Thanks to all the readers! I'm trying to post a new chapter every Friday.

Chapter 2

Two days later Mabel Pines opened the door to find her worst nightmare waiting for her. Gideon stood at the doorstep, dolled up from head to toe, with Ghost-Eyes standing menacingly behind him and a whole crowd of townsfolk watching with anticipation.

"Mabel, my sweet, today's yer lucky day!" Gideon crowed.

"Why, are you moving away and never coming back?" She asked dryly.

The creepy boy laughed awkwardly. "Ohho, such a sense of humor you got! Jus' one reason why I love ya so much."

"Gideon, I'm a love expert, and what you've got going on isn't what I'd call love." The girl informed him, crossing her arms sullenly.

"My peach dumplin', y'know I love ya, but ya really can't call yerself an expert if ya've never kept a boyfriend for more than one date." Gideon countered. Mabel gasped, shocked and hurt that he'd bring her failed romances into this.

"But that's about to change!" The creep assured her. "I'm askin' ya to be my full-time girlfriend!"

"Gideon I've already told you like a bazillion times! I. Will. Never. Date. You!" She pushed him back for emphasis with each word, finally slamming the door in his face.

"Eheeheehee… she's jus'... nervous, is all." Gideon assured the crowd, rubbing the tender spot on his chest where she'd pushed him.

"Really?" Ghost-Eyes asked. "It kinda sounded more like another rejection."

"Shut it!" The albino boy snapped. "You mark my words Ghost-Eyes, Mabel will be mine!"


"Uhg! I can't believe that creep asked me to be his girlfriend!" Mabel ranted. "I mean really! After all the mean things he's said about you and McGucket!? After all the times I've threatened him with my grappling hook! What will it take for him to get the hint!? Sometimes I just wanna grab him by his stupid hair and just-" She mimed squeezing and shaking something.

Normally that would make Dipper laugh, but he was silent. He just sat at the table, staring out the window.

"Dipper? Trying to vent here."

"Sorry, it's just, he should've been back by now." Her brother explained.

"You mean McGucket?" She asked. Dipper nodded. "Don't worry, I bet he met some super-rich business guy who wanted to buy his invention, and that's why he's taking so long!"

"But wouldn't he have sent a messenger or something to tell us that?"

"Maybe he forgot."

"Yeah, that's probably it." Dipper agreed, but he still couldn't help but feel something was wrong. Then they heard a bleating outside the door.

"That's him now!" Mabel cheered, and the twins rushed outside to find Gompers and… nothing else. No McGucket, no intervention, not even the cart! Just a very spooked goat.

The young girl gasped. "Gompers! What happened? Where's McGucket? Is he hurt?"

"Mabel, it's a goat, he can't talk!" Dipper said flatly. "It looks like we've got a mystery on our hands! We can track Gomper's trail back the way it came and hopefully find some clues of what happened to McGucket."

"Dipper, I know you read about this stuff all the time, but there's a big difference between reading and doing. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Trust me, I got this." Dipper assured her. "Besides, if we don't, who will? Would you rather leave this to Constable Blubbs?

Mabel grimaced. "He has got a lot on his plate planning the wedding."

"Exactly! So let's grab a lantern and some supplies and go solve a mystery!"

Following the trail was simple enough at first. The goat had been running and left clear footprints in the fields around town. They followed the tracks north to the edge of the forest. There was still a clear trail of broken underbrush to follow, but the kids hesitated to follow.

"Looks like it's headed straight to the castle." Dipper observed.

"Dipper, you know what McGucket says about that place." Mabel warned him.

"I know, but what if he's in trouble there?" The boy reasoned. "Plus, this is our chance to finally find out what's going on with that castle!" He held up an old letter he'd been carrying with him since shortly after their parents died. "This letter to Grandpa Sherman was from one of his brothers and it said he'd just moved into Gravity Falls Castle, yet everyone here says it's been deserted for the last century! Aren't you curious to find out what happened to our family?"

Mabel shuffled her feet a bit, thinking it over before looking up at her brother and nodding. "Alright, let's go!"


As was usually the case whenever the master of the house got mad (which was often) he had left a bit of a mess. Broken steps on the staircase, cracked floorboards, just the usual. It was Soos's job to fix it.

"Hammering in nails, doot-doo-doo~" he sang to himself as he worked. "Man, it sure would be cool if I made a whole musical number out of this! How about… Oh I'm a handy hammer~"

His impromptu musical number was interrupted by a pair of shouting voices outside.

"McGucket! ..Hey McGucket, are you here? ...Oh McGucket!"

Soos peeked out the door to see a couple of kids wandering around the grounds of the castle, peering in windows and calling out the same name again and again.

"Oh man. Dudes!" He called out to the other denizens of the castle. "There are kids in the castle!"

"What!?" Wendy asked incredulously. "Let me see!"

"Mabel, wait, I think I heard something in here." One of the voices said.

"Ah crap, they're coming. Everybody freeze!" Wendy ordered. All the people-turned-objects stopped what they were doing and pretended to be inanimate.

The doors opened with a creak and two young children, a boy and a girl, stepped in. They looked around the apparently empty entryway cautiously.

"Weird. I could've sworn…" The boy muttered as he looked around.

"This place sure is clean for being deserted for the past century." Mabel observed.

Thanks dude! I put a lotta work into it! Soos wanted to say, but he'd gotten in pretty big trouble with his boss the last time he'd spoken to strangers in the castle, so he kept quiet.

Dipper found sawdust where they'd been repairing the floor. "I don't think this place is deserted at all! Someone lives here!"

"D'you think it's the 'Stanford' from Grandpa's letter?" His sister asked excitedly.

"I dunno, maybe! We've gotta keep looking around, find whoever's staying here and ask them if they've seen McGucket!"

"Yeah!"

The two kids raced down the hall, continuing to call out for their friend.

"Crap." Wendy hissed as soon as they were out of earshot.

Mabel and Dipper opened and closed each door they found, looking for someone, anyone, who might live there, but they couldn't find any people. They'd almost reached the end of the hall when they heard a weak coughing coming from a dark staircase. The two of them shared and quick glance and descended cautiously. They were relieved to find Old Man McGucket, but not so relieved to find him locked up behind bars.

"Dipper! Mabel!" The inventor gasped, "What're you two doin' here!?"

"McGucket!" Mabel cried, running up to the prison and holding his hands through the bars. "We came looking for you when you didn't come home from the fair!"

"What the heck happened?" Dipper asked. "Why are you locked up?"

"There's not time fer that, you gotta get outta here!" McGucket urged them.

"What? No, we're not leaving without you!" Mabel insisted.

"Don't worry 'bout me none, I'm already workin' on a robut suit t'help me escape!" The old man assured them, "But you gotta leave afore he finds out you're here!"

"He? He who?" Dipper continued to ask questions. "Who else is living here?"

"I'm livin' here." A rough voice growled behind them.

The young twins turned slowly around to find some great hulking shape standing in the shadows behind them. Dipper instinctively stepped between it and his sister, throwing out a protective arm.

"Wh-who are you?" The boy demanded, trying and failing to keep the terrified waver out of his voice. "What d-do you want with our friend?"

"This is my castle." The shadowy figure informed them. "And this yahoo here thinks he can just waltz right in and stay the night without payin' for room an' board! He's gonna stay here until he works off his debt!"

"H-how long'll that take?" Mabel asked.

"Tch, I dunno, with hotel rates the way they are these days… and this is a nice place, mind you, it ain't some cheap motel. A few weeks? Probably months if he keeps callin' in sick."

"He's sick!?" The girl cried. McGucket's continued coughing answered her question. "You can't keep him here if he's sick, he needs to see a doctor!"

"Not my problem." The shadowy figure said cruelly.

Dipper's mind was racing. They had to find a way to help McGucket get out of here, but there seemed to be something else going on and the boy was determined to get to the bottom of it. With some quick thinking, he came up with a plan to free McGucket and get a chance to learn the castle's mysteries.

"What if we worked off his debt?"

"Wha?" The master of the castle grunted in surprise.

Mabel caught on to what her brother was doing right away. "Yeah! If you think about it, you're really getting a great deal here. Instead of one sickly old man who can't work, you get two young able-bodied kids! Plus, we eat less!"

The shape in the shadows stared at them. "You'd really do that for this old kook?"

They both nodded firmly.

"You realize that if you do, you gotta commit to stay here at the castle, no gettin' out of it, just the two of you, alone, with me." The shadowy figure stepped forward into the light, revealing a huge beast covered in silvery fur, with sharp claws and a face like a gargoyle. The Beast of Gravity Falls.

"Whoa." Dipper gasped.

"The legends were true!" Mabel whispered in awe.

"So whaddaya say kid, have we got a deal?" The Beast growled.

Dipper gulped down his fears and stretched forth his hand. "Deal."

"Deal." Mabel echoed, sticking out her own hand.

The Beast's huge paw easily engulfed both the children's hands as he shook on it. "Deal."

He lumbered forward and unlocked the prison doors.

"No, don't do this, please!" McGucket begged, but the Beast easily scooped him up with one paw and carried him out of the dungeon.

"Wait! Can't we at least say goodbye?" Mabel pleaded, but her words fell on deaf ears. The Beast continued out of the castle and pushed the old man into a beat-up red carriage.

"Please, let 'em go, they're jus' kids!" McGucket implored one last time.

"Get yourself to a doctor, don't waste what they gave you!" The Beast roared at him. The carriage rolled away on it's own, with the old man locked inside.

As the monster watched the carriage go, his eyes grew sad. Welp, there he went. His first chance to break the spell in years and he was just letting the guy go. What's more, he had the feeling he'd know this man once. That really could have helped his chances.

It's for the best. He thought to himself. Guy really does need to see a doctor.

And now he had two kids to take care of! He didn't know the first thing about taking care of kids! What was he going to do!? The Beast lumbered back into the castle in a daze. He almost didn't notice the hammer bouncing up to him.

"Hey Boss, so, uh, question?"

"What?" He roared angrily.

"Well, since we're gonna have the little dudes around for a while, I was thinkin' maybe you should try bein' a little nicer to them."

"And why should I bother doin' that!?"

"Well aside from it bein' the right thing to do, they might have some lady relative who might be grateful, know what I mean?" Soos waggled his eyebrows.

The Beast rolled his eyes and continued down to the dungeon, where he found the boy trying to console his crying sister.

"We didn't even get a chance to say goodbye…" she sobbed.

"It's ok, Mabel. We're gonna get through this together, just like with everything else." Her brother assured her.

Feeling a bit awkward for interrupting this tender moment, the Beast cleared his throat to get their attention. It ended up sounding more like an angry wolf that he'd meant it to. The twins gaped up at him in fear.

"Uh, c'mon, let's get you to your room." He grunted.

"You mean we're not staying in the dungeon?" The boy asked.

"Hah, you think I'm gonna make kids sleep in the dungeon? What do I look like to you, a monster?" The Beast chuckled. The kids continued to stare at him fearfully. "A monster?" He repeated. "Y-y'see it's funny cuz I am. I am a monster." Nothing. They didn't even dare move. He sighed dejectedly. "I'm a monster."

This was getting him nowhere. What was he thinking, trying to joke with these kids who were clearly terrified? Trying to get them to like him? It was never gonna happen.

"What are you waiting for, get your butts up those stairs!" He finally roared. With that the young twins shot away like they'd been fired out of a cannon. He trudged up the stairs behind them, running into Soos on the way up.

"Dude, no offense, but you're kinda doing terrible at this." The hammer informed him.

"I know." The Beast hissed through clenched teeth. "Help me out here, ok?"

"Try making them feel at home here. Like invite them to dinner or something."

"Right, right…" He grumbled and continued up to find the kids wandering around the second floor, getting dangerously close to the west wing. "Hey, keep out of there!" He shouted. "Your bedroom is this way."

The two of them jumped back, clutching each other. "Why, what's over there?" The boy asked, still curious despite the circumstances.

"It's forbidden!" The Beast bellowed. The kids gulped. The three of them continued down the hall to a nice bedroom with a balcony window. "So uh… if there's anything you need, just ask. Make yourselves at home. Dinner's at six. Be there or go hungry."

The young twins shuffled in nervously as the door slammed shut behind them. There was only one bed, but it was huge, and probably would have held four kids their size. Mabel flopped down on it and began to cry again, much more softly this time. Dipper hugged her, trying to be strong for her, but he could barely conceal his own tears.


Gideon sat in the local tavern, moping in his favorite chair.

"I can't believe she rejected me in front of everyone like that!" He muttered. "I ain't never been more humiliated in my life!"

"Gideon, you've gotta move on." Ghost-Eyes advised him. "There are plenty more girls that'd love to date you!"

"But none of them are like Mabel." The boy whined.

"Y'want some ice cream?" The thug offered.

"What's the point? Nothin's gonna make me feel better. I'm disgraced."

Ghost-Eyes sighed and cleared his throat. "Gosh it disturbs me to see you, Gideon, feeling so down in t--"

"Ah-ah, no singing please Ghost-Eyes, I'm not in the mood."

"Sorry guys, cancle the number." He called to the other Tavern people. They all groaned in disappointment.

"Look Gideon, all I'm trying to do is say you're the best-looking, most talented, and all-around amazing guy in town! You can't let one girl's rejection get you down!"

"I don't want to get over it! I don't want any other girls!" The boy yelled angrily. "I swear that Mabel Pines will be mine! If only there was a way to get to her…"

Conveniently, at that moment the door was kicked open. Old Man McGucket stumbled into the tavern, coughing and hacking weakly.

"H-help! Y'gotta help me!" He pleaded. The people all stared at him like a mangy dog that'd just wandered in. "He-he's got 'em!"

"Who's got what now?" Gideon asked in confusion.

"The Beast of Gravity Falls Castle!" The old man cried. "He's got the kids! Dipper and Mabel! He-ech-he's got 'em!" He broke off into a fit of coughing.

"Oh sure!" One of the tavern goers, Mr. Poolcheck, laughed. "A big old beast with huge claws and teeth, right?"

"Yeah, a-an' horns!" McGucket elaborated.

The people in the tavern all laughed uproariously. "Crazy Old Man McGucket!" One hooted, "Never know what kinda kooky nonsense is gonna come outta his mouth!"

"No, please, y'gotta believe me!" McGucket begged.

The kindly old lady who ran the tavern led him out gently. "Come along Fiddleford, let's see a doctor about that cough."

"B-but-"

"Please stop bothering my customers."

Gideon watched them go thoughtfully. An idea began to form in his mind. "Gravity Falls Castle, eh? Ghost-Eyes, come with me. I think I'm gonna look at somethin' in the library."