At first, nobody in the odd little group could breath, let alone speak. All of a sudden, the dragon cried out once again, breaking the silence and awakening the shocked souls of the three humans atop the ridge.
Dipper was the first to make any sort of noise. "Wendy!" he screamed, skidding down the hill and bloodying his knees in the process. His sister and friend were quick to follow, dashing after him and calling out. The young detective reached the bottom, abruptly stopping and making a face that seemed to portray a mixture of franticness and disgust. His companions sniffed before wincing much the way he had.
The air was filled with the stench of decay and drying blood. As panicked as the trio was about the dragon, the terrible smell kept them temporarily away. Dipper could feel his heart tearing when he realized the horrible scent was coming from the creature's wing.
"Oh, dude," Soos murmured. "She's probably been here for hours."
The twins could do nothing but nod. The young detective was close enough now to see that there was mixture of pus and blood caked all over the infected skin, and that the fluid had pooled on the ground below it. It was disgusting and distressing at the same time.
Mabel was the first one to make another move towards it. She rushed to the creature's side, Dipper on her tail, and started examining the wing like an experienced veterinarian. The dragon saw them and stopped calling out, letting its head slump to the ground in defeat. The young detective gagged and gasped when he saw several flies leave the wing upon Mabel approaching it. He sprinted to the dragon's head and started whispering into his vest.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh Wendy I'm so sorry…" he choked out under his breath. He heard the low, sad murmur of the great creature in return. The animal lifted its head, nuzzling him weakly.
Soos motioned to the boy from where he was standing beside the trap. Dipper looked up to where he was pointing, quickly analyzing the machine that held his best friend gruesomely captive. It was an ingenious creation, he grudgingly thought to himself in anger. The tripwire, which the dragon seemed to have set off with its head, was hooked up to a contraption rather like a catapult, but rather than shooting something into the air, the deadly device speared the poor animal that set it off. From the way the dragon was positioned, Dipper realized to himself that it had whipped out of the way of having its neck sliced through, but the wing had been speared instead.
"Dipper, we can't change her back until we get her out of here," Mabel called to him. "If we tried-" she cut herself off, wincing. Despite the tiny bit of curiosity that the young detective possessed, he was glad she didn't finish. She seemed to have already come to conclusion about what would happen, and from her expression, the boy could deduce that the stick would still remain caught inside her skeleton.
"We need to find a way to get this out of her then!" he cried. "Soos, can we move that without hurting her more?"
"I don't know, dude," Soos replied, looking over the trap. "The stick thing's actually buried into the ground underneath her wing, and the actual thing's held down by like, seven ropes." The man-child tugged on the taut restraints, only to be met by resistance. "We'd need somebody else to help out."
Dipper's breathing began to rapidly increase. "Well, we can't just leave her, she's dying!" he screeched. As the others stared on in shock, he continued, tears rushing down his face. "Her wing's already infected, and we don't have any kind of medicine! We need to get her out now!"
"Whoa, whoa, dude, we're not going to leave her!" Soos answered to his grief-racked friend. "But we need someone else to help us get the wood out of the ground!"
Dipper collapsed, hugging the dragon's muzzle. Mabel and Soos looked a bit guilty as they heard a loud sob. "We… we…" the young detective started to cough out. "Get her out… we need to get her out now…"
"We will," Mabel vowed, wiping away some of the pus-filled blood on the crusty skin of the wing. She walked over to her brother and pulled his swiss army knife from his backpack, making her way over to the trap. With several fury-filled slashes, the ropes restraining the machine lay in pieces on the ground.
Suddenly, the three heard a noise at the top of the ravine. Soos held his hands at his sides, ready to defend the twins, while Mabel bared the knife in front of her. Dipper started to moan under his breath. Oh god, a predator finally smelled her blood… we're all doomed…
Needless to say, all humans jumped a bit when Grunkle Stan stumbled out of the brush at the peak of the hill. The old man stared down at them, his mouth slowly opening in horror as he scanned the scene before him. Mabel lowered the knife, and Soos unclenched his fists. However, the young detective still felt every muscle within him tensed, as though there were still a threat.
"No," Stan choked out, rushing down to where his family and friend stood. "Oh god, no."
"We need your help getting the stick out of the ground," Dipper urged. "Come on, we need-"
"No, you don't understand," his great uncle rasped. Dipper fell silent. "I… I set this trap."
There was absolute silence in the clearing. The dragon looked at the four humans surrounding her blearily, while Mabel's mouth dropped open in shock. Soos took a step back, as though he couldn't believe what was before him. But the young detective at the center of it all was beginning to seethe with anger.
"You did this?!" Dipper yelled, clenching the fist that wasn't resting on the dragon's muzzle. "You… YOU-"
"I can explain!" Grunkle Stan quickly added, throwing his hands out in front of him. His great nephew quieted down for the moment. "I… I was just trying to protect you."
"What do you mean?" Mabel breathed, dropping the knife.
Her great uncle sighed. "Ever since that dragon showed up, it's given this family nothing but trouble," he began. "It was messing with our garbage and it tore apart our porch. Not to mention you hurt yourself badly trying to catch it." He pointedly looked at Dipper. "I just wanted the thing gone.
"I got some trapping advice from Dan and I set up this thing. If the animal was actually an animal, and not some crazy teenager in lizard skin, they wouldn't have felt a thing. The trap was supposed to be lightning fast. But," the old man stared into the dragon's eyes, "you thought otherwise."
A low whine came from the reptile's throat. Dipper wasn't sure whether or not Wendy was scared of Stan or experiencing more pain from her wing.
Their great uncle let his face fall into his hands. "I never thought about what would happen if you were right, kid," he whispered. "I swear, I never thought I would hurt her. Looks like I thought wrong."
There was absolute silence in the clearing. The only noise that Dipper could hear were the dragon's fading, ragged breaths, growing weaker and weaker. He was immediately reminded of what he needed to do. "Grunkle Stan," he started. "I… I know you never thought about hurting Wendy."
His great uncle looked up, a shocked expression upon his face. However, his great nephew continued. "But we need your help to save her now. We can still get her out of this trap and get her back to normal, but we need you to do it." He closed his eyes. "I swear, if you just help us with this, I promise I won't bring up where this trap came from ever again."
With a slight creaking noise, Stan stood up and walked over to where his family and friend were crouching. Dipper felt his heart jump a bit when the old man took hold of the huge stake impaled through the dragon's wing and started to push it upwards.
Soos rushed over to help his employer immediately, while Mabel started to help the creature move its wing down the shaft so that they would have an easier time removing it. Dipper sprinted from the animal's head, a whispered promise to return fluttering from his lips, and began to help his sister.
The wound was truly one of the most terrible things Dipper would ever see in his life. Part of the actual finger of the appendage had been caught in the path of the stick, so that torn muscle covered in orangish fluid stuck out of the hole as they dragged the wing downwards. He felt his stomach turn over and clench when they seemed to hit some sort of infected pocket in the skin, more dead cells pouring out from inside and getting on their fingers. Mabel was closing her eyes as she continued the procedure, and he heard her gag a bit when pus oozed onto her sweater.
Suddenly, the machine gave a promising creak. Stan and Soos were straining to lift the stake from the ground, and it seemed that they were finally succeeding. Mabel pushed the wing down as far as it could go before hitting one of the two men who were trying with all their might. Dipper realized that his breath was coming in quick gasps as the great spear was torn from the ground at last.
"Yes!" he cried, before covering his mouth. He let go of the wing, knowing Mabel could easily slide it off now that the stick was no longer in the ground. Orange liquids slowly trickled down his hands, and he flicked them in disgust.
"We still need to get the wing off, kid!" Stan yelled, his knees nearly buckling under the incredible downward push of the stake. Soos obviously wasn't doing much better. The young detective gave them an apologetic look and rushed to his great uncle's side, pulling the wing down the shaft of the stick along with Mabel.
Finally, the wing slid off of the stick with an honestly revolting dripping noise. As soon as the appendage was out of the way, Soos and Stan let go of the stick, flinching back as the spear smacked into the ground once again. However, the great effort had been worth it. Wendy was free.
The dragon's body slumped to the ground, the animal clearly worn out from the struggle. Her eyes were glazed over. The four humans crouched around her wing quickly realized that although she was no longer held captive by the sharp stick, she still was gravely injured.
Mabel was the first to make a move. "Dipper," she called. "Get that stuff ready." She gestured to the bottle of antidote they had made while running over and reaching into his backpack once again. The young artist whipped out the first aid kit stuffed at the bottom of the bag and rushed back to the wing. The other three could do nothing more than watch in awe. She moved with the speed of a superhero, pulling out a bottle of antiseptic and a tube of antibiotic and setting to work. As much as he had considered Mabel becoming some sort of artist when she grew up, Dipper now realized that she could probably make a living as a vet without too much trouble.
By the time that Dipper had fully shaken up and opened the jar of antidote, the dragon's wound had been cleaned of all manner of blood and bodily fluids and replaced with layers upon layers of antibiotic salve and bandages. Mabel stepped back from the injury, wiping away the thick sheen of sweat that had gathered on her forehead. She untied the oversized sweater from her waist and held it under one arm.
"You're up, kid," Stan murmured, stepping back. Soos followed, giving him room, while Mabel positioned herself a few feet from the wounded creature. All of a sudden, Dipper knew the focus was on him. Wendy's fate was literally in his hands.
Shakily, the boy knelt down to the creature's head and slowly reached to the side of her jaw. With some effort, he pried her mouth open. As soon as the creature got the message, she kept it that way, letting her tongue loll out and eyes close. Dipper hesitated a bit before pouring the cure into her maw, casting a look at his family and friend. Mabel gave him what could probably be described as an encouraging look, while Stan and Soos just seemed to be telling him to do it.
With a deep inhale of air, the young detective tilted the jar and slowly let the liquid inside splash onto her tongue. The dragon's eyes shot open, and she curled her lip back slightly at the foul taste. "It's ok, it's ok," Dipper murmured, fully turning the jar upside down so that not one drop was wasted. Grimacing almost comically, the creature swallowed the antidote.
The four humans stood, almost frozen, as though something were about to explode. The dragon made no changes, simply licking her lips and rubbing a paw against her tongue in disgust. They waited for perhaps a minute before the young detective announced, "Um… it said it could take around five minutes for the effect to kick in."
The humans let out of the breath they had all been holding in and seemed to relax a bit. Mabel walked a bit closer to the titanic reptile and started scratching her behind the horns. Despite the obvious pain her wing was in and the remaining taste of herbs in her mouth, a loud purr erupted from the dragon's throat.
Dipper stood and simply observed the sight. This would thankfully be the last time he saw Wendy in dragon form, maybe meaning the last time he would ever see a dragon. He remembered that according to Stan, the natural ones hated all manner of humans and most enchanted ones were simply deer and squirrels. However, he was quite pleased to find that his last memory of the creature would be of it purring while his sister smiled.
Finally, the antidote seemed to start working. The dragon's purr faded and Mabel stepped back. The creature seemed to be trying to make herself smaller, folding her wings tightly against her back and her tail wrapped firmly around one of her hind legs. Then the four realized that she was actually shrinking.
The creature's scales were smoothing out, her tail retreating into her back and her wings seeming to melt into her spine. Her hind legs made a few clicking noises as they rearranged the bones into a human skeletal structure, and the deep rusty color faded from her skin. A large mess of red hair grew from the back of her skull, replacing her horns and nearly covering up her entire back as she shrunk back to the size of a tall teenager.
The last movement from the creature in front of them was a sort of sliding noise as her claws retracted back into her fingers and toes. With the transformation complete, the bare human flopped onto the ground. Dipper's heart leaped when he heard her gasp and start to breath.
It was as though everything was frozen as Mabel walked forward and pulled the huge sweater she had brought over Wendy's head, helping her arms through the sleeves. The short pants and wheezes prevented her from saying anything, but the expression on the teen's face was one of complete shock. The girl stepped away from Wendy and tapped Dipper on the shoulder.
Suddenly, everything started to move again. Dipper, Soos and Stan all rushed to the exhausted teen's side, helping her into a sitting position and brushing the mud and blood from her body. Mabel walked over to the clump with Wendy's hat, which she had seemingly found on the ground next to the trap. The young artist placed the cap onto her friend's head.
Finally, Soos lifted up the limp girl with some help from Stan. Dipper reached up and grabbed hold of her slight bloody hand, hoping some of the warmth would sooth the shocked teen. Mabel took on a serious look and announced, "We should get her back home."
The three males nodded and started to make their way out of the ravine, with Mabel trotted alongside them. Despite the shock and overall seriousness of the situation, Dipper could feel his heart soaring as Wendy's pulse thumped reassuringly in her wrist. He felt lightheaded. After all this effort, after all the pain, he was finally seeing the face of his best friend once again.
They reached the Shack in around half an hour. Stan left immediately to call Dan, who would surely come storming into the house to retrieve his daughter when he heard the news. Dipper, Mabel and Soos all gathered around the gigantic yellow armchair, where the tired girl lay. Mabel pulled the sweater down slightly and looked over the bandaged hole in Wendy's back, which thankfully seemed to have stopped swelling and looked far cleaner.
Wendy's eyes seemed to be scanning her surroundings in a daze, though faint recognition flashed through her eyes whenever she saw one of the three other Mystery Shack employees standing around her. A few inaudible murmurs escaped her, though Dipper urged her over and over to stop trying to speak. At last she could understand his words, and she let her mouth close.
"I'm so sorry," the boy found himself whispering to her again. She reached out a hand and slowly placed it on his shoulder, a tiny smile spreading across her face. He could see her once again struggling to form words, clicking her teeth together and experimentally touching her lips with her tongue. Mabel giggled slightly when a loud growling noise escaped the teen, who immediately looked embarrassed.
"She's still not really out of dragon mode, is she?" asked Soos, observing the way the girl's eyes darted in an animal-like fashion. Wendy glared at him, much to the excitement of the twins.
"Be quiet," she croaked back, startling the three. A look of pure elation spread across Dipper's face, and he made a questionable squeaking noise.
"You're ok!" he cried, though Mabel reached out and stopped him from hugging her. A slight warning look crossed his sister's face, telling him that the lumberjack girl was still very much injured. The young detective looked sheepish and stepped back, grinning ear to ear as the teen in front of him pulled herself into a sitting position. She smiled, the happiness showing through the exhaustion.
"'Course I am, doofus," she replied weakly. She licked her lips again and looked around, her eyes focusing on the doorway. The gaze of the three others surrounding her followed her stare, spotting Stan.
"Dan's on his way," the great uncle announced, walking into the room and settling beside the twins. He turned to face Wendy, his expression nearly impossible to read. As soon as his words had settled in, the atmosphere became unbearably silent. Dipper clutched the girl's hand tighter.
Soos finally broke the uncomfortable feeling of quiet. "Well, guess you get to stay with us until then," he concluded with a small smile, glancing at Wendy and leaning onto the wall. This time, the lack of noise that followed felt almost natural. The young detective found himself finally growing at peace within. Sure, his best friend would soon be taken away, but this time, he knew when and whether he would see her again.
Just relax, he told himself, closing his eyes. Wendy's back. The gang is back together again.
A/N: Well, there you have it. That's the technical end of Dragon Pines, though you'll find there's an epilogue after this (that's admitted embarrassingly short). Also, I'm starting work on that prequel I talked about earlier. You guys better be ready for a wave of insanely fluffy fanfiction.
To everyone who's supported me here, thank you, once again, so much. I literally couldn't do this without you. Every review, every favorite, counts more than you can imagine. Also, if anyone wants to suggest ideas for the Christmas oneshot I'm working on, I'm open. (Since I honestly really haven't begun writing yet.)
Until then, peace out, dudes! Enjoy the epilogue!