A/N: So, just to be clear, this takes place AFTER the HTTYD movies and in an AU of Gravity Falls that branches off from canon after "Into the Bunker" (so around the beginning of S2). We good? Good. Will probably update this every two weeks.. does that sound ok? I have one more chapter written and I'll be gone next week for reasons so this works out I guess.

Disclaimer: I'm getting really tired of saying that I don't own this. I guess I could use this as a place to say kudos to DreamWorks, Alex Hirsch, and Cressida Cowell for writing characters that stuck with me and inspired me. Ikik its sappy we'll move on now.


A walk through the forest of Gravity Falls on a hot summer day was anything but peaceful, at least to Dipper. Even before he had discovered the journal detailing the abnormal creatures and happenings in the town he had felt like he was being watched. He still felt that way, but now he knew it was rational it didn't scare him as much. Most of the things he would find in here, he knew he could handle; and if not, he would wing it and consult the journal later.

On this day he was alone, which was unusual for him, as he and his twin sister Mabel had been near inseparable their whole lives. But today Mabel was with her friends, and Dipper was left to wander the forest on his own. He didn't mind; it was good that she'd made friends. Neither of them had many friends back home. This summer had been good for them.

It hadn't been devoid of problems, though; if you knew even half of what Dipper knew about Gravity Falls, you wouldn't be surprised. Just this past month he and Mabel had had to deal with an army of gnomes, a lake monster (though technically that had turned out to be a robot built by the local kook), a vengeful child psychic, and cursed wax figures that came to life and attempted to kill them.

And all this– and apparently everything that happened in Gravity Falls the rest of the year round– he had thought had taken place right under the nose of their great uncle. There were times when this had frustrated Dipper to hysterics; in Gravity Falls, the weirdest town in America, Grunkle Stan still believed that the twins had fantastical imaginations. No matter how often Dipper had offered to bring back something really abnormal to the Mystery Shack, their grunkle's tourist trap, he had been waved off. This was proven to have been a lie too, though, when Dipper had accidentally raised the dead and caused zombies to attack the Mystery Shack a week ago.

So he trudged through the forest today, with more thoughts swimming around his head than a twelve-year-old boy needed.

He wasn't wandering purposelessly. The encounter with his uncle earlier that morning, as well as his sister's suggestion of "conquering his fears," were still fresh in his mind. Well, what were some of the things he was afraid of in here? Well, that gremloblin was pretty scary, but he knew he could best that. What was something in here he hadn't met yet, something that struck fear in him from the moment he opened the page? The answer, he found, was the Giant Vampire Bats.

He wasn't particularly afraid of bats, not on an oh-heavens-I-hope-I-don't-find-a-bat-in-my-closet-today sort of way. But... Yeah, it was a start. So he had straightened his cap and headed into the forest, with a clear-ish destination.

The closer and closer he got to the cave marked on the map, though, the more nervous he grew. Not nervous enough to turn back– at least, not yet– but nervous enough to bring anxiety to his mind. In retrospect, this probably wasn't as good an idea as he had thought.

But now, there is was. The mossy mouth of a cave sticking up out of the ground, black as night. He stood by a tree nearby for a while, not daring to take another step. This was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, such a terrible idea. He took a deep breath... and a step closer.

And another.

And another.

And before his head had agreed he was already turning his flashlight on and ducking into the cave.

The thing about caves, one must remember, is that you can never be sure how far back they go. The might twist and turn like a labyrinth, snaking underneath mountains and forests, and it is easy to become very very lost very very fast. Dipper hadn't been thinking of this when he entered, but with every step he took a warning screamed in the back of his head as the tunnel ceiling got higher and he could stand up straight. Turn around, his head told him as the air grew colder. Turn around. Finally his nerves got the better of him. He whipped around, Expecting to skitter right out of the cave and into daylight again. But the beam of his light hit a stone wall.

His stomach suddenly felt heavy as panic seized him. He remained perfectly still and silent, blinking the dark out of his eyes as his internal screaming grew more frantic. After several minutes of mindless panicking, he took several deep breaths. Nothing left to do but to find the way out.

He spun around slowly, his flashlight shaking in his hands. There were three paths to take. The first one clearly sloped downward. The second and third looked like legitimate routes, but which one he had come from he could not recall. He walked up to each one, listening. Both were silent as death. One, though, felt warmer than the other. It had been a warm day outside, he reasoned, so this must lead to the surface.

Oh that was flawed, he thought as he walked through the tunnel for a while, Flawed, flawed logic. He turned around to go back, then paused to wait for his knees to stop shaking.

That was when he felt a presence behind him, an enormous presence looming just a few feet away. Fear taking control, he spun around, eyes wide, to catch a glimpse of what he had just came face to face with.

It was not a bat, that much was sure. It has the head of a black, scaly salamander, with poison-green eyes and slits for pupils, and it began to make a reptilian growl in the back of its throat. The one word that came to Dipper's mind was... dragon.

He had only the time to think of this when the dragon leapt, knocking the flashlight out of his hands, grabbing the collar of his vest with its teeth and dragging him away from the light source at a run. Dipper was frozen in fear. He was sure that this was it, he was going to die.

He pictured the newspaper headlines, Missing Boy Still Not Found. Suspected Runaway, perhaps. City Boy Loses His Grip In The Wild. Search Party Gives Up Looking For Useless, Lost Boy.

Then his mind flashed briefly to Mabel. How would she react when he didn't come back? She would miss him, he knew. Would anyone else? Would Grunkle Stan care? Wendy? Soos would, most likely. He thought of Mabel again, and guilt came over him. If he had to leave Mabel, he didn't want it to be like this. Not now. They should have grown up together, become adults together, been grumpy old people together. She shouldn't have to do the rest of her growing up alone on his account.

All this went through his mind in the fifteen seconds before his brain registered sunlight. The dragon tossed him to the ground unceremoniously. Dipper blinked furiously, the light blinding him for a moment. The dragon, impatient, gave a mighty roar in his ear. Dipper cringed, wrapping his arms around his head. Great, now I'm blind and deaf.

The dragon pushed him to his feet and roared again. Dipper stumbled away, eyes nearly adjusted to the light once more. He made his way as fast as he could to a tree before plopping down behind it, bringing his knees to his chest, waiting for the sunlight to calm down and his heart to stop threatening to explode. His breath was ragged and shallow.

When his eyes adjusted, his first thought was to run. Then he worried that the dragon might follow him back to the Mystery Shack; what if he had awoken something that would prove deadly to everyone? He pulled the journal out of the inner pocket of his vest, flipping through it frantically. He got to the end without finding anything; he must have missed it in his hurry, it had to be in here. He turned page after page, skimming, hoping to find even a mention of dragons in Gravity Falls.

He suddenly paused, realizing that he was feeling the breath of something over his shoulder. He shakily glanced out of the corner of his eyes, and it was there, big and black.

He jumped and gave a yell, scrambling away, still on the ground, clutching the book to his chest and looking the dragon in the eye. Its pupils had become more rounded, and was looking him up and down curiously, as if reevaluating him.

Dipper could see most of the creature now. The black scales he had seen on its face covered its whole body, except for the leathery folds of its wings. It stepped closer, and Dipper dared not move. He dared not breathe. The creature's face was inches from his. It took a whiff of the boy on the ground, humming inquisitively.

It stated into his eyes for several moments. Dipper held the dragon's gaze for a while, but then his brain started to feel fuzzy. He blinked furiously.

The dragon's pupils suddenly turned to slits again, it's eyelids dropping to give it an almost human look of disinterest. It gave a loud snort of disgust before bounding away gracefully, like a great winged cat.

Dipper stayed where he was for a few seconds. He cautiously got to his feet, wondering at the fact that he was still alive.

Then he ran.


"Mabel! You're back!" Dipper gasped, slowing down his sprint clumsily.

"Hey Dipper!" His sister greeted him with her great, shining smile. "What's wrong? You look like you've run here all the way from Jupiter."

She laughed at her own comment, but in fact, Dipper had not stopped running since he left the cave.

"Upstairs, now," he said, then grabbed her hand and dragged her into the Mystery Shack and up the rickety stairs to their bedroom.

Once safe with the door closed, he fell to his knees, breathing heavily.

"Woah, take it easy bro-bro," Mabel helped him to his feet and sat him down on the edge of his bed. "What happened?"

Dipper took another couple of deep breaths before telling Mabel what happened in the forest. She watched him intently. He didn't express his relief at being alive to her, how lucky he realized he was to be sitting next to his twin.

He did not count himself lucky that the first thing his sister said was, "Wow! Let's go find it!"

"What?" His jaw dropped. "Mabel, were you listening? It almost killed me!"

"Yeah, but it didn't!" Mabel responded, smiling.

"Yeah, and I don't want to press my luck," he crossed his arms.

"No, don't you see?" She insisted, "If it wanted you dead, you wouldn't be here right now, right?"

"Right," he admitted, remembering how it felt to be in the dragon's power.

"It just wanted you out of its home, didn't it?" She reasoned.

"So you want to go back and pester it some more?" Dipper followed her train of thought and didn't like where it ended. "Do you want to become dragon-chow?"

"But it's a mystery, Dipper! What are the Mystery Twins for if we don't go poking our noses in other people's business?" She emphasized her point by prodding him in the shoulder with her outstretched finger and saying "Poke."

Dipper brushed her hand away, annoyed, but Mabel wasn't fazed.

"Maybe we can lure it out with a snack!" She suggested, jumping down and pulling her brother's stash of Summerween candy out from under his bed. "What do you think it eats?"

"Children!" He snapped as he yanked the bucket out of her arms. "Mabel, this is literally the worst plan you've ever had!"

"That's an exaggeration," she waved him off gleefully. "Remember the time I tried to mail my video of me sticking a hundred gummy worms up my nose via that omniscient mailbox?"

"I'm serious, Mabel," he put a hand on her shoulder. "That thing's dangerous! Promise me you won't go near it?"

"Aw–"

"Promise?" He insisted.

Mabel frowned. "Fine."

He relaxed, taking his hand off her shoulder.

She grinned innocently, her fingers crossed behind her back.


A/N: I'm not sure if I will continue this or not. Don't worry, I will post that last chapter I have written in about two weeks. But after that I don't know. I have other fics I have been seriously neglecting, and taking on another might not be the wisest thing.

However, I have been told by people I trust that this is good, and, even if I don't continue, y'all can at least read this. Enjoy!