it to be Ford, and broke down into wrecked sobs, words barely comprehensible as he begged them to help his siblings. 

Ford shushed him, picking him up and practically cradling him. He felt them begin to move and could barely lift his head up to ensure Stan was still holding the twins. He kept sobbing until he couldn’t even make another noise, slowly fading into gasping inhales and shaky exhales. Cipher felt exhausted, eyes drooping before he drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Bill..? Bill, c’mon kid, you gotta wake up,” A soft voice stirred Cipher from slumber and he scrunched his face up. His eye ached , causing the rest of his head to throb in tandem. He didn’t want to wake up so he didn’t have to deal with it. 

“C’mon kid, I know it's early but we need to check ya out,” The voice added and Cipher made a disgruntled sound in reply. “We got food?”

That made Cipher slowly ease open his good eye and glanced up at the concerned face of one of the demon hunters, Stan, squatting beside him. Cipher’s heart leapt into his throat and he froze as the memories of what happened came flooding back to him. 

The kids getting sick, not waking up, going limp in his arms. Hearing the hunters calling for them, scrambling out of the den with the twins, desperately crying for help-

He was in their house again. 

They were all in the hunters’ house again. 

Cipher bolted up and frantically began to look for the twins, only to cry out when his eye panged trying to open it, grasping at it. 

“Woah! Easy, easy!” Stan fretted, quickly grabbing Cipher’s shoulders and easing him down into the nest of pillows and blankets; apparently the hunters never cleared the nest up when they left. Though the blankets did feel freshly cleaned… “It’s okay kid, everyone’s okay. The twins are safe.” 

“Where-?” Cipher gasped out through the pain. 

“They’re at the hospital, Ford is with them right now making sure they’re getting treated. But you had to stay back, since they wouldn’t know how to help you, and I stayed with you to make sure you’re ok,” Stan explained. That made Cipher calm a little bit, but he stayed tense. He was stuck alone with a Demon hunter, after all. 

“... thank you…” he mumbled. 

Stan smiled softly. “Don’t thank me. Thank you, for seeking help when you needed it. If you didn’t come to us when ya did, they could’ve gotten seriously hurt, Bill… You did a good thing.”

“Ya but I probably killed myself in the process,” Cipher spat bitterly, curling his knees up to his chest and resting his head on them. 

Stan flopped down into a criss-cross position beside Cipher. “We stand by what we said, kid. We won’t hurt you.” 

Cipher didn’t reply. He wasn’t sure he could believe the man until the twins were back by his side, safe and healthy. Maybe they’d actually be able to protect them, despite Cipher’s best efforts. 

“How did this even happen?” He groaned. “They were fine one moment and the next-”

“Sometimes people just get sick. You kids were out alone in the cold for, what, a week? With no medicine and barely any warmth. We tried to give you blankets but it looked like you didn’t take them… Plus, if they ate any raw food from even the healthiest looking plant or animal, they could have gotten sick,” Stan said. 

Cipher frowned. He had refused the blankets before they got sick, and he supposed the food they ate wasn’t quite cooked all the way, or at all, always… 

He didn’t- He didn’t think- That meant that he-

His voice was a murmur when he spoke, staring at the floor, “So… I did this to them…”

Stan’s expression shifted, eyebrows furrowed and a seriousness Bill hadn’t seen before was displayed before him. “No,” the man said firmly, “You didn’t. You did the best you could with the resources you had. If you weren’t taking care of those kids from the moment you found them, they could’ve been dead ages ago. But you protected them. You cared for them, while still a kid yourself. And despite not trusting me and my brother, you still came to us knowing we were the best chance you had when things went bad.”

The older man gently placed a hand on Cipher’s shoulder and the younger lifted his head to meet the man in the eyes. 

“You saved them, Bill. You’re their hero.”

Tears filled Cipher’s eyes and before he could stop it, Stan pulled him into a tight hug. 

The dam broke again and Cipher collapsed into him with a sob, his eye and head throbbing with renewed pain. It made him whine and fiercely wipe his tears away with Stan’s shirt, burying his face. Stan wrapped his arms around Cipher’s shoulders.

After a moment, Stan pulled back but kept one arm on Cipher while the other gently grabbed his chin and turned his head. “Your eye has been hurting you?”

Cipher nodded. “It's been hurting for a long time… But it's gotten worse since we… since we left…” 

“It looks like you have an infection in your eye, but I’m not as good at medical stuff like Ford is… He’ll take a look when he gets back. We can get you some drops and hopefully it’ll be good as new. For now, I think I have an old eyepatch lying around- We can cover it to keep it from getting worse,” Stan determined. 

Cipher hummed in agreement. He wasn’t sure what an ‘eyepatch’ was, but he knew eye drops. He used to steal them for his eye when he was in the den… Maybe that's why it was getting worse now. 

“For now, I think you should get some more sleep, ok kiddo? Ford will be back with the twins in no time, I’m sure,” Stan suggested, letting go of Cipher. 

Cipher frowned, the tension making his bad eye have to close. “I… I don’t know if I can fall asleep…”

Stan smiled softly, brushing some hair from Cipher’s face. “Why don’t you try? If you can’t, I have some medicine that may help you fall asleep and can help with your pain. I think it works on halflings anyway.”

“Ok…” Cipher laid down in the nest, curling into a ball. Then he shifted, turning to look at Stan. “Could, um… could you stay with me…? Until… Until I fall asleep? I don't-”

“Not used to being alone?” Stan guessed. Cipher nodded. The demon hunter smiled. “I’ll stay. I promise. Get some sleep, Bill.”

“Cipher,” The demon— halfling?— mumbled as he closed his eyes. “My real name is Cipher.” 

And with that, he fell asleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even a few days later, Stan was shocked at Bill– Cipher, apparently– giving him his real name. 

Names to demons were sacred. They weren’t as dangerous with demons as, say, the fae, but names were still important. With a demon's true name, you were able to summon, make deals, and sometimes even attack them. It was in their very nature never to share their true name, and taught at early ages. 

The fact that Bill, that Cipher , shared his true name with Stan meant the younger truly trusted them. Or, at the very least, was beginning to. It was an honor to know it, and Stan totally didn’t feel tears well in his eyes when Bill first said it. He just had an eyelash in his eye or something. Totally.

Stan decided not to use it though, in case Cipher didn’t mean to tell him his name. Just to be safe. 

The days simultaneously blew by in a blur and dragged on as he took care of Bill and waited for the twins. Ford refused to leave the young pair's sides, updating Stan every once and a while on their condition, which he then relayed to Bill. Apparently, they had some sort of food-borne illness that was usually treatable, but because they lived in the woods, well… It wasn’t a common occurrence in sheltered populations, for sure. Ford had mentioned the name, but Stan forgot it immediately. He was never the scientist twin. 

As for Bill’s health, he mostly slept either via medication or on his own. He only woke up enough to eat, use the bathroom, and at one point to take a bath on Stan’s encouragement. The bath helped the most, letting the younger boy relax and clean off the sweat and grime that built up on him. 

Stan was also able to find eye drops in the house from when Ford got an eye infection a while ago, but he still asked Ford to get some when the twins were better. They seemed to help, but the eye patch Stan gave the half-demon helped ensure nothing else could get into it just in case. 

Bill didn’t talk a lot during this time, not after the first night, but he did share his appreciation with Stan and seemed to relax far more this time around then when they first met. He was finally beginning to trust them, hopefully. 

Finally, Ford gave the call that the twins were healthy enough to come home. 

“ They’re still sick, ” He warned over the phone. Stan had him on speaker for Bill to hear as well. “ But they are at a point where they can move around and would be far more comfortable with you, Bill. They’ve been asking about you as soon as they were conscious enough to speak. ”

“So… they’re gonna be okay…?” Bill asked hesitantly. 

Stan could hear the soft expression in Ford’s voice, “ They’re going to be okay. ”

It was the first time Bill truly smiled with relief, and all the tension he’d been carrying this whole time seemed to seep out of him at once.

“We’ll see you three when you get home, Sixer. Drive safe okay?” Stan said and they said their goodbyes before hanging up. 

Bill’s hands twisted in the blanket as he stared at the floor, a soft frown on his face. Stan frowned as well. “Kid? You ok?”

“... They’re gonna hate me…” Bill mumbled.

Stan was bewildered. “What? Why on Earth would they hate you?”

Bill huffed, hands sliding into and gripping his hair. “Because I let this happen to them!” He snapped. 

“Bill,” Stan sighed, “We’ve talked about this. They aren’t going to blame you. No one does…”

“You don’t know that though-” He tried.

“Bill– Cipher. Cipher, listen to me.” He waited until Bill looked up at him with shock at the sternness in his voice. “You. Did. The. Right. Thing. Those kids are going to be so damn grateful for you saving their lives. I know it. They love you, you are their- their everything. And gods damn it, if I was in your shoes I’d do the same fucking thing for Stanford.” 

Stan’s voice softened, “I know you are hating yourself right now and are beating yourself up for it. I get it, I’ve been there. But you need to stop. It’s going to be okay.” 

Bill’s mouth opened and closed for a moment before he looked away from Stan, hugging himself. “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be. You have no reason to apologize for expressing your fears. Now. C’mon, let’s put more eye drops on ya and watch something on TV.” Stan stood up with a stretch and Bill looked up in confusion. 

“Wait, what?”

“We’re going to go downstairs and wait for our family to come home,” Stan said simply. 

Bill’s mouth fell agape. “But- aren’t you- don’t- wouldn’t- Aren’t you scared that- that I’ll- I’ll try to…?”

Stan shrugged, holding out a hand to Bill. “Maybe I should be. But you won’t,” He said simply.

Bill looked at his hand then back to Stan before taking his hand and pulling himself to his feet.

They headed downstairs and Stan led Bill to the couch, sitting him down and putting on a TV show rerun of ‘ Ducktective ’, something he and Ford enjoyed and hoped Bill would too. As the show played, Stan grabbed Bill’s eye drops and microwaved some popcorn for them. Once everything was applied and gathered, he settled down beside Bill, wrapping them bothin a blanket, and enjoyed the show. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Voices outside startled Cipher out of his slumber, slouched against Stan. He didn’t even remember falling asleep, but he didn’t think about it as he jumped up from the couch, flinging the blanket off of him. 

The door opened just as he did, startling Stan awake, and in walked Shooting Star and Pinetree, Ford following behind them.

“Bill!” The pair cried when they saw him. They were both wrapped in thick sweaters, and Cipher could see that their skin was clammy and pale, but they were okay. 

“ Kids,” Bill breathed, running to them as they ran to him. He wrapped his arms tightly around the pair as they buried their faces into his arms. 

He barely noticed as Ford and Stan walked to each other and spoke quietly, too lost in the comfort that the twins were okay. 

They were safe.

They were home. 

The demon hunter’s home .

He- He had- he gave them up, he-

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered and buried his face into Shooting Star’s hair.

Pinetree shook his head. “No. No, don’t be sorry. You wouldn’t have been able to help us.”

Mabel nodded in agreement. “You did what you had to, Cipher,” She whispered. 

The twins pulled back so they could look up at their older brother with duplicate expressions of concern. 

“Are you ok though?” Pinetree asked, quiet so the adults couldn’t hear. 

“Did he hurt you?” Shooting Star questioned, also quiet as she gestured to Cipher’s eye-patch. 

Cipher smiled softly and shook his head. “No. Not once. This is because my eye has a bad infection.” His smile faltered. “Ford has to look at it because Stan doesn’t really know how to help, but he’s been doing what he could… Are you two ok? He didn’t hurt you? Nor the doctors?”

The pair nodded and buried their faces again. 

“Good,” he muttered, “good.” And he pulled them even tighter to him. 

They stayed like that for a minute or two, until the demon hunters gently coughed to make them aware of their presence again. 

The trio broke and turned to the adults, who seemed… happy, and relieved, but also somewhat concerned. 

“Why don’t you kids come sit down on the couch? It’ll be more comfortable than standing in the doorway, hm?” Ford suggested. 

They silently agreed. Cipher led them to the couch and the twins immediately sat on either side of him, huddling close and clinging to him. 

Stan grabbed two wooden chairs and sat them in front of the couch, so he and Ford could face them as they sat. 

“So… We need to have a chat, ok?” Ford started. 

The twins glanced at Cipher and he signaled for the hunter to continue. 

“Firstly, the kids need to stay resting and take medication for at least another week. They had a very extreme case of food poisoning, it's going to take time to heal. Secondly, you, Bill, are going to need to let me examine your eye. It's possible, if the infection is bad enough, that…” he frowned. “That we- we might have to… er- well…”

“We might have to remove it,” Stan finished for his twin. Cipher appreciated that Stan was more blunt. 

Especially because Cipher had a feeling this would be the case. The eye drops helped ease discomfort, but the pain was still strong. He nodded. “I understand.”

“Fortunately,” Ford continued, “You are a half-demon. While the infection might have spread far enough for your body to be unable to resist, healing from a removed eye will go much quicker than normal humans. Which, actually, leads me to my next point…”

Ford glanced at his brother and closed his eyes. He then took a deep breath, before facing Cipher again with seriousness. “We think we know what kind of demon you are.”

Cipher’s eyebrows furrowed. “Really?”

“I’d have to run some tests to confirm, which I will only do with your permission, but given the aura sensing and how well you were able to hide from us- we think you might be part dream demon…” Ford explained. 

Cipher’s eyes widened. He didn’t know too much about demons, other than the fact that he was one, but he used to steal books to keep up his reading skill and to teach the kids. One of the themes he often found was… “You mean, I can steal dreams?!”

Stan snorted and Ford chuckled. “Not exactly. There are many forms of dream demons and– given that you're human– it's more likely you can merely hide away from people’s dreams and minds. Do you ever notice the world going gray when you are trying to hide? The only color being yourself, usually?”

Cipher nodded slowly. “That’s what happens when I turn invisible…”

“And there we have it.” Stan hummed. “Only dream and mind demons can do that. And only dream demons have aura sensing. No tests are even required.”

Cipher chewed his lower lip in thought, eyebrows furrowing again. “What will that mean for me then?”

“It means you're special. In the best way possible. You are, thus far, the only case of a half dream demon that the world knows. See- Dream demons can either be extremely aggressive, or extremely helpful. They are even known to make deals with people plagued with nightmares, giving them happy dreams and eating away the dangerous ones. The ones who are aggressive are usually super possessive or protective of something, often of a deal or the array of dreams they possess.”

“Could explain why you immediately took to the twins and were protective of them,” Stan added. 

“We could help you develop your powers and help you grow stronger. Having someone who can teeter on the edge of the conscious and subconscious worlds is incredibly useful, but that wouldn't be for a a few years at least -”

“That is,” Stan interrupted, “That is, if you kids want to stay with us.”

The three kids looked at each other then at the adults with confusion. “What do you mean?” Shooting Star questioned. 

“Me and Ford didn’t give you much of a choice last time. We basically kidnapped you. And this time around, you came to us because you needed help,” Stan responded. 

“We want to help you kids,” Ford insisted. “I know you don’t trust us, and maybe you never will, but you- you kids deserve to have someone taking care of you… You deserve to be kids for once… You shouldn’t have to live in fear… Least of all you, Bill. You deserve to be protected the most -”

“Cipher.” Cipher intruded. Shooting Star’s and Pinetree’s eyes widened in shock. Ford blinked in surprise, tilting his head before Cipher clarified. “My real name is Cipher. I- I told Stan, earlier... It's only right that I tell you…”

Ford practically melted at the realization, voice laced with care. “You didn’t have to-” 

“I wanted to,” Cipher said firmly as he unraveled his arms from the twins and leaned forward. “I- I want to- I-” He took a deep breath and looked between the twins with worry. His voice was nearly silent as he spoke, the older twins having to strain to hear, “I want to stay here…”

He had been thinking it over for some time. The hunters actually cared about them, cared for them. They really, truly, wanted to help and this whole ordeal confirmed it for Cipher. 

It may be the twins only shot of living a normal life, finally, like they deserve. 

… It may be his only shot, too. 

Shooting Star was the first to break the silence that befell the revelation, grinning at Cipher and flinging both her arms around him. “Finally! I thought you’d never agree!” She then turned to Stan and Ford and beamed excitedly. “My real name is Shooting Star! I have been wanting to stay here since you gave us those coloring books!”

Pinetree was more hesitant, having still had a distrust of the hunters, but when his sister and brother smiled at him reassuringly, he smiled back and said, “Pinetree. My name is Pinetree. I- I wanna stay here too… if that's okay”

Stan and Ford grinned at the trio. 

“Well Shooting Star, Pinetree, Cipher,” Ford started. 

“Welcome home.” Stan finished.