Archive of Our Own

Sometimes, Dipper and Mabel Pines got themselves into the most obscure situations that even they couldn’t believe.

Punching unicorns? Been there done that. Fought to the death in an arena while a giant baby watched? Easy. Solving a government conspiracy? They could do that in their sleep.

Seeing a 1967 Chevy Impala on the other hand, was rare. Heat of the Moment was playing loud enough that even the twins could hear the course from in the diner. Not like the mystery twins knew that car on the top of their minds either. It was Grunkle Stan who saw it drive by, making some offhanded comment, on how, he hadn’t seen a car like that for centuries. Grunkle Ford groaned, but still agreed.

Dipper saw that two people were in the car. At max. They also looked like they’d seen better days. Mabel was busy doing something else, most likely trying to see how many blueberries she can shove up her nose. Dipper sometimes wondered on how he could be related to her.

Greasy’s Dinner wasn’t the place that tourists came to. It was to dingy, to comfortable with the amount of homeyness it was. Most (if any) tourists usually complained that the food wasn’t good, or that the service was lackluster. In the two and a half months Dipper had spent in Gravity Falls, it feels right. The whole town gained its gossip from one little place made out of a train car.

So, needless to say, when two people that no one in two had never seen before, it was a whole new bag of gossip.

They came in arguing, back n’ forth, back n’ forth, like a pendulum. It obviously got everyone’s attention, but no one was polite enough to say anything.

What they ordered was normal enough. The shorter man ordered a slice of pie (and with a glare from the taller one, a plate of eggs with bacon), and the taller one some pancakes. The argument seemed to calm down there, but everyone could still feel it. The scratches and remnants of some sort of fight littered both, but their argument seemed to be on something different. Lazy Susan gave them weird looks as she took their orders, but the two barely paid attention to her. They seemed to be more invested in whatever they were arguing about earlier.

Dipper wasn't one to eavesdrop, but whenever some even the slightest paranormal came up, he couldn't help but listen. Not like anyone in this town believed him when the whole gobblewonker fiasco was going on. Besides the ones who saw it, of course. But when these people started to talk about vampires and werewolves, he knew they were the real deal. Most supernatural things don't even cross normal people's minds. And if they were the real deal, they wouldn't mind talking to Dipper, right?

"-So Sammy, what do you say? Find the damn thing, gank it, than leave within a day. Other then that, the vibes this town gives me is weird." The one with spiky hair took a bite of pie then hummed in approval. To Dipper, Greasy's pie wasn't special, it had a funky aftertaste and god knew what was going on in that kitchen. But to this guy, it seemed to be the most important thing here. Everything about these guys were weird. Who even owns a car like that?

"I don't know Dean, you are still pretty beat up from the Shapeshifter. Are you sure that you wan to take this hunt? I'm sure that we can just skip town." A beat paused between them, like a unspoken conversation was being said volumes. "Besides, I checked the town history. A ton of weird-ass things have been happening here since its founding. Not just the normal weird either, closer to conspiracy theory crazy."

Grunkle Ford was catching on to what they were saying too. He was a bit more subtle, of course, but he still was listening. A quick look at him confirmed it, how he was thinking hard and rubbing his chin. Did Ford maybe know them from past studies and research?

Mabel was trying to combine all the collective foods on the table into one abomination, much to Dipper's dismay. He just wanted to eat in peace. How hard was that to do?

Stan encouraged her to grow the abomination that clearly wasn't healthy, nor meant to be eaten. She was most likely going to eat it anyway, and Dipper was curious what it tasted like anyway. The noise from their table was enough to block out the next part of the conversation unfortunately, but the snippets after Dipper did catch.

"-really Sam? Did you have to bring that up while I'm eating?" The spiky haired one-"Dean" was obviously annoyed with the taller one-"Sam" about something Dipper didn't catch. It must had been important, like save the world important, even then, "Dean" didn't seem to worried about it. A quick look at Ford told Dipper that he completely missed what was happening as well as the next part.

"DIPPER!" A loud shout in his ear brought him out of his thinking. He winced, rubbing at his poor ear. Mabel looked at him weird, her head tilted like a lost puppy's. She must had said something, and Dipper was to in his head to hear her. "Did you hear what I was even saying?"

"Next time, can you not yell in my ear? What do you want?" He looked at her, she squinted her eye's skeptically, like she knew that he was purposely listening in on the table with the two tourists. Or not tourists, but people who came here for the supernatural-ness that naturally surrounded the town. She sighed, like she was reprimanding a child.

"I was saying that you need to try Mabel's Fantastic Breakfast!" She held up a plate of combined food that did not look natural at all. The different fruits mashed together, mixing with syrup and pancakes. To eat it would have to take a strong stomach, one that could handle all the chemicals in it. Dipper was in.

"Fine, I'll try some. Not like I have any other food to eat." Dipper paused to make a face at Mabel. "Since you used it all to make that abomination." She rolled her eyes, making an exasperated sound. "It's not like it's a big deal. Take a bite! I promise it's good. Even Grunkle Ford said so!"

Dipper looked over at his older Grunkle, who just shrugged. He wasn't one for family things anyways. This was the closest thing to a family meal that they had Mabel was constantly trying to get him involved in little things, like going mini-golfing or watching (bad) movies with the rest of them. Every single time, the plan failed. It was sad to see how he was the only distant one in the family. That he felt the need to distance himself from his family just because of what he has gone through. A dysfunctional family, that is how he would describe it. Grunkle Stan just gave him a thumbs-up, saying that Dipper should try it.

The two (brothers? Lovers? Dipper couldn't tell) continued to argue, getting a bit louder with every sentence. The chatter of the diner was also a bit louder now, so their argument was a bit more masked within. Not as much attention was getting on them. Dipper could only pick up a few things that each of them said, but from what he inferred it wasn't great. It was something about how one of them made a deal and the other was worried because of it.

He took a bit out of Mabel's breakfast abomination, and made a face. There was defiantly to much sugar, and the flavors didn't mix, but that was besides the point. They were almost out of here, so then Dipper could ask those two people (again, are they brothers or lovers or something else) about these paranormal things that happen.

"Hey Dip? What's going on in that big mind of yours? You seem more spacey-outy then usual." Mabel poked at his forehead, bringing Dipper out of his thoughts again. This was getting annoying by now. The blessing-slash-curse of being able to disappear into his mind and ignore every one else.

"Sorry Mabel. I was thinking about something." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Some of the tourists over there know about the paranormal stuff that's happening around town." He brought his head back up to meet her eyes. "I going to ask them about it."

Mabels eyes widened. She knew what all of this was about, knowing his obsession with all the weird things that happen in this town, and this town alone. "Does Grunkle Ford know?"

Dipper nodded, and Mabel started to squeal. Luckily, everyone was used to it by now, so no one blinked an eye. That just doubled his resolve to go and talk to these people. To ask about their supernatural experiences and how they delt with all of it.

Both Grunkle's were waiting for them, paying and trying not to kill each other in the prosses. This was the perfect opening for Dipper to go and talk to these people. Mabel said that the Grunkles have themselves wrapped up in enough arguments to notice that their great niece and nephew are going and talking to strangers.

The twins walked up to the table were Sam and Dean were arguing, oblivious to the small children standing right next to them. Only after Dipper cleared his throat did the men look up from their argument.

"Uh- kid can we help you?" The man who was eating the pie looked very confused, as did the other one. Out of everything, they were probably not expecting to find two kids looking up to them at what was it? 9:30 in the morning?

Both of them took in the Pine's outfits. Mabel was wearing her normally vibrant sweaters, along with the headband that looks straight out of the 80's. Today, the sweater had a picture of a forest on it, with birds on the trees. Dipper was wearing his normal stuff, a bright orange shirt with his vest, along with his hat. It was nothing out of the ordinary. To them, the two people seemed like they were more out of the ordinary. They were wearing flannel and jeans, something only the Corduroy family would seem to wear around here. "Dean" was also wearing a leather jacket that looked worn and had seen better days. In fact, both of their clothes looked that way.

"Yes actually! I'm Dipper and this is my sister Mabel and we couldn't help but overhear you guys talking about different paranormal things. In fact," Dipper opened the third journal, something that he never went anywhere without, "this town is known for attracting weirdness, but no one seems to notice any of it! On top of that-" Dipper got cut off by a cough from the long haired one, who looked at the other one with great confusion or worry, Dipper couldn't tell.

"Wait, you said that this town attracts different supernatural things right?" The longer haired one spoke, then turned his head so they looked at each other again, a different conversation flowing between them. This time, the tension was so obvious that even the most socially illiterate person could pick up on it.

It was awkward to be there, to say the least.

“Yes, is-is there a problem with that? I don’t think there should be one, right? I think that if you’ve been here long enough, you see it. Besides, what could be more paranormal then killing a ghost or battling a one-eyed demon?” To this, both of the men widened their eyes just a bit, but still looked skeptical. Dipper couldn't blame them. Who else had experienced as much weirdness of Gravity Falls?

"So... just a simple Salt n' Burn and an exorcism? That doesn't seem like that much of a big deal. You two seem a bit young to be Hunters..." The tall one trailed off, looking more out the window. He sighed, turning his head fully to meet Dipper and Mabel. "Well, Dipper and Mabel, I'm Sam and that over there is my brother Dean. Say, have you encountered any thing that normally wouldn't happen? Like disappearances, murders, anything like that?"

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other. As far as they were concerned, nothing like that had happened for awhile. Mabel did get into a little fight with the gnomes (again) but that happened frequently. These brothers asking about this was weird. Dipper opened his mouth to ask what a Salt n' Burn was, but Mabel beat him to it. "What's a Salt and Burn? To get rid of the reaper we just fulfilled the request for the rich-people party be available to everyone else."

Both of them paled at that, and Dean near snapped his neck with how fast he turned his head to look at Mabel. Sam's eyes went wide, looking right at his brother. He then swallowed nervously, opening his mouth a few times like a fish out of water, sighing at the end. The brothers just had a whole deer-in-the-headlights sort of feeling. "Kid, you said that you took down a Reaper? How the hell do you manage that? Even we had a hard time taking down the woman that was controlling it."

That shocked Dipper. These people have have fought a category 10 ghost and didn't even need the journal. They just might be his new idols. He opened up the journal to the page that Grunkle Ford wrote down his research on ghosts, to show the brothers. Dipper put it on the table to show them completely. "It sounds like you ran into a category 10 ghost, based on your reaction." Sam and Dean took one look to the journal and looked seriously confused. "Every ghost is categized, 1-10, ten being the worse."

It was a miracle that the Grunkles hadn't noticed that Dipper and Mabel weren't right next to them yet. It wasn't unusual for the Pine's to run off on their own, but normally they tell someone were they where going.

"Yeah, kid, there is no such thing as a "ghost rating system" the only thing that comes close to it is finding out weather or not whatever we're hunting is a ghost, demon, or anything else that climbed out of the pits of hell." Dean leaned back, stretching his arms, looking over the twins. "You seem a bit young to be Hunters anyways. How old even are you two?"

"Dipper? Mabel? Were are you two? There should be some sort of trackers for children, I swear." Dipper looked back at his Grunkle, then looked back at the brothers. They must had been having some sort of conversation when neither of the twins were listening, because both of them looked like they wanted to kill each other again.

"Grunkle Ford! Over here! I think we found some people that you and Dipper can talk all nerdy with." Mabel waved over at Ford, signaling to him where they were. A small mutter came form Dean, saying something about a nerd in a trench coat.

Grunkle Ford looked over the brothers, as if evaluating them as a threat. He probably was, after all the time in the different dimensions, if Dipper was being honest. Not to mention, Sam and Dean looked pretty intimidating from afar, and the whole vibe they just have going on. They just looked him up and down as well, the whole interaction very tense.

"Please excuse my great niece and nephew, for they tend to be curious about different things. I do apologize for bothering you.” Ford looked over the two men again, this time holding his hand out so they could shake it. “Stanford Pines. I haven’t seen you two around here. Are you new pr just stoping by?”

“Uh- I’m Sam and that over there is Dean. We’re just stopping by for a quick break them getting back on the road.” Sam shook his hand, noticing the six fingers, but not saying anything. Dean also shook his hand, noticing the six fingers as well, but this time commenting on it.

“Six fingers, like Count Rugan right? That’s sort of cool man.” Ford stayed silent at that, like he normally did when he was evaluating something. Dean just laughed nervously, not really liking the silence that followed his joke. “Anyways, me and Sammy should probably get out of here. We have stuff to do. Nice meeting ya.”

Based what they said earlier, they probably would be staying a bit longer. Dipper didn’t like the idea of not getting all the answers he wanted right away, but he was obviously going to get nowhere with demanding answers from these two.

“Nice to meet you guys too!” Mabel was better at good-byes than most just getting it over with. Dipper looked up, finding the guys gone. Maybe this interaction was weird, but it felt rewarding to know that other people knew about the weirdness that happened all around them.

-

“This is one weird-ass town, thats for sure.” Dean laughed to himself as he got his duffel bag of of Baby, looking at the rest of the town from the motel parking lot. The people looked normal, but the papers and history said otherwise. Hunters usually said to stay clear of this place, but with Deans deal, they decided that they should give this place a shot. This tourist trap of a town was mentioned in their fathers journal one or twice to, just in smaller detail.

Even after hours of research, they never found any patterns with any of the “normal” supernatural things that happened regularly here, but with what they were hunting, at least that had a pattern.

“Yeah, I guess that you could say that these people might be just a bit unhinged,” Sam unlocked the door to the motel, cringing. It was decent, considering some of the places they had to stay at in the past, but it was still pretty shitty. A smell of mold and mildew surrounded the room, mixed with cat piss. Not the best place in town.

“Like I said. Find the damn thing, gank it, get the hell out of here. Easy as that.” Dean threw his bag onto the bedspread, (which was a very hideous shade of green) and started to salt the room. It was second nature to him, after doing this stuff for so long.

“So,” Dean cleared his throat, still focusing on what he was doing, “find anything new on what we could be hunting? As far as I am concerned, it’s just a dead end.”

Sam looked at Dean, narrowing his eyes. “Are you kidding me? We just got here not even two hours ago. Not to mention, we only came here because there might be a sliver of a chance that your deal could get called off! How do you think we ended up in this wack-job situation?” Anger laced Sam’s voice, seeping the air of the whole room. It was most likely going to be like stepping on a minefield now.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, Samantha. I have a year to live, there's stuff to do and things to hunt. We need to make the most of it. And," Dean avoided looking Sam in the eye, knowing what would happen next. "Don't you even try to break this deal. So drop it."

Dean could feel Sam glaring holes through the back of his head, obviously trying to restart the conversation, but getting nowhere. Like their conversation before they found the dinner, it was fine at the beginning, but always getting angrier towards the end, always ending with angered silence between the two. It was quite frankly getting annoying.

Sam huffed, dropping it. They would get nowhere arguing like this. Afterall, they had a organization to pretend to be apart of. And people to help.

-

"Grunkle Ford, you're not hearing what I'm saying. These people, they know what their talking about. Nothing like the FBI agents or the rest of this town. They can help us find out why this town is this way. These brothers, they know what is actually going on." Dipper trailed behind the elder grunkle, journal 3 in hand. He couldn't believe that his grunkle didn't think these new people in town could help them. The brothers obviously knew what they were talking about. Even if they got somethings wrong, they still knew what they were talking about.

"Dipper," Ford sighed, turning around to meet his great-nephew. The small almost-teen looked up at Ford with the big eyes he had, sparkling with innocence that not even Bill could wipe-out. He brought his hand to his chin, rubbing it in thought. "If these people really do know what their talking about, and I mean really know what their talking about, how do we know that they can help us? We had a hard enough time taking down a Shapeshifter on our own, and the impending thought of Bill, how do we know that they will truly help us?"

"Did you not hear what they were saying in the dinner? They said that-" A loud slam of the door interrupted the conversation. Mabel ran in, looking confused.

"Have you two seen Wendy lately? She promised to teach me how to properly put my hair in a good looking messy bun, but I can't seem to find her. I asked everyone were she is, but no one seems to know! I even asked Robbie!" Panic laced her voice, with a hint of hysteria behind it. Now that Dipper thought about it, he hadn't seen Wendy all week. Yes, Wendy was known to skip out on work, but that wasn't during the busy hours. Mabel kept running around, Waddles right at her feet.

"Now that I think about it, others have disappeared over the past week or so. I haven't heard Stanley complain about that little twerp Gideon for awhile either." Ford muttered under his breath, looking more in thought.

This couldn't be a mistake right? What ever the brothers were so-called "hunting" must be related to all the disappearances. "I don't know Mabel. Did you ask Soos if he's seen Wendy lately?"

"No! He was talking to the two guys from the Dinner about something. I didn't catch what it was about though." Mabels loud voice echoed through the Mystery Shack, the sound of her climbing up the ladder to the roof louder then it should be. If Soos was talking to the two guys from the Dinner, that would be a miracle.

Dipper had to take this chance, otherwise he might not have this chance again.

He ran out of the giftshop, leaving Ford with his own musings, seeing if he could catch the two men before they leave. Hopefully Stan wasn’t on one of his mystery tours.

“Yeah, dude’s. I don’t know what else to tell you. I mean if you want to talk to someone who really might know where all the missing people you should talk to Ford. He knows all of the weird stuff that goes on around here. Sorry I couldn’t help you more dudes.” Dipper saw Soos shake his head at the two brothers, who now were dressed up in suits. The taller one, Sam, was trying to continue to talk to Soos about the disappearances. Bingo. That was what Dipper was looking for.

Grunkle Stan was checking out the car that they came in, the same Impala that they saw at the dinner. The look in his eyes told Dipper that there was a chance that he was going to hotwire the car and just take it for himself. Or slash the tires to keep them here just a bit longer. The shorter one, Dean, just cleared his throat, turning towards Stan and clearing his throat to take Stans eyes off the car.

"So, Stanford Pines right? When did you notice that your employee was missing?" Dipper cringed for Stan. He almost forgot that Stan faked his death only to take his brothers name. It was a complicated family affair, that was for sure.

Before Stan could dig himself down a deeper rabbit hole, Dipper ran out of the spot that he was listening from. He stopped in front of Dean, a bit out of breath, but got there before Stan could say anything.

“So I know that I kind of talk to you guys earlier but we kind of got cut off earlier so I wanted to talk to you about—“

"Hey kid, I know that you might have some theories, but save them. I'm trying to talk to him. Unless you know something about the disappearance of Wendy Corduroy, go back to eating dirt or something.” Dean looked at the kid with a very annoyed face, but went back to questioning Stan quickly. Honestly, Dean just wanted to get out of there as soon as they could. The whole place was giving him weird-ass vibes, not to mention, this old person kept looking at Baby like it was the next thing he wanted in life.

“Agent Sixx and Plant, I think my great nephew cane help you more than me,” Stan pulled out a stack of money from under his hat, handing it to Dean. “I told you everything I know already.” He winked at the two of them, already walking way. The brothers just looked at each other very confused, like they were unused to this happening to them.

“So, I think you would be our last person we meed to question, so let’s get to it.” Dean just exhausted, like they had been at this all day. Sam was still looking around, not trusting of all the colorful signs and words mentioned to invite people to spend money.

“I already know that you two aren’t real FBI agents. The government always seems to sent the same two, and after the whole zombie thing, you’d think they wouldn’t come after us anymore.” Dipper shrugged, while confusion crossed the brother’s faces. They had no clue what was going on, despite them saying they knew what was happening. “If you guys were real FBI agents, you would know to stay clear from here thats for sure. Now, if you want to keep talking here like normal, Ford just might and try to take you out. He most likely has a better grip at what is going on here, paranormal wise.”

The two just looked at each other even more perplexed, having a look of “are you serious right now” mixed in.

“So, is this Ford person a Hunter then?”

Now it was Dippers turn to be confused. “What? No, he just studied this sort of oddities for years. Then he got sucked into an inter-dimensional portal, where he was stuck for 30 years. It’s sort of a long story.” Dipper shrugged, opening up journal 3. Both men did look interested, but still had the skepticism in their eyes.

“See, here’s a shapeshifter, and the look-behind, theres more journals too, but first I have to know. What do you guys think it is?” Dipper showed them the page of the shapeshifter, the diagrams and studies that Ford had conducted many years before. All the evidence they needed to see was in front of them.

“Uh-“ Sam looked over at Dean, reluctant to say anything. If anything, they both looked even more complexed than before. “Kid, you know that real shapeshifters look nothing like that, right?”

“First of all, it’s Dipper, not ‘kid’. Secondly, if they didn’t look like this, what else would they look like? Just continuously wear their other skin?” Again, the brothers looked at him confused. They seemed to be losing interest in whatever Dipper had to say, and more interested in what was in the woods. The woods were most likely rustling from the gnomes, but with Wendy missing they could never be to careful.

“Sounds good kid. We should probably-“ Mabel, who was running around after constantly, trying to find someone who was probably not there, ran into Dean. Dean gasped in pain, healing wounds agitated by the short girl.

“Omg! I’m so, so sorry mister. Hey, aren’t you the people that were talking to Soos?” Mabels high pitched voice rung through the small clearing of trees, obviously very sorry. Her brightly colored sweater was had dirt smeared on it, bit and pieces of wood and leaves also on it. She looked up at Dean, and then it clicked. “Aren’t you the people from the dinner? Are you also FBI agents? You guys seem like you would more likely be lumberjacks or something like that the government officials.”

Dipper gave her a look, but Mabel just stuck her tongue out at him. “Dipper, you know that you’re not supposed to be talking to anyone from the government after the whole zombie thing.”

Dean was trying not to look in pain, shifting all of his weight onto one leg. Sam looked worried, and hovered around Dean like he wasn’t sure what to do. Only now did Dipper see how exhausted both of them looked, the whole way they carried themselves like they just needed get their this.

“Yeah sure Mabel. Grunkle Stan said that I could talk to them anyway. What do you need anyway? And why are you covered with dirt?” Dipper raised one eye brow, confused about how his sister could get that dirty in such little time. He was also concerned, the worry not showing on his face.

Dean was still weary of putting weight on his other leg, Sam still listening in on the twins.

“I talked to the gnomes about if they knew where Wendy was, and even after I offered Candy as a queen they said they didn’t know.” She paused for a second, taking a pinecone out of her hair before continuing. “But they did let me know that something is in the woods now. And even they’ve never seen anything like it. They seemed terrified. ”

The two brothers immediately shot up after hearing that, seemingly very interested now that Mabel mentioned the “something”. Dipper sighed, visibly annoyed with everything going on. He just wanted to prove to these people that he knew his supernatural stuff!

“Mabel, that doesn’t even make any sense. The gnomes can literally obliterate anything that disturbs them.” Dipper looked back at Mabel with the best bitch-face he could at her, who then just stuck her tongue out at him.

“So, what exactly happened? We would like to know the whole story, to help us for our report, of course.” Sam asked routinely, a second habit by now from asking others.

“Whats in it for me?” Mabel asked them, raising an eyebrow. She knew how to milk people out of money like Grunkle Stan. Must run in the family.

The brothers looked at each other, confused. They weren’t expecting to bribe a child today, yet here they were.

Dean sighed, digging into his pockets for the small wad of cash that he got from hustling pool from various bars in the last few towns. There wasn’t much even left, since they were in between credit card scams and didn’t have a steady stream of money any other way.

“I got this much.” Dean pulled out a small stack of cash, all folded janky and unsorted. Mabel looked skeptical, waved her hand and looked away.

“No amount of money in this world could ever buy this girl. Try again later.” Mabel looked at them weirdly one last time, grabbed the money, flipped her hair dramatically, put on sunglasses, and walked away counting the money while shouting for Candy and Grenda.

Dean just looked flabbergasted, and Sam just kept looking at where the money was. Dean cleared his throat, and looked back at Dipper with a straight face.

“I think we’re done here. We’ll be in touch if we need any additional information.”

And with that, the two brothers disappeared without another trace.

-

Sam opened his eyes to an unfamiliar area. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep the moment that his head hit the pillow. Now, he was surrounded by old motels and faint things he remembered from his childhood. The Impala sat near him, as if it was home more than anything else.

“Well, well, well,” the voice that came out of nowhere just kept multiplying, more out of this world than in it. “Aren’t you cute as a button. Samuel Winchester. I haven’t had the honor to meet you in body, but now I have! Isn’t this a time to rejoice!” A yellow triangle with a top hat appeared in front of Sam, most likely the source of the voice.

“Who are you! What do you want from me?” Sam yelled at the thing, terrified internally. Yes, a lot of Hunters know about Sam and Dean. How they were their Daddy’s perfect soldiers, but outside of that, no one really knew them. But how could this creature know about Sam?

“Oh, Sammy, you sweat summer child. I know everyone. I mean everyone.” The triangle raised its arms half way, almost as if praying to a god. Then, through a few seconds, Sam saw everyone that he knew flash in this demons eye, and more people that he didn’t know. “I already know your name, but I seem to have forgotten to give you mine. The names Bill kid. And I didn’t come to you just for any reason…”

Bill’s body darkened, before flickering back to normal. It was so quick that Sam wasn’t sure that it was real.

“I came to make a deal with you. You know, about your brothers, shall we say, situation?” Bill looked at him with a bored eye, seemingly cool about how the only stable thing in Sams life was going to be torn from him in a year. How did the demon even know about the deal?

“I know that deal that your brother made. If you make a deal with me, not only will you walk way still alive and well, so will your brother.” It was a tempting deal, yes, but what would his brother say?

That he would have to be fucking stupid if he thought that the deal was real? Probably.

Bill seemed to notice his hesitation, and immediately pounced onto it. The sky, instead of being the nice pick-blue hue it was, turned into past memories. It was blurry, but Sam could still see what was going on.

“How many times had Dean sacrificed something for you Sammy? How many meals that he skipped so you could eat for longer? The beatings that your father gave you that he took for you? The things he did to keep you feed?And what did you give him in return? You ran away to college, not giving him another thought. How selfish is that Sammy?” Bill held out his hand, showing an orb of less blurry memories, showing all the times Dean helped Sam, or sacrificed himself for Sam. There was a skip to now, Dean holding a book of history in his lap, a beer in one hand a burger in the other. Sam was sleeping, while Dean researched for them. It was a role-reversal, and Dean was still injured and needed to rest to get his strength back. Guilt and shame boiled together in Sams stomach. He had a feeling that this whole year, despite it being Dean’s last, Dean would still prioritize Sam.

“See Sammy? I can help with that, and all you have to do is shake my hand.” Blue flames covered it, screaming all sorts of uncomfortable deals. This isn’t a crossroads deal, Sam told himself, you still get your soul.

Why was it as soon as he got Azazel out of his head, a new demon decided to come in and make a deal?

“I’m waiting!” Bill was starting to glitch in and out, a more aggressive and panicked tone ringing through Sams head. The whole place was glitching too, now that Sam looked at it.

“Hurry up kid!” The demon just got closer to Sam, eye becoming more refined and black, angry and demanding. Another voice, one sounding suspiciously like his older brother was also echoing through the whole place as well.

“Forget this. If you think this is the last time you’ll see me, you’re a moron Moose. Squirrel will eventually catch up.” The whole world melted, horrifyingly taking everything Sam loved with it.

And just like that, the whole scene turned back into the shitty motel they were staying in. Dean looked at him with worried eyes. Sam ignored them for now, opting to look at the clock instead.

“How long was I out for?” Sam groaned as he rolled over, sore from continuously working so many jobs in a row. His mind was running miles a minute to figure out what the demon meant by he could get them out of the deal. “Did you find anything the creature or demon could be?”

“You were probably were out for a good four hours or so. As for what I found out..." Dean paused, taking a burger out of a fast-food place they saw in town earlier. "You might want to eat something before I tell you because, oh boy, is it some wacky-ass shit." Dean laughed without humor and gave the burger to Sam, who accepted it without any grace. It had been a long day and even though Sam got more sleep then normal, he was still exhausted to the bone. They had been running on fumes ever since Dean sold his soul, to try and get as much done as they could over the course of this year. It looked like Dean hadn't gotten any sleep since they crash last at no where, Idaho.

Sam took a bite of his burger, tasting the cheap ingredients and piss-poor cooking. It wasn't good by any means, but it was food. Something to keep them going. "So, what did you find?"

"Well, I found nothing new other then the fact that there is a triangle-shaped demon with one eye that shows up multiple times thought folklore, that's about it." Dean feel back onto the bed, papers crinkling under his weight. Dean looked even more exhausted then he had in the past, his older brother looking much older then 26.

Sam widened his eyes just a bit just to seem surprised. If the same yellow triangle demon visited him in his dream, that might be just a bit concerning. "Anything else on that demon? Did you find out any other creatures that we could be hunting?"

Dean groaned, orienting his body so it all fit on the bed. "You can research on your own. I need to get some shuteye." And with that, Dean threw his arm over his eyes like he had multiple times and tried to fall asleep, not even taking his boots off. It wasn't even bothering him anymore. He had long gotten used to this lifestyle again, stopping only long enough to finish a job. It hurt Sam to see that his brother so used to this, to not have anything stable in his life. He sighed, turning off the lamp on thee bed side table. He had researching to do, but his brother needed the sleep more. Sam grabbed his laptop, leaning against the bedside frame, hearing his brothers soft breathing, Sam felt like he was more home then he had since Dean sold his soul.

-

Dipper woke up to the sound of screaming. Glass shattered, then there was silence. He shot up, immediately going to see if his sister was okay. Glass crunched under his socked feet, interrupting the eerie silence of the building. Did no one else hear the blood-piercing scream?

He approached the bed on the opposite side of the room, scared to see if what he thought was true.

The bed was messed up, in a true Mabel fashion, yet, something was unsettling about the way it was shaped. Mabel wasn’t in her bed.

Where was she?

Was she the one who was screaming?

“Mabel? Are you there?” Dippers voice sounded foreign to him, panicked and afraid. “Mabel? This isn’t funny anymore.”

Heavy footsteps sounder through the house as Dipper looked all over the room for his sister. Tears welled up in his eyes. He knew that she wouldn’t go far, nor was she one to run away without reason.

The footsteps got closer, but all Dipper could think about was his sister. He looked out the broken window to see foot steps leading into the to the woods. A plush that Wendy got Mabel a little while ago sat dirtied in the empty parking lot, the same plush that Mabel fell asleep with earlier.

“Whats wrong? I heard screaming. Where is Mabel?” Grunkle Ford rushed in with his energy gun that he always carried with him, Stan just had his brass knuckles.

Tears fell from Dippers eyes, wetting the worn floor below him. “I-I think that what- that what those brothers are hunt-hunting took her.”

The Grunkles just let the tears fall, Stan comforting him and Ford left the room quietly, needing to figure out what took his great-niece.

-

Sam woke up later than he thought he would. He must had been really exhausted if he slept till like, what was it now, noon? Deans bed was messy, but Dean was no where to be found. His leather jacket was sitting at the end of the bed, something Dean never goes anywhere without unless he has to.

Sam just closed his eyes to the afternoon sun that was glaring off of the Impala’s hood. Seriously, who left curtains open?

A slight breeze roused Sam again, it was way warmer than what they had for the motel settings. Was Dean screwing the settings?

No use in falling back asleep, Sam thought, groaning as he got up. His muscles were sore from constantly running around. Doesn’t help when you have a brother who works to keep his mind off of everything.

More of the muggy summer heat flowed into the room.

As far as Sam could tell, there was no other movement in the room other from him. It was deathly silent, nothing like the small hustle and bustle that happened in the mornings during a hunt.

Sam got up, his eyes still closed. The sun was doing no favors to help him awake. Drowsiness still stuck to Sams mind like pollen to a flower.

Crunching came from under Sam’s feet. Only then did Sam open his eyes to find broken glass.

The air suddenly felt more thick, hard to get into his own lungs. There was blood stuck on different pieces of glass and furniture, obvious that Dean put up a fight.

Now that Sam looked at it closer, he could see that the bedsheets were ripped up, and that the knife Dean used was also covered in blood.

His brain was going haywire, panicking that Dean wasn’t there. That something wasn’t going after Sam, but now his brother. It terrified Sam. Is this what Dean felt every time something went after Sam?

He could already feel himself spiraling. He didn’t want to lose his brother, not when he had a year left to live, not ever.

A small knock on the broken glass slowly brought Sam out of his spiraling thoughts to see the same kid he talked to yesterday was standing right on the other side of the shattered window.

“Uh- do you want me to come back later? I can always do that… I just wanted to talk about the supernatural creature that might be here.” The kid spoke with an unsteady voice. Not one that puberty would have given him, but one that had sadness and anxiety written all over it.

Sam cleared his throat, embarrassed that this kid even had to witness his panic. One of the well preached rules of the Winchester household was to never show anyone else that you were struggling.

“Sorry about that kid. What did you need again?” Sams voice was normal enough. He wasn’t anything without Dean. “How did you find us?”

“Did it take your sibling too?”

The boy asked clear and concise, wanting to take the blunt of it forward. His face stayed calm, yet it had a whole perception of sorrow on it.

“How-How did you know?”

The boy looked confused, then smiled a bit. “The broken glass was one pointer I guess. Same thing happened to my sister last night. I was thinking that maybe you knew what was happening.”

He seemed proud to connect all the dots, puffing out his chest with pride. It was sort of funny to see the youthful pride and naiveness radiate from him. Even with the fact that sister was missing, he could still be positive. Sam on the other hand, would most likely shut down, start going down the same path that his brother went down after their father died.

Work nonstop to prevent any real thoughts.

“Okay kid, you have my attention. What do you have for research?” Sam walk towards the kid, grabbing his brother’s leather jacket and putting it on even if it was way too warm for it. It gave him comfort.

“I was actually hoping that you guys had some information. We should probably get going before Blubs and Durland get here.” The kid just hopped nervously side to side, holding three large journals, obviously wanting to get going.

Sam sighed, not really having much of a choice at this point. If both Dean and this boys sister was missing, it could be a pattern. He quickly packed up his and Deans things. His hands were shaking badly, bile rising in the back of his throat. Tears welled up in his eyes. Get yourself together,<\em> Sam told himself, You were raised better then this.<\em> He cleared the wellling-up teard

Sam walked out of the room, the two duffle bags that held his and Deans entire life on his shoulders. He opened the Impala, the kid getting in as if second nature. "If we are to be partners to solve this mystery, you might want to remember my name. I'm Dipper Pines, and your Sam Winchester right?"

Sam looked flabbergasted, then snapped his face back to neutral. He shouldn't be surprised that the kid remembered his name, Sam and his brother were recognizable anywhere, with their tallness and the Impala going from place to place.

"So Dipper, do you know how to shoot a shotgun?"

-

Mabel never expected to wake up in a nest of sticks and bones in an abandoned building, still in her pajamas. Her hair was messed up and her shins had scratches on them. The nest looked like it was many years old, that so much tattered clothing on the bottom. Most of it was plaid, with scraps of other fabrics here and there. She carefully got up, peering over the edge, seeing the rest of the room. It was just like a horror game, the dark hallways and candelabra's. No one else was in the building as far as she could tell.

Ropes hung from the walls and ceiling, different herbs and plants knotted in them. A soft chittering was heard from upstairs, scarring and Mabel. Wind whispered through the invisible cracks, speaking ineligible warnings into Mabel’s ears.

The soft chittering slowly traveled around the room above the nest. Scraping followed it, scarring Mabel even more.

Where was she even? What happened? Where was Dipper?

Rustling and soft crunching snapped Mabels attention, with soft coos and chirps coming from the creature.

Mabel slowly turned her head slowly to look at the thing that took her away from her home.

A large, single eye stared at her unblinking, floating off of a severed neck. Strings attached to different body parts floated in the air, eyes floating next to its neck. The long claws dug into the nest, an unblinking eye staring down at her. She froze in fear, eyes wide and hair in her face. She wished that she could move, her limbs stiff, as if frozen, body not listening to her brain.

She had never been this terrified in her life. Not when Bill showed up for the first time, not even when the fate of the portal rest in her hands.

The creature lifted its claw, reaching towards Mabel—

She shut her eyes, fearing what came next. She didn’t want to face death in the eye. Even if she prayed, would anyone listen to her?

—and moved a strand of her wayward hair to behind her ear.

The thing just purred happily, continuing to fix Mabels hair, putting ends behind her ears and smoothing out the tangled bits.

Mabel slowly cracked open her eyes to look at the thing, to be meet with an eye that opened into a rib cage. She gagged a bit, smelling the internal organs of whatever this thing was. It just peered down at her, unblinking. The mouths at the side licked their lips with their serpentine tongues, sharp teeth menacing.

A loud clatter came from farther into the house, catching the creature’s attention. All eyes moved from peering at Mabel to looking for where the noise came from.

It slowly scattered away, as if afraid to leave Mabel. More banging came from the house, drawing the attention of the thing even more.

It took off towards the noise as soon as a loud Sonofabitch! was heard. The thing moved like a puppet almost, the long limbs moving in janky fashion.

Mabel let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. The thing had scared her, it probably smelt her fear, but why didn’t it kill her?

What caused it to leave?

“Hey kid, are you alright?” A gruff voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Her mouth opened to scream, but a hand was quickly brought up to cover it. “Listen kid, if you scream, it will be the end for one of us. It seemed to have taken a liking for both of us this far, but I don’t think that be that case if we alert it of our position. I’ve already seen some unlucky souls.”

She nodded quickly, understanding the severity of the situation. The man brought his hand down, and even in the darkness of the abandoned house, she could see that it was the man that came by to the Mystery Shack earlier, the same one who she took the money from.

He had a serious look on his face, one that wasn’t on it when he questioned Dipper. It was one that was pure focus and determination.

He made a “follow me” sign, helping Mabel climb out of the nest. The outside of the nest looked more gruesome than the inside, bones and un-identifiable bits hanging out from the otherwise perfect bowl-shaped nest. Variants of gray stained nest, shading the dark house.

The man held out his hand, probably wanting Mabel to grab it. She looked at him with weary eyes, understandably scared at what could happen to her if she didn’t go with him or even went with him.

Scratching of nails on old wood made the man’s head snap towards the room where the creature left too. His eyes narrowed, and he quickly shoved Mabel into the opposite direction.

She quickly took that as the hint to run, the man following behind her, shielding her from the creatures vision.

Her hair was messed up again, her pajamas now ripped up at the edges.

Shadows danced menacingly, taunting her with every step.

You’ll never leave.

Why are you even running? Not like it could catch up with you now.

She just kept running, the house contorting and twisting itself, making a maze that never ended.

Dipper was right. You’re nothing more than a side character.

You will never get a man of your own.

A small shadow, Mabel sized, danced differently from all of the shadows, it just pointed at a wall, a small hole in the wall, just large enough that she could fit into it.

The moment she squeezed herself into the little nook, the hallway stopped moving.

The shadows stopped dancing.

The only thing Mabel could hear was her own panicked breathing, her heart feeling like jackhammers on her ears.

A large slamming shook the old house to its core, sickening bone crunching and screaming of agony not far behind it.

A very human scream.

A few beats of silence passed.
as
She shivered, fear coursing through her whole body.

What if the thing got the other man?

qA ear-splitting inhuman screech became the houses blood, snaking the way through every room.

It slowly retreated, leaving behind deafening silence.

A sickening squelch could be heard from the nook that Mabel was hiding in. It was horrible, the images that Mabels mind came up with.

“Hey kid, you- you there?”

Heavy footsteps echoed through the hallway, pacing very uneven and quite frankly, scarring Mabel.

She popped her head out of the hiding place, seeing the various shades of grey assaulting her vision. The grainy texture was seriously messing with her eyesight, screwing with her brain, and making her see things dance in the dark.

Mabel turned her head to face to see the man, meet with a sickening reality.

He fought off the creature so Mabel could be safe.

She fought the urge to throw up, instead lifting herself out of her hiding spot, swallowing the bile that was rising in the back of her throat.

"Okay, kid, what was your name again?" Mabel just noticed that in addition to the bleeding that was there before the creature found them, pretty heavy bleeding was happening on the abdomen of the man, a knife held in his other hand that wasn't clutching the weeping wound.

"Mabel Pines. How about your real name Agent Sixx?" She kept her voice quiet, reasonably scared if the thing would come back.

The man smirked, his face slightly pale and pain faintly traced along with it. If he didn’t get medical help soon, there was a chance that he would bleed to death. “You just happen to look close enough at a fake I.D. to know? I don’t think a kid your age should know what a fake looks like.”

Mabel just smiled faintly back, blush (thankfully) not evident in the dark. “It just seems like a very, very fake name. Like, Sixx, really? Name one person that had Sixx as a real last name.”

The man sighed, muttered something about classic rock, and tightened his grip on the bleeding wound. “Nikki Sixx from Mötley Crüe. Man, do kid know nothing about classic rock these days?” He groaned and tightened his grip on his abdomen. “Names Dean Winchester.”

“Nice to actually meet you Dean, but shouldn’t you more focus on your wounds?” She sounded actually concerned, scared for him.

“Not my first rodeo, Mabel. So don’t worry about me. We need to move somewhere safer.” Dean took his knife hand to safety store the knife in his other hand, then reached out the much less blood and muck on it towards Mabel. “Follow me.”

He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her in front of him, Dean positioning himself to be ready to attack anything that came their way.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself to put blind faith into Dean.

Dean had the look in his eyes told Mabel that no matter what happened, she was getting put of there alive.

-

“So Sam, I know I probably should have asked you this before I brought you in here, but what the hell are you doing in some mostly no-name town in Oregon?” Dipper looked up from his laptop, piles of a joint effort of research between them. The journals sat unused, the old paper deemed useless. They seriously had nothing in them about a monster thats favorite past time was stealing people.

Sam didn’t look up from his laptop, instead just concentrating harder. “I already explained the gist of hunting is to you, so you should know why we’re here.” He took a pause looking up at Dipper. “The missing people really set us here. Although, I don’t know why, considering this town’s history, no one has noticed just how weird this town is. I mean, the only place to have a different species of shapeshifter or vampire. How insane is that?”

Sam didn’t even notice that he said it like Dean was standing over there instead of some random kid.

Dipper groaned as he slammed his head into the laptop. They were getting nowhere with this. Any obscure legend that they ended up finding just resulted in a dead end.

“Why do you think that is? I can assure you that none of this happened back in California.” Dipper just kept his face on the keyboard, not finding motivation to continue researching. If Mabel was here, she’d find away to get him out of a slump. Either through a walk or purposely bad karaoke, it helps him. Maybe he never will be prepared to lose Mabel like this.

“Dipper, who is this abomination of a man and why is he sitting at the diner table?” Grunkle Ford walked into the room, and considering that it was an off day for the Mystery Shack, no one was really supposed yo be there except for them.

Sam looked up from his laptop again, this time with a very confused look on his face.

“Grunkle Ford, this is Sam Winchester. He says that he can help us find Mabel. His brother was also taken when he was sleeping.” Dipper looked at his Grunkle, eyes more focused on the papers that they printed now. His Grunkle might only point out everything that was wrong with this. There was nothing wrong with that, of course, but Dipper didn't need to hear what he had to say.

"Uh- Mr. Ford was it? Do you maybe know of any local legends or any myths from around here? Anything that would stand out?" Sam looked at the elder man, interested if the man had some stories that might even be a bit helpful. Dipper rolled his eyes. He had heard just about all the local stories. From the Gobblewonker to the Look-behind, all of Dippers bases were pretty much covered.

Ford looked at Sam like he had grown two heads, but still pondered the thought. He brought his hand to his chin, rubbing it in thought.

"There is a old legend of the forest that surrounds here, not from Gravity Falls itself, but I already looked into this. The thing just doesn't exist." Ford said matter-of-factly, as if that in their world of their weirdness, there wasn't a possibility that his great-niece was taken by a thing that wasn't distracted.

Sam perked up at that. “Are you really sure that it doesn’t exist? If I’m not wrong, you’ve studied this town for many years.”

Ford looked taken back by that, as if he didn’t think that this random man, from god knows were, knew of his research.

“Yes, I have been researching the oddness of this region for many years, but if there was something like this I think my old… friend would have told me about it.” The sudden tone change was shocking, but not unexpected. The history between Bill and Ford did get very rocky.

Sam just raised one eyebrow, but didn’t say anything else about it.

“I have two theories of what could have happened to our siblings.” Sam looked directly at Dipper, opting to ignore the only other actual adult in the room. The silence that followed was tense, the people in the room afraid to hear what might had happened to their loved ones. "It can go either way. It could be this myth that you," Sam jestured at Ford, "where talking about or," Sam paused again, this time taking out some paper that was buried under more paper. "When Dean was looking into this earlier, he ran into some texts that involved a triangle man that are seen making deals-"

Both of the Pines quickly grabbed the piece of paper out of Sam's hand, so quickly that Sam barely had anytime to react.

Dipper gasped, looking right at Sam. "You think it could be Bill?"

Ford looked increasingly concerned, borderline scarred. He shook his head, setting the piece of paper down. "I don't think so. Bill prefers to have a more frontal confrontation. Even then, he most likely would have invaded someone's mind."

Ford sounded dead serious, looking dead at the paper. Sam had to look away. This whole interaction was becoming very unnerving to Sam. From the fact that Bill had visited him in his dreams to Dean and Mabel getting kidnapped, this whole thing was just like one fever dream. One very, very real and trippy fever dream.

"What is even the big deal about Bill? Can't you just exorcise him? Have you even tried to trap him in a devil trap?" Sam spoke with logic, trying to rack his mind for anything that could be of use to them. If it wasn't Bill, they would have to find out more about this apparent urban legend. This urban legend might be like a wendigo, Sam thought.

“How do we even exorcise him? He literally rules over the nightmare dimension and other multidimensional beasts. What do you expect us to do, just set him on fire and call it a day?” Dipper looked dead at Sam, his voice very exasperated. His face was some were between very confused and annoyed. Ford had the same very confused look, but sighed none the less.

“There is no way to get rid of him. Not unless we somehow trap him in a mind, even if we do, there is the risk of harming the person.” Ford rubbed his chin with his hand, falling farther into thought. What if Bill really had something to do with all of this?

Sam groaned, leaning back in the chair, putting his hands over his eyes. The bar-like lighting in this dining room was seriously fucking with Sam’s head, not to mention, it had seemed like everyone and their mother knew the Pines, passing through at least once, asking where either Mabel, or anyone else was.

“Well son of a bitch.” Sam was getting so fucking frustrated. These people are either very incompetent or just oblivious. They needed to find Dean and Dipper before the thing killed them. Sam knew that Dean would protect the kid with all his might. It was painful to think that Dean might be risking his life for some random kid. Sammy, saving people is our family business. It was painful how Dean it was to put other people before himself. “ So if Bill is a dead end, whats the harm to hear the local legend? I mean, not like we have any other leads.”

“If it’s just a legend, why would you need to hear it? The lady of the wayward children is seriously just a campfire story or used to con people out of their money.” Ford started sifting through the papers that were in various stacks, sounding insanely bored.

Screeching of the chair and paper falling as Sam grabbed Fords collar and shoved him against the wall. “Listen. I don’t care that it might be just a legend. If you want and hope to find Mabel, for me to find my damn brother and get the Hell out of here, I need you to understand that no matter the legend, if enough people know about this stupid thing, it can come alive. So, now do you understand?”

Ford struggled, wrapping his hands around Sam’s wrists, his gun was knocked out of the holster. Dipper sat still, shook that this had just happened in front of him. The boy seemed wide-eyed, the conflict obvious in his head.

Would he help the man who said that he can find Mabel or his Grunkle?

He just sat there quietly, shocked.

"Fine! I'll tell you! Just let me go."

Sam quickly let Ford drop to the ground, face unmoving and unapologetic. There was no sign that he was even the bit remorseful for his actions. Dipper couldn’t tell if that was scarier than his actions.

Ford rubbed his neck, retrieving his gun. These people were sociopaths, but he was right. Ford didn’t know what else could have taken his great-niece.

Years of studying was down the drain.

He grabbed a chair, dragged it so he could sit next to his great-nephew. He wouldn’t be taking any chances. This mammoth of a man—Sam, apparently, proved to him that he could be dangerous.

Ford kept a hand on the gun, before leaning forward.

“The lady of the wayward souls actually came from the other town over, traveling through word of mouth only. Legend has it that she takes one of any siblings, but only the one that will impact the family the most, and if they don’t impact the family, they sacrificed themselves for another and they didn’t pay them back. There always is a chance that she’ll eat you-“

-

Dean was going to be in deep shit. Not just deep shit, deep deep shit. He was bleeding through his makeshift bandages that came from salvaged clothes, not to mention, Mabel wouldn’t leave him. Even after he found the exit, she stubbornly refused to go.

Your still hurt. I can help you if you need help. Why would you even want to stay here?

Not to mention, he was still limping. Moving slower than normal was annoying, and every sense was heightened.

“Hey, you okay? Do we need to stop?” Mabel asked concerned, her eyes wide and arm was raised as if she could carry his whole weight.

“I’m fine kid, just worry about yourself for now. Do you know-“

Screaming made both of them jump. Dean immediately started running to the best of his ability towards the origin.

No matter what, the Hunter in him would never let him leave people to die. Not when he could help them live to see another day.

The door to the basement was forced open, the splinters around the frame said that much. Claw and teeth marks covered the actual door, the stairs leading down falling into a different shade of grey.

The hand that wasn’t clutching his abdomen already had his gun in it, loaded.

Mabel was trying to catch up, her heavy footsteps following Dean.

Dean went down the stairs quicker than he should have, aggravating his wounds even further.

It took a few seconds for Dean’s eyes to adjust, to see that a dim silhouette of a person, obviously hovering over something, and-

A bright red eye that stared right at him.

Without thinking, Dean shoved himself in between the monster and the person.

“Go! And whatever you do look back!”

Dean yelled with authority, with force, so there was no room to think otherwise. His gun was pointed right at the creature; there was no room for error.

The person nodded taking what they were protecting, other children and running up the stairs. The moment that the creature turned its eye to the stairs, he shot.

Two more rounds followed the first, all hitting the creature. Screaming, real, human screams came from the thing.

The claws of the creature swung wildly, unpredictable.

Dean jumped out of the way, landing in some debris. He loaded his gun again, preparing for the next shot.

Damn it!

The creature loomed over him, the slit-pupil piercing right through him. He pointed his gun at it, finger on the trigger, ready to pull it-

"Squirrel! I wasn't expecting to meet you today!" A horrible, horrible sounding voice came from the multiple mouths near the creatures waist. The middle eye, however, now had a pupil the shape of a top hat.

His hand trembled; the gun shaking.

Bang!

The feeling of blood from another being killed would never feel okay, but it was something that came with the job.

The thing just laughed and swatted the gun out of his hands.

"Nice shot, but your gonna have to try harder then that to get rid of me!" A maniacal laugh follow it, lifting up one of the clawed hands up, using it to telepathically picking Mabel up.

"You also brought Shooting Star with you! What a surprise!" This thing continued to talk. "Well, Moose was much more responsive, same with Pine Tree. Then again, they will never know the pain that you went through form them. Why else would the Lady choose you two? Or Ice Bag?"

Mabel just stared in shook before snapping out of it to struggle. "Bill! Get out of here!"

Dean wouldn't use the term 'evil' lightly after his many years hunting, but now, with what was in the previous creatures body, he would consider the laugh that Bill did was evil.

"Well Shooting Star, like I have big plans for you and Pine Tree, the worse beings have bigger plans for poor, poor Squirrel and Moose. I mean, I already know everything that will happen!" The demon just smiled, mouth full with razor-sharp teeth.

Mabel grunted, still struggling to get out of what Bill trapped her in. Dean knew that he had to save her no matter what happened.

The wound on his stomach had slowed down bleeding, but hadn't stopped it completely. His vision was fogging and doubling at the same time.

The thing laughed again, hovering its claws over Deans head. "You know, I could kill you right now. But I won't. You why?" It laughed again. "Because your daddy's sacrifice would have go to waste on the son that didn't deserve it. You know that Moose was his favorite and he's been dead for what, a year now? And you still believe that you should have been the one to die. You said it your self: things that are dead should stay dead. So why are you still here? Why is Moose still alive? Because your pathetic soul couldn't think of a life without him? Going to Hell in a year. Now thats hilarious! Then again, what did Moose ever do for you? As far as I found out, you were always the one protecting him. Never the other way around. It was always you. It was always you wasting the second chances other people gave you! No wonder you’ll fail everyone you meet!”

Dean just stared at it in shock. Or fear. How did this thing know about his father? Or the faith healer? His deal with the demon?

“Not only that, you’ll fail to follow your father’s last orders! How is that for daddy’s good little soldier!” It cackled again, continuing. “You’ll fail at following orders, you’ll fail Moose!”

The grating voice kept laughing, kept taunting Dean.

And he couldn’t shut it out.

It lifted a claw, poised to end his life. Dean had seen it enough times to know that much. He didn’t pray to whatever exists up there, nor wad he a religious man, so Dean just hoped that someone would look after his brother.

Suddenly, a pale light started to shine through the pale, paper thin skin. Bill began to scream.

“What-whats happening? What are you doing to me? Why are you doing this to me!?”

The screams became louder, and more glitched as the light filtered through its body more, seemingly killing it from the inside out.

It got louder.

And louder, then-

Nothing.

The silence was deafening, other than his fast breaths and the footsteps of Mabel. Hopefully she was running towards safety.

Dean blinked, his eyesight becoming worse and worse. Spots of various shades danced around his head. The blood loss must be real bad if it got to this point.

“Hey, hey! Please don’t close your eyes. Please, please, please keep your eyes open!” A pleading voice rang through Dean’s head, but he couldn’t focus on it; in one ear, out the other.

His eyes fell close despite his best attempts. He was truly sorry of the girl that he couldn’t save.

A ghost of a hand laid itself on Deans cheek, it was comforting, in a way. It felt familiar, in a weird, back corner of his mind.

Amongst the ringing in his ears, Dean could swear he heard wings flapping.

He was still conscious to feel something pick him up, but not have enough energy to move, or see what was happening. Ringing in his ears was overwhelming.

I’m sorry Sammy, for not being able to save the girl.

-

Yelling startled Sam out of his chair. He wasn’t as focused as he should be, with the severity of the situation, but running on 5 hours of sleep and cheap coffee wasn’t doing anything for him.

Both Ford and Dipper looked confused, Ford’s hand on his gun, Dipper wielding the book like it was an actual weapon.

“MR. PINES! MR. PINES! WHERE ARE YOU PEOPLE!” Strained and panicked, a voice rang through the little clearing of trees into the cabin. The screen door of the gift shop was forced open, slamming so hard it must be off its hinges.

“PLEASE! IS SOMEONE IN HERE?” The voice, somewhat feminine, was panicking. Stomping was evident, no chance at masking their footsteps.

“PLEASE! PLEA— OH THANK GOD. YOU HAVE TO HELP ME, MY BROTHERS THEIR-“ The redhead rushed into the room, ripped tank top and teal flannel and missing a boot. She dropped like a sack of rocks, exhaustion clearly laced on her features.

“Wendy? What happened?” Dipper and Ford rushed to help her, helping her to the couch or running outside to get her siblings. Another man, who looked like Ford came into the room carrying some kids who didn’t look older than 14 into the room, setting them down onto the plush carpet.

“I don’t know. One minute I’m sleeping thenextsomethingIhearscreamingthen—“ She dropped off, hyperventilating. It was obvious to Sam that none of them knew how to handle a panic attack. Sam quickly got up near her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“Breathe with me okay?” She nodded, eyes clouded over. Sam did the anti-anxiety breathing that Hess taught him when he came to Stanford, not realizing that he even had anxiety. At one point, Sam tried to teach them to Dean, but Dean just said he didn’t need it, that he survived just fine without them in the first time.

After multiple rounds of breathing exercises, she seemed to be with them again. She took a few more shaky breaths, before looking at them completely.

“How did I get here? Who are you?” Sam backed away, letting the Pines help her get her bearings. It was clear that she was untrustworthy after what happened. She was the missing person, Sam realized.

"Wendy, I need you to lie back down. We have no clue were you've been for the past few days, and to add onto that, you're injured." Ford took the logical approach to this, saying things as calmly as possible. Dipper stood next to her, clearly afraid.

"How about my brothers? Are they okay?"

"You can calm down now, we have them right here." The other man, who looked a lot like Ford grumbled, but still was helping the others.

It wad like one big family. They all knew how to comfort each other and move around. It was something Sam was envious of, that his own family was never able to achieve.

“Wendy,” Sam started gently, “do you remember what happened? Did you see anyone else?”

She nodded slowly, trying to anger her head. She grabbed a glass of water Dipper was holding and took a big drink from it. If fely goof going down her parched throat, and damn it was the best thing she’s tasted in her whole life.

“Some guy got us out of there. I didn’t see what he looked like though, it was too dark. All I know is that he was injured and tall. Mabel was there too, but why didn’t she come with me?”

Dipper stopped breathing. Why didn’t Mabel go with Wendy? Where was she now?

Sam stilled. Dean was possibly injured, and out there with Mabel. Knowing Dean, he would put her before himself.

“Wendy. Do you know what way you came from? Like the direction?” Sam tried to keep his voice steady. It was hard, to know that his brother was injured, trying to protect someone else.

She rubbed her temples. “Yea… southwest. Now can I use the phone now? Our Dad is probably worried sick about us by now.”

It was probably overwhelming, to find civilization after being missing for at least a week.

Sam stepped out of the room, giving all of them some room. He was feeling awkward just standing there with the rest of them. They all knew each other, Sam was just here cause there was a slim chance that these people could help him find his brother. He could still hear them all talking, but he wasn’t paying attention. Sam just left, heading to the Impala. By the reaction of the girl, whatever was out there was out there for blood. Popping the trunk, he grabbed some silver bullets and prepped the guns. He would go in looking for blood too.

“Where do you think you’re going young man?” One of the older men appeared to follow Sam. Why? Not like he was apart of this town. He was just a drifter, going from one town to the next, here tonight gone tomorrow. Sam looked up from the armory-trunk of the Impala, a confused look on his face. The man just sighed, beginning to walk towards Sam. He looked into the trunk of the Impala, not looking with fear or disgust, but with interest and understanding.

"I know you were thinking of just leaving us here and going to find your brother alone. But, please hear me out. This thing that took them, we don't know what advantages or other abilities. Please, wait for me and my great-nephew to come with. We would like to assist you as much as possible." Ford just asked, calm and reasonable. There was nothing malicious behind his voice, something that was rare when in the hunting business. Sam hesitated, conflicted. On one side, the extra help would be nice, and not only that, apparently Ford studied supernatural beings for many years (although not the one Sam was familiar with), but on the other hand, there would be more people that he would need to protect if worse comes to worse.

"This rescue mission might be more then a one-man job, especially if your brother was injured right?"

Sam shut his eyes, done with this whole damn case. The sooner he gets Dean back and Dippers sister, the sooner they could get out of here.

"It will make my job easier if you stay here. You studied supernatural beings right? Then you know that to kill one of these fuckers it will take a lot more then a normal bullet." Sam threw a modified pistol at Ford, and grabbed one extra for the kid. He knew that it was cruel to force it into a child's hands and tell them to shoot first, think later.

Not like his father cared, though.

"Then what kind of bullets do these shoot? Ones that have unicorn hair imbedded in it? Or is it the very matter that created it?" Ford questioned Sam, looking at all aspects of it. How could this guy think it was something so complicated?

"Uh- they shoot silver bullets. Thats about it."

Dipper slammed the screen door, running out of the Mystery shack like a bat outa hell. He just stopped short of running into the Impala, he also had a backpack, why he needed it, Sam didn't know. "I got a better visual of where Wendy came from, but it seems that we might need either the gnomes or Celestabellebethabelle's help. I say that we do neither and just wing it. The gnomes will literally try to kill us and I just can't handle any of the unicorns right now."

Ford nodded along in understanding, Sam just stood there confused. How did gnomes and unicorns actually exist? Skinwalkers and Vamps he gets, now stuff from fairy tales? That's just plain ridiculous.

"If we have a decent enough area, we might not need their help. Wendy told you about where it is stationed, so you led the way Dipper." Ford stated, not any room for arguments from the rest of them. Dipper nodded, taking out a flashlight and compass from the backpack. As far as Sam could see, there were no other weapons, nothing to use for self-defense.

He sighed, holding the two guns. The kid didn't take the hint, which Sam couldn't tell was good or bad.

"Dipper, just stay close. We don't know how feral it is."

Dipper just nodded, leading the group away from the safe clearing of the Mystery Shack and into the forest where unknown beings hide.

-

It took forever, but they eventually found the ramshackle shed that this thing had taken refuge in. Claw marks of all sizes covered it, and no sun could even peak through the trees. Everything was a different shade gray, the only light in the whole forest coming from a small lamp hanging from the wall.

It was eerily silent; not even the mosquitoes could be heard.

The two Pines just looked at each other, nodding as if they had a psychic connection of some sort. Sam just looked at the cabin, ready for anything. The gun felt heavy in his hands, like a weight tethered to his body. He was ready for whatever took his brother.

After all, this was just another hunt. Another notch in their belt. Dean shouldn't have to spend his last year on Earth hunting.

"You guys ready? I don't know how often this thing comes out to hunt, so it's now or never." Sam took the initiative, already heading towards the door, now dead silent. He took a deep breath, and without looking back, he kicked the door open.

It opened with a crash, nearly falling off it's hinges. No more sound came from the house; just the echoing silence of the door slamming. Soft chittering invaded Sam's ears, along with the soft whisperings in the wind. He couldn't tell if either was real, or that he was just losing his mind.

The other two just peered into the dark hallway, the flashlight giving light to the decrepit state of the home. Blood was trailing farther into house, farther into the void.

Shreds of clothing covered the broken wood, everything from denim to cotton to flannel.

Sam slowly made his way through the hallway, carefully stepping around loose floorboards and keeping his eyes up, and his gun as steady as he could.

Now that he was farther into the house, he could hear soft chittering and heavy breathing, and quite frankly, it scared him. Sam didn't know if his brother was even here. The creature might had already killed Dean and Mabel, and they would never had known.

Dipper and Ford just fell to be behind Sam, waiting for something to happen.

He began to head deeper into the house, worried that at any point, he could see the dead body of his brother.

-

Dean awoke to the sound of a distant echo. Pain radiated through his whole body, his brain pounded against his skull. He hissed as he tried to get up, a sharp pain stabbing his leg.

“You might not want to do that.”

The small girl sat next to him in what looked like a… nest? Dean wasn’t sure to be honest, it was way to dark to see anything clearly.

“Why the hell didn’t you live when you had the goddamn chance?” Dean spoke with anger, understandably. How was she so stupid not to leave when the had the chance?

“She won’t hurt you. She never wanted to either. Her own body was possessed by Bill. She actually stitched you up!” Mabels cheery voice was a bit quieter, but still somehow loud. Dean winced at the loud voice, his head pounding. Who was the she?

“First of all who is this ‘she’ and second,” Dean brushed his fingers over the wound that was there earlier. Now, a few stitches and some blood remained. His leg was still screwed up, that was expected. “Did you stitch me up?”

A claw was put onto the side of the nest, scaring the hell out of Dean. He scrambled to the other side of the bed (nest?), but Mabel didn’t seem afraid of it. No, in fact she just seemed to trust it.

The creature slowly moved to be above the nest, holding what seemed to be Dean’s gun.

Slowly extending its arm, the creature slowly set the gun down nest to Dean, dragging its nails up his jaw line.

Dean flinched violently, moving to grab his gun as quick as possible, to protect the girl.

Footsteps echoed through the house, followed by distant and muffled voices. Dean couldn’t tell who they were.

He raised the gun at the creature, ready to end this damn Hunt for real this time.

“No! Don’t shoot her! She was the one who saved you!” Mabel rushed in front of Dean blocking the gun from shooting the creature.

“What? How is… that possible?”

Dean was shocked. How could this girl protect a monster. How did the monster patch him up?

“I-I don’t know. All I know is that after you passed out, she carried you here and helped you.”

The thing just chattered happily, kind of like a baby bird.

Heavy footsteps sounded like they were coming closer and closer, in a gait that was oh-so-familiar to Dean, but the footsteps that followed it, he had no clue whose those were.

The thing then growled, the cracked lips of the mouth twisting in ugly grin.

“Dean! Where the Hell are you!?”

Sam. Oh thank fucking god. Now Dean could get put of this hellhole of a building.

“Sam! In here!”

The thing now hissed at Dean.

Well sue him that he wanted to get out of here.

Sam sprinted into the room, gun ready to shoot, and a pissed look on his face. He obviously was also done with all this hunt.

The thing was positioned itself just over the nest, over Mabel and Dean, as if trying to protect them.

Two other people came into the room, out of breath and done with everything.

“If it isn’t my favorite pair of siblings! Or, an additional pair and a half!” A shrill laugh came from. By the look on everyone else’s faces, they all knew what this meant.

“Pine Tree, Sixer, Moose, Nice to see you again! As you can see, I have a nice new, oh, what to you Winchester’s call it? A meat suit? I like it! It particularly favors you Dean-o!” Bill rotated the body to face one way and the eye to face the other.

“Shooting Star, Squirrel, I hate to tell you this, but you have obviously done something to deserve this!” Both Dean and Mabel exchanged confused looks.

“Squirrel, you sold your soul for your brother, and Shooting Star, how sad is it for you to realize that you eventually have to grow up!” He let out the bone-chilling laugh again, before continuing.

“I mean, who’s stupid enough to go to hell for the same brother they told to kill by their father! Or think that summer lasts forever and their brother doesn’t want to spend their whole life knowing you!”

“So, what’s it to you?” Dean spat out. If he was going to hell anyway, whats the difference if he was going early?

“Oh you stupid, little, pitiful, boy.” Bill turned the full body towards Dean. “You don’t understand quite yet, but somehow, you managed to get an angel of your shoulder, and not only that, little do you realize—“

Bill paused for a moment.

“—I won’t say that just yet. I mean, whats the fun of knowing the end of your story before it begins!”

Bill laughed again. “And poor Sammy here, always getting a happy ending, funny that he was able to get away, that he was never used as a tool, never was starved when you were abandoned, but never got on the wrong end of your father’s empty bottle, right Dean-o?”

Dean just narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything more. Mabel gasped, and the other two just stood there awkwardly, but still focused on Bill.

Sam took the moment to shoot the eye, causing Bill to scream in agony.

“How could you do that! We had a whole build-up to this scene!” Fire began to burn the things hands, slowly climbing up its arms and dancing around its feet.

It was clear enough that this place wouldn’t last.

Sam dropped his gun, running to Dean, helping him up. Mabel was already running out of the house with her family, it was good that she got out.

Demonic screeching came out of the body, expelling what ever type of demon took residence in there.

Sam noticed how beat Dean looked, but even in the face of danger, he refused to show weakness. Fire tried to grab at the brothers, falling short just a but short each time.

Staggered footsteps nearly broke the old floorboards, soot and ash falling from the ceiling.

Almost there!

The door to outside looked like a door to a new world, one that didn’t have all the mistakes of this one.

Sam shoved Dean out of the door, out of the way of the fire. Sam followed him, not onto the ground, though.

Dean collapsed onto the ground, watching the house burn. Third house I’ve watched burn in my lifetime. He laughed to himself.

Sam just looked concerned, but just helped Dean up.

“I could really go for a burger right now.”

Sam just rolled his eyes.

“Uh-boys.” Ford cleared his throat, getting the attention of both of them. “I feel after tonight we can offer you a stay at the Mystery Shack. It’s the least we can do after you helping me find my great-niece.” He handed Sam a gun back. “It might also help before you get back on the road.”

Dean looked over at Sam, before looking right back at Ford.

“We’ll take it.”

-

Later that night, there was lively conversation, an amazing dinner and more people with the Pines than normal.

They traded their supernatural stories for hustling tips.

And later, in the dead of night, both brothers left, leaving nothing but a silver bullet and instructions on how to make a devils trap.