The boy burst into the backyard, his clothing completely covered in mucky rain. He was trying to call out the names of his sister and friend, but every attempt ended in a loud squeak. This entertaining display, however, managed to catch the attention of Stanford Pines, who could easily hear the screeches from inside the house.

Stan opened the door just as Dipper flopped onto the doorstep, panting and grinning ear to ear. His great uncle's eyes widened. He clearly couldn't recall the last time his great nephew had looked so… elated. "What'd you find?" he questioned hoarsely.

"We… Wen…. Dragon… She's… Dragon…" Dipper choked out, his smile not faltering for a second. "Wendy… Dragon… Wendy's dragon…"

Stan rose an eyebrow. Secretly, the young detective at his feet knew he could probably speak in full sentences if he needed to, but had a tiny pinch of worry in his gut that his "grunkle" would dismiss it as him being far too tired and send him off to bed. Instead, Stan just sighed a bit and stood out of the way, letting his exhausted and ecstatic family member across the threshold. "That's nice, kid. Why not you go upstairs and, I dunno, write about it or something."

"Thanks!" the boy squealed, startling his great uncle a bit. He got to his feet and sprinted up the steps. First he needed to call Mabel - or maybe Soos, since he wouldn't be as busy, and tell them all about what happened. Then he needed to record this historical day in his journal for the future generations to learn from. After that, he would most likely go downstairs and stare at the vat of blood, waiting for it to finish curing. He couldn't wait until he saw the face of his best friend once again.

As soon as the young detective reached his room, he pulled his cellphone out of the mess of blankets on his bed and typed Soros's number in with lightning speed. The phone rang three times, each set making him more and more impatient. Finally, the man-child picked up.

"Hey, dude, what's up?" Soos asked, sounding cheerfully tired. Dipper took a deep breath and almost shrieked the answer through the phone.

"THE DRAGON'S WENDY!" he shouted, gripping his own knee so hard it turned an unhealthy shade of red. As soon as that had been emitted from his system, he started to rapidly rock back and forth on his bed, cradling the phone to his ear and occasionally letting out excited little squeaks. As he expected, Soos reacted a bit confusedly, but definitely sounded more awake than before.

"Wait, the big red dragon that saved you when you busted your leg?" he asked. The boy on the other end could hear the mounting interest in his voice. "You think it's actually Wendy?"

"I know so!" Dipper cried. "She tried to write my name in the ground! And she wore Wendy's hat! And she listened to me!"

Soos sounded a little bit hesitant. "Um… you sure that means that Wendy's actually a dragon?" he asked. "I mean, it could just really want to be your friend. I wouldn't blame it."

"Soos, it all adds up," Dipper continued, defending his theory fiercely. "The reason the dragon can't fly is because she never learned how, and I found her clothes all torn up in the riverbank because she must have ripped them off when she was transforming!"

"Yeah, but then why hasn't she tried to come home, or go to the Shack?:

"I have an answer for that, too," the young detective responded. "Wendy's smart, right? Well, she must have known that Manly Dan hates the supernatural even more than Grunkle Stan does! If she had tried to come near her house, he would have shot her!" After a moment's cogitation, he added in a slightly quieter tone, "And I don't even want to think about what Grunkle Stan would make us try to do to her."

He could almost hear Soos scratching his head on the other end of the line. "Ok, I believe you, dude," he finally replied. "I can't come over right now, but I'll call Mabel and tell her to call you. Maybe she can spare some time."

"Thanks man," Dipper replied, honestly relieved. He wiped off his brow and flinched slightly at the bare feeling of his hair. When all this was over, he was going to get Grunkle Stan to fork over a new hat. The young boy sighed as he heard Soos cheerfully say goodbye and hang up, and folded up the phone. He heard the door creak, but it was only Waddles, presumably hunting for Mabel.

"Tomorrow, little guy, I am going to see Wendy again," he vowed aloud to the pig. Waddles snorted and curled up at the foot of his bed, staring with an almost lonely look over at Mabel's empty cot. Despite his ecstatic feelings, Dipper felt a tiny prick in his heart at the animal's slight sadness, and reached down to pat his head.

It was around two minutes before Dipper's phone started to ring. "Yeah?" he asked, clicking the answer button. He was greeted by a loud series of shouts on the other end.

"WENDY'S A DRAGON? WENDY'S THE DRAGON? BROSEPH, WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ME IMMEDIATELY? THIS IS AMAZING!"

"I know, right?!" Dipper replied, feeling the happy emotions starting to arise once again. "That cure that we thought was going to get us answers - all along, it was going to solve the mystery entirely, and not just help!"

"This is so cool!" his sister yelled. "We need to go out and find her again! Now!"

As eager as Dipper was to run back out into the woods and do just that, another clap of thunder crashed outside, making him think otherwise. "Uh, Mabel, hate to break it to you, but it's raining," he joked. "I can't go out and look for a dragon at night, in the rain, in a notoriously haunted woods."

"Well, you better be working on that cure then!" Mabel called. "First thing tomorrow, all three of us are going out and curing Wendy!" The words made Dipper smile.

"I gotcha. See you tomorrow!" he called through the phone. His sister replied happily before hanging up. As soon as he was off the line, he ran downstairs to the basement, where the small vat of blood was marinating with several large pieces of rosemary.

"One more day," he found himself saying, before correcting himself. "Or, night." The young detective rested on the ground, not caring about the sudden cold of the concrete. Sure, he was wet, but he would dry off soon. The cold air of the air conditioning didn't reach down here anyway.

Dipper soon felt himself growing sleepy, despite the flurry of excited and delighted feelings inside him. Half of him wanted to go back upstairs and read before crashing on top of his covers, but the other half wished to stay here and watch the pieces of rosemary disintegrate and fall to the bottom of the jar. The latter soon won out, and he found himself growing more accepting of sleep as his eyelids drooped.

The boy soon slumped to the floor, curling up inside his vest and listening to the faint sound of the building creaking above him. He would see Mabel and Soos tomorrow, and they would help him find Wendy again. That thought within itself brought a small twinge of hope into the young detective's soul, and he found himself smiling as he drifted away.

That night, Dipper had a dream. He dreamt that he was standing on top of a hill, surrounded by an endless sea of thick pine trees. Everything was strangely blurred, and bits of the sky and ground were white in strange places, fading away to nothingness as though the world was falling apart. However, this metaphor didn't come to mind as the young detective realized that there was a figure in front of him.

The figure was tall, looking down on him. She wore a green flannel shirt and slightly torn up jeans, with oversized boots and a trapper's hat. Dipper found himself lazily smiling at the equally grinning form of Wendy, preserved in memory perfectly. Not a single detail was off.

"It's good to see you," the boy found himself saying. He could remember the events of the day, but they seemed far away now, as though they were deep in the past. Strangely, there were memories of what had happened after, but they were… white. White like the missing pieces of ground and sky. They were blurred away. All he knew at the moment was that it had been a long time since Wendy had been a dragon.

"Nice to see you too, dude," Wendy replied, taking off her hat and fluffing it as though it were a pillow. She knelt down and looked him directly in the eyes, placing a hand on his shoulder. Dipper felt his heart speed up before a bit of red entered his cheeks. His friend laughed. "I'm glad you found me."

The young detective laughed with her, though he wasn't sure why. Suddenly, he noticed that Wendy's knee was white. "Um, Wendy, what's up with your knee?" he asked, realizing his voice had a strange echoing quality all of a sudden.

She looked down, and to his increasing interest, her hand began to fade to white as well. "Oh, boo! You're waking up, man."

Dipper's expression faltered. "Wait, I am? This is a dream?"

"Of course it is, doofus," Wendy chuckled. "I'm still a dragon."

The young detective sighed. "I can't believe it." He felt the lumberjack girl lift up his chin before looking him in the eyes and reaching for his hat.

"Hey, hey, buddy," she comforted. "You're going to do it. Just don't give up, no matter what happens. Ok?"

"Ok, Wendy," Dipper stuttered. He smiled and blushed as she removed his hat and replaced it with her own. He vaguely remembered how they used to do that before she went missing, and nostalgia pricked him. She placed a hand over his heart and settled down next to him, slowly fading into the everlasting white that was taking hold of the landscape.

Dipper awoke with a gasp. The dream, as weirdly misty and vague as it was, was still fresh in his mind. He could make out the smiling form of Wendy in his mind's eye before everything came rushing back to him. Turning to face the jar of rosemary, the young detective had to stifle a shriek of excite when he realized the herbs floating in it were completely gone. The cure was ready.

The boy stumbled to his feet and sprinted up the steps, passing the shocked form of his great uncle as he dashed through the kitchen. "Whoa, kid, where are you going?" Stan asked, grabbing the thankfully-closed carton of juice he had dropped.

"Finding Soos!" the boy replied, skidding out the door. The Shack's handyman should be here by now. What time was it, eight? Seven thirty? The guy usually got here so early that Dipper could see him before the sun rose. The young detective's heart gave a little leap when he caught sight of the man-child, who was taking out the trash.

"Dipper!" Soos cried, dropping the bag and just barely managing to stop the boy from crashing into him with his arms. Dipper looked up, a gigantic grin upon his face.

"The cure's done!" he burst out. The smile on the face of his co-worker was enough to make him jump for joy. Soos yanked his hat firmly on his head and watched as Dipper began to do a weird combination of pacing, skipping and staring into the woods in front of him. "Have you seen Mabel anywhere?" he asked suddenly, coming to a stop.

"She called me and said she was on her way back from the sleepover," Soos replied. "We should be all set to go out and find the dragon."

Dipper nodded. "You want me to go get the jar?"

Soos seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. As soon as she gets here, we can go out."

The young detective returned the nod, noticeably pleased with the decision. However, his expression faltered a bit when he looked up at the cloudy sky. "The forest is going to be pretty dark, though," he observed. "We might have trouble finding it."

He heard a chuckle beside him. "Dude, are you kidding me? That thing's like a big red beacon."

Dipper nodded, though still not entirely convinced. However, his thoughts and misgivings were interrupted as he heard a loud screech of tires in the driveway. "Thanks for the ride!" Mabel's voice sounded from around the bend, and the boy winced as the tires screeched again, this time fading into nothingness.

Mabel came running around the corner of the Mystery Shack, her face shining with delight and the remains of what looked like glitter. "Dipper!" she cried out, throwing her arms around him and nearly suffocating him with her incredibly poofy sweater. He gagged a bit, but couldn't help but smile. The gang was together. They could finally go hunting.

"Hi Mabel," he replied, gently pushing her away. Soos grinned, standing beside her in front of him. All of a sudden, Dipper felt put on the spot. His sister and his friend were lined up before him, awaiting instruction.

"Alright, team," he began in a businesslike fashion. "We're going to find Wendy and cure her. Soos, I need you to get the jar of antidote and bring it up here."

"Gotcha, dude!" Soos said, scurrying off to the basement. The overall situation suddenly brought upon a sense of déjà vu to the young detective, before he realized that a near-identical version had taken place when the dragon first attacked the Shack. As uncomfortable as the boy felt being in Stan's place now, he continued to dish out the instructions.

"Mabel, I need you to go get the biggest sweater you have in your entire suitcase," he continued. His sister stood up for a half a second, her arm raised in a salute, before her eyes narrowed.

"Why do you need a sweater?" she asked, slowly crossing her arms and giving her brother a suspicious look. "You aren't going to use it to trap Wendy, are you?"

Dipper gained a wide-eyed look. "Oh, no!" he responded, putting out his hands. "Um… I just thought she might want some clothes when she's back to normal. You know, since she isn't exactly wearing any now…"

Mabel seemed to think this over for a moment before her eyes widened like her twin's. "Oh," she agreed. "Yeah. Ok. Be back in a second, broseph!" She scampered through the door, and he could hear her ascending the stairs at a speed he could only dream of rivaling.

Soos soon came out of the same door, carefully holding the jar full of blood. The herbs and juices had long since dissolved into the liquid, creating a foul-smelling but effective cure. Dipper couldn't help but feel a little jittery around the tiny container of fluid that held Wendy's destiny within it. The color wasn't helping much either - with the antidote being a deep reddish-brown.

He heard Mabel coming back down the stairs before she actually came into sight. However, Soos jumped a bit as she barrelled through the doorway, an enormous sweater in hand. "Why do you even have that?" he found himself asking. Sure, all the better for Wendy, but still, the thing was maybe a little smaller than her sleeping bag.

"I tried to make a sweater for a bear," Mabel answered as-a-matter-of-factly. She scratched her chin, obviously recalling the experience. "I never actually managed to get the bear in it, though."

Dipper winced a bit at the thought. However, he was soon once again distracted as his team looked to him, ready for the next command.

"Soos, can you promise me you won't lose that jar?" he asked, before immediately feeling a twinge of regret. He thought they had resolved the whole Soos-idiot thing when they fought the pterodactyl two years ago. Despite this, the handyman grinned at him forgivingly and nodded. Upon hearing this reassurance, Dipper straightened up and continued his spiel. "Ok, Mabel, you look out for footprints. Soos, you try to listen for calls. I'll lead."

The members of the team nodded. The young detective felt his heart soar a bit at the gestures, and he blurted out the line he had been saving for last. "Let's go find Wendy!"

Half an hour later, the team had about thirty percent less enthusiasm and a hundred percent less energy.

They had charged into the woods like a mighty army, running through the forest despite their weakening states of body, and only begun to slow down when they reached the alpine terrain. Mabel was so hot that she had tied her sweater around her waist along with the larger one for Wendy, and Soos looked as though her were about to drop the jar. As for Dipper, he didn't have the strength or the dignity-sacrificing courage to describe how sweaty his shirt was. "I'm sure we'll find something soon," he tried to encourage his friends, wincing as his words slithered out like dying snails.

Suddenly, Soos's eyes narrowed a bit. He cupped a hand around his ear before his eyes widened, a fearful expression on his face. "Uh, dudes?" he asked. The twins both looked back at him. "You might want to hear this…"

Mabel and Dipper both gave the handyman a questioning glance before cupping their own hands around their ears. However, they heard nothing. "Soos, what's up?" Dipper asked. To his surprise, his friend was already running ahead. "Soos!"

The twins sprinted after their surprisingly quick coworker until they reached a ravine filled with branches and mud. Soos stopped, turning his head about before setting off again. Mabel let out a small noise of exasperation. "Soos, what's going on?" she called, panting as she and her brother tried to keep up.

"I think I hear something!" Soos cried back, finally stopping where a large rock overlooked another section of the forest. Suddenly, the noise that the man-child had been so worried about sounded, making the twins shiver.

It was a blood curdling screech, tearing apart the air like tissue paper. The sound was almost alien, but yet held a tiny bit of familiarity with it. With a sudden slam of dread, Dipper realized he had heard a similar noise from the dragon during their previous encounter. "Oh no," he whispered.

In silent agreement, all three began to run as fast as they could towards the source of the heart-wrenching cries, fighting back the urge to flee as they grew louder and louder. Dipper's heart was racing at what felt like million miles a minutes, the pounding visibly shaking his ribcage. As the silence was shattered by another terrible scream, he stumbled and hit the ground. Mabel barely took the time to help him up before resuming her frantic sprint.

Finally, the team reached the top of what looked like the hill to top all other hills. "We have to be close!" the young detective gasped, clutching his sides. Mabel scanned the landscape before her eyes widened with horror.

"Dipper," she whispered, poking him. He pulled himself off the ground and looked up at her. He could see that whatever had his sister fazed was clearly within Soos's sights as well. The man-child had the same disbelieving expression mixed with absolute grief.

Wordlessly, his sister pointed into the clearing below. Dipper's gaze followed the direction of her gesture before he saw one of the most bloody and heartbreaking sights he would probably ever see in his life.

Below the three lay the dragon, a sharpened stick speared all the way through her wing.