A/N: Please, visit transcendence-au. tumblr. com first, or this story won't make any sense!

This was wrong. This was so completely and utterly wrong! Mabel grit her teeth and bit her tongue trying not to explode in rage (no, this was her kids' birthday, she won't ruin it getting into an argument with her parents) but her gaze kept slipping to Dipper.

Dipper who was sitting stone-still on the couch, who tried to cover his pointed ears and kept his eyes down, who spoke in soft whisper devoid of the usual demonic echo…

This was wrong! And it was their parents' fault that he tried so hard to be something he wasn't! It was always like this, ever since that terrible day when Dipper materialized before them for the first time. It was their fear at his new look and voice that caused his crushing (and completely misplaced if Mabel had something to say about it!) guilt. So he avoided them whenever he could, and they tried so disgustingly hard to pretend that nothing had changed… She was sick of it!

"Hey, Dipstick!" Mabel called suddenly earning a startled jerk from her twin. "I think Henry needs a break. Mind helping him?" Because she loved her kids more than anything but the little terrors were unstoppable, especially on sugar high.

Giving her a grateful smile (and she hated how hard he tried not to show his sharp teeth) Dipper whispered his agreement and fled down the stairs.

More small talk… She was suffocating from the meaningless questions while her parents were drowning in denial. And she loved them, she really did, but enough was enough.

"Can't you see what you've done?" she said in a strangled whisper, not caring in the slightest about the ridiculously mundane things her mother was talking about.

"…Mabel?"

"Don't you even care?!" the young woman screamed, trembling with rage. It had been years. Years of meeting only stubborn ignorance, of hoping beyond hope that something would change, but it never did.

"Honey, what's-" her father started to say but Mabel cut him off with a glare.

"Don't you see what's happening to Dipper because of you?"

"Mabel, dear…" her mother began carefully. "Please, tell me what's wrong."

"Yes, what's wrong?" her father echoed. "Dipper seemed completely normal to me."

Mabel shouldn't have been surprised, really, but knowing (and hoping she was wrong) and hearing (and knowing she was right) were two completely different things. She let out a sobbing laugh, "Normal? You think this is normal?! You- you have no idea…!"

She paused as a new thought entered her mind but… Oh, Dipper would hate her for it! If she guessed wrong… Mabel slowly exhaled trying to calm down. She should do it. Like ripping off a band-aid. Like cleaning the wound so it could heal. Right. At least then she would know for sure.

Abruptly she stood up and headed for the door. "Come on. I'll show you what's normal. And if you still don't get what you've done to my brother…" The threat remained unfinished (she couldn't say it out loud, couldn't burn that bridge until she knew for sure) but remained tangible in the air.

Bewildered and more than a little apprehensive, the aging couple followed their daughter downstairs.

"Make fire, Uncle Dip!" Acacia squealed loudly, bouncing slightly on the demon's shoulders.

"You've already stolen my hat, now you want my fire too?" Dipper asked in mock outrage and laughed at the loud "Yes!" he got in response.

Shifting slightly so he could hold Willow in one arm (the tiny three-year-old immediately started wiggling to settle more comfortably in his grasp), Dipper ignited a blue fireball in his free hand, throwing it up and catching again. Acacia clapped her hands in delight and tried to catch the bright blue flame using the stolen hat as a net. Hank paused his intense study of demon's wings from the comfortable place on his uncle's back and turned his attention to his sister's antics. Willow wiggled again and tried to crawl onto Dipper's back grasping his bowtie for balance, while the eldest of the triplets waved the top hat around.

Dipper laughed then, loud and distorted, because here he was, an immensely powerful dream demon, floating in mid-air with three little kids clambering all over him, and there was no other place in the whole world where he would rather be.

Acacia lunged forward and swiped the stolen hat in a quick movement finally catching the bright blue flame and not really caring that she fell down as a result.

"Careful there!" Dipper grinned showing the rows of razor-sharp teeth as he caught his little niece by her sweater and lowered her on the floor.

"But look, Uncle Dip! Look!" she squealed showing the black hat full of magic fire.

"Yay!" Willow immediately jumped down and shoved her hand into the flame, knowing it was harmless. "Pretty~"

Little Henry stopped tugging on the wings and crawled closer to look over Dipper's shoulders. "Pretty…" he echoed and tried to reach the magic flames too. Dipper obediently floated down until he was lying on the carpet and smiled softly as the children gathered mesmerized around the blue fire.

A shuddering gasp from the bottom of the stairs reached his ears, and Dipper turned his head with a lazy smile. A smile that quickly fell off his face at the sight of his parents standing there looking shell-shocked, and oh God, it was his fault, they never wanted a demon for a son, and he tried so hard but he completely forgot…

Dipper didn't even notice when he managed to stand up, but he was backing off trembling slightly, and his magic had already reacted to his fear coloring his skin black and gold. His mother stepped forward, hand pressed to her mouth, and he couldn't handle it anymore, disappearing into the dreamscape.

Mabel felt her heart clench in pain at her twin's behalf, but glared stubbornly at her parents. She waited for their reaction and was rewarded by the tears in their eyes and a broken whisper, "Oh God, what have we done?"

Later that night when all the guests had left, Mabel was trying to tuck her fussy children in, when the shadows in the room solidified into the familiar form.

"Unc' Dip!" the triplets cheered immediately at the sight of their demonic uncle.

He laughed softly and pressed a finger to his lips, "Shh. Shouldn't you be asleep already?"

"They should," Mabel agreed trying and failing to look stern.

"Nope!" Acacia chirped. "Make fire, Uncle Dip!"

"I'll make you one," the demon said taking off his top hat with a flourish and reaching inside. "But it's not for playing, OK?"

Getting three nods in confirmation, he took out the black candle burning softly with a blue flame and placed it on a nightstand.

"Good night, little ones," he whispered reaching to ruffle each twin's hair in turn and sending tiny amounts of magic to help them fall asleep faster and chase away any bad dreams.

Mabel wound her arms around him and smiled when Dipper leaned into her embrace.

"Good night."