I HAVE RETURNED FROM THE DEPTHS OF WRITER'S BLOCK, HERE IT IS, AFTER ANOTHER 2 MONTHS OF WAITING
Chapter 8
It may have been a bit brash, but Danny's curiosity about whatever he had spotted among the trees could not have been just mere coincidences. The deeper their group had wandered into the forest, the more frequently he began to spot these strange eye-like markings on the trees. At first he had thought nothing of it, but once he started noticing more of them, there was no doubt in his mind that there was definitely something strange going on.
Maybe, just maybe, he purposely ignored Mabel's buddy system request. Naturally. Partially because he knew Wendy would offer to buddy up and then Dipper would get mad. Partially because he knew that with a partner, he wouldn't have much freedom to act on his curiosity.
Maybe I didn't think that through, though, Danny thought, frowning as he observed the trees. His impulsive decision definitely made him seem suspicious. And with Dipper watching his every move like a hawk, he had probably seemed about as shady as Vlad Masters at this point. Danny shivered at the thought of his arch nemesis.
It was no secret to Danny that Dipper didn't trust him either. Or like him, for that matter. The kid wasn't exactly subtle about it. Then again, he couldn't exactly call him just a kid- he was only a few years younger than himself.
Danny huffed as he gradually slowed down his pace, suddenly feeling as winded as he would be after PE class now that the adrenaline rush was gone. His ghostly endurance didn't exactly stretch all the way to his human half. He still hated running. Almost as much he hated as PE.
Noticing that the trees suddenly thinned out, he glanced forward at a barren grove in the middle of the dense forest and gaped. Every tree in the perimeter was coated with the strange markings of a singular eye.
Danny's eyes widened at the sight. "Whoa, what… is this place?" He muttered, placing a gentle hand on one of the strangely marked trees. He ran his finger along the etched surface of the tree trunk and frowned. This whole place just seemed wrong. Where exactly was he?
"Is this… some kind of satanic ritual grounds? Cult meeting spot?" He guessed aloud. He didn't know what he was expecting by saying this out in the open. Maybe someone would just magically come out and explain what in the world this place was? He hesitated on the thought of transforming, but he didn't sense any ghost around, so he debated against it. If it wasn't a ghost, then...
His eyes widened at the possibilities coming to mind and couldn't help but exhale hollowly, overcome with the feeling of being watched from every angle.
Danny gulped. He could handle ghosts, sure, but other creatures? He had no experience in that department. He was suddenly starting to regret running off on his own like that. He couldn't have been too far from the others, right?
"Uh, guys?" He called out weakly. "Wendy? Dipper? Mabel? ...Soos?" He asked unsurely as he hesitantly walked further into the middle of the clearing. Maybe he'd be heard better if he was in an open space, he decided.
"Anyone?!" He yelled out again, but this time his voice left an echo throughout the dense forest, unknowingly catching the attention of a particular someone.
Dipper flinched at the sudden noise coming from north of the forest, and snapped his head upwards to the trees. He looked side to side spastically, before eventually frowning. "What the heck?"
It had sounded like Danny's voice, for sure. And the only reason why Danny would possibly yell out is if he was in trouble, and whether Dipper liked him or not, the teen didn't know how to defend himself against the ravenous creatures in the Gravity Falls forest. Maybe. Dipper still held onto his theory…
No, now's not the time for that, he reminded himself. If Danny was really as normal as he made himself out to be, he could be in danger. He looked up at his other group members, and noted that they were unfazed by Danny's voice.
"Uhm, did you guys hear that?" Dipper asked cautiously, as he made his way over to the others. He avoided Mabel's curious eyes at first, but the second they made eye contact she looked the other way. Ouch.
"Hear what?" Wendy frowned in confusion.
"I didn't hear anything, dudebro," Soos shrugged.
"Uh… nevermind," Dipper blinked, beginning to walk backwards in the direction he came from. "Heh, um, guess I'm just hearing things! Haha!" he tried, but cringed at the sound of his voice cracking. "I'm…uh, just, gonna go… over there,' he trailed off awkwardly, and shuffled away.
He was met with collective looks of apprehension from the other three, but he didn't have much time to dwell on it before making his way quickly into the same direction he had remembered seeing Danny running towards.
Why am I like this!? Dipper's mind screamed as he raced through the trees.
Dipper was soon running out of breath faster than he thought he would, and considering he spent every week running for his life from creatures of the unknown, he thought he'd at least have more stamina. Then again, he did spend his weekends marathoning the latest season of Ducktective with Mabel… and they had eaten all that junk food…
Okay, he really needed to exercise more.
Dipper's feet pounded against the dirt with muddled thoughts before slowing down his pace at the sight before him. The monstrous coniferous trees had long faded out to sparse, dead birch. In fact, everything in the general vicinity of the area, seemed dead. Ominous, even. But most of all, the trees… he's definitely seen those markings before.
He walked further into the area despite everything in his mind telling him not to go in. the panicky, anxious side of him wanted to run the opposite direction but the determined, mystery hunter side overruled, and soon, found himself entering a clearing.
But just as he began to have second thoughts on his decision, he came to a halt, stopping in his tracks at the sight before him.
"Danny?" Dipper questioned unsurely, beginning to feel very much like a deer in headlights.
The teen in question spun around at his voice. "Dipper? Oh, man am I glad to see you, I was beginning to think I was lost or something!" he exclaimed with relief. "Although, you're probably not that glad to see me, considering you don't actually like me…" he muttered.
Dipper decided to not comment on that last part, before spiraling into a series of questions. "What are you doing out here? How did you even find this place?"
"Well, I…uh, got kinda curious," Danny began. "I swore I saw these freaky looking trees with eyes back there, and I wanted to check it out, so, I followed the markings, and I ended up here?" he explained, but it sounded more like a question than not.
"Trees with eyes?" Dipper repeated. This was why he came out here all by himself in such a rush? To see some trees?
Danny seemed unfazed, if anything. "Yeah. And, now being in a clearing surrounded by trees with eyes kinda makes me wish I didn't decide to come here all by myself," he admitted.
"Really?" Dipper questioned, lifting an eyebrow. "I find it hard to believe you ran straight into this particular clearing because you were interested in some trees."
"No, really! I saw these eye markings, and I thought it was strange so I wanted to check it out!" Danny defended.
Dipper looked at Danny apprehensively, furrowing his brows in thought. He needed to know for sure, what really was this guy's deal. His mind raged into a whirlwind of sparing thoughts. His original thoughts on Danny weren't the peachiest, and since meeting the guy they haven't improved. Between his suspicions on Danny trying to get Wendy, (hence him being the literal epitome of Robbie 2.0) and being some kind of unnatural creature of unimaginable terror, at least one of them had to be true. Dipper couldn't have been as paranoid as Mabel was making it seem like he was, right? Right?
But despite his intrusive thoughts, he didn't feel like confronting him about Wendy, because that would lead to him finding out about his inexplicable crush on her. And there was no way Dipper wanted that. Was he too obvious about it? Oh god, what if he already knew? What if he tells her? What if he already told her?
In the midst of a breakdown, he realized he actually had to respond. Remembering that he was the one confronting Danny, he instead asked the next thing that came to mind. "What kind of out-of-towner runs straight into possible danger?"
Danny only raised his eyebrows at this. "Ghost infested town, remember?"
"Wouldn't that mean you should know when to run from danger? Not run towards it?" Dipper countered.
He was met with a face that was indecipherable. "Well I–"
"Give it up, man, I know you're not human!" Dipper blurted.
"Wait, what?!" Danny backed away in shock. He swallowed, and for a split second, Dipper swore he saw terror in his eyes before resuming his confused expression.
In this moment, he was either right or very, very wrong about all this, and considering he virtually had no proof, Dipper felt like he was basically digging his own grave. And rather than trying to backtrack, only word vomit came out. "So what is it? Are you some kind of creature? Vampire? Werewolf? Zombie? ...A bunch of gnomes?!" he rambled, taking several steps forward, prompting Danny to take several steps back.
"I–uh, no!" Danny defended, waving his hands in front of him. "I'm not a bunch of gnomes!"
"Are you sure?" Dipper tried again, but soon regretted speaking when he suddenly realized that everything he was saying really, really, didn't make sense. Great job, he mentally berated. But now that he had put his accusations out into the open, there was no going back.
"W-what could have possibly lead you to believe that of all things? And I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I don't look like a brain eating zombie," Danny laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Or a werewolf or vampire, because apparently those exist too, here…"
"Well… how do I know you're not just lying?" Dipper responded, but the more he spoke, the more he knew that he was going to be on the losing side of the argument that he himself had started in the first place.
"I...what? Just, what proof do you even have? What is this even about? You can't just come up with all this stuff with no facts or…" Danny trailed off, then met eyes with Dipper. He then shook his head at whatever he was going to say, then sighed. "...Dipper, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Dipper said wryly.
"Why do you hate me?" Danny started, then made a face, before adding, "Er, I mean, why did you dislike me, before? I've been nothing but nice to you. I think. What did I do to you? Is this... about Wendy?" he asked hesitantly.
Freezing at the mention of his unrequited crush, Dipper's mind began to spiral. Oh god, he knows, he thought frantically. Now he'll use this as leverage over me and I'll never get to… Wait, am I being too over dramatic again? Say something! You're staring at him again!
But instead, only word vomit came out. "Uh, no! Wh-why would you think that? Why would this be about Wendy?" he babbled, before groaning and letting his arms droop to his sides in defeat, once he realized that there was no point in denying it any further. Dipper sighed. "I don't… hate you, it's just…" He began, but stopped himself once he found that he really had no explanation.
He really was on a whim here with his random accusations, he realized. He hadn't liked Danny just because he thought he'd be in the way, and he had conjured up the wild idea that Danny might be some kind of creature, when really, none of that even made sense. Sure, he had a paranormal background with ghosts and all, but his parents were literal ghost hunters!
I really messed up, Dipper thought dejectedly. He'd been so caught up in his own emotions and self loathing that he hadn't stopped to think how Danny felt about any of this. Being just a normal guy from out of town and having been accused of being some sort of creature? Now that Dipper thought of it, he found that he really was the one at fault here.
At least Mabel wasn't around to tell him I told you so.
"Listen," Danny said softly, "I know we came off the wrong foot, but I just wanted to set things straight with you. I'm not trying to steal Wendy away from you or anything. I mean, she's cool and all, but, I just met her yesterday, and besides, I kind of already like this girl back home…" he trailed off, seeming to think about something before continuing, "Anyway, that's not the point. I know you like Wendy and all, but dude, assuming that I must be some kind of inhuman creature as the only explanation for why I'd be in the way or something? Why?"
Dipper swallowed painfully. "H-how did you…"
Danny blanched at this, and blinked rapidly. "I mean, heh, it's not like I'm a stalker or anything, I swear, I mean, it's obvious you like her!" he spluttered awkwardly, losing his previous demeanor entirely.
"Oh boy," Dipper deflated. "It was the constant staring, wasn't it?"
"Uh… yeah sure, let's say that," Danny agreed hastily, before muttering something incoherent under his breath.
Dipper managed to not even take notice to Danny's more than suspicious responses as their confrontation came to a close. Instead, he was still wrapped up with his own issues, all the while thinking of what exactly he was going to say.
Dipper exhaled. "Okay, so, I may have gone a bit overboard on my conspiracy theory this time..." he admitted with a remorseful look in his eyes. "When you first showed up at the Shack, and you were with Wendy and all, I just got so jealous that the first thing that came to mind was you being some sort of creature or something, because in this town that's pretty much normal. I'm not the kind of person to just trust someone who waltzes into the lives of the people I care about, and especially since you seemed to be pretty familiar with the supernatural, with the ghosts in your city and all…"
Danny relaxed his shoulders upon hearing Dipper's explanation. "Okay, understandable," he began. "I'm glad that's all cleared up now, and just to set things straight– I'm not a creature. But I do see ghosts on the regular. My parents are ghost hunters, and just like Gravity Falls has its own… weirdness, so does Amity Park. But that doesn't mean I'm evil, or you're evil. It just means we've got more in common than we think," he said with a small smile.
"I guess so, yeah," Dipper agreed, a smile of his own beginning to form.
"...Hey Dipper?" Danny asked, after a few moments of comfortable silence.
"Yeah?"
"You know Wendy's like, too old for you, right?"
"I know," Dipper sighed, much to Danny's amusement.
Over by the river, Wendy and Mabel were sitting around on the rocks being entertained by Soos doing his best Stan impression. Much to the amazement of the girls, Soos was capable of imitating Stan's voice near perfectly. He claimed it was from his extensive practice in the mirror, entirely due to his full time devotion to Stan. Wendy had recorded the whole thing on her phone for future use, while Mabel had vowed to make Soos do his impression in front of Stan later.
As of now, they had long stopped searching for the Plaidypus after Dipper had hastily left the area, and considering none of them had remembered what direction he went off in, they hadn't know where to begin even searching for him.
Figuring that if they stayed in one place, Dipper would find the three after he came back, and with Wendy's suggestion that he most likely set off to find Danny, (despite Mabel's doubts), they weren't worried as much as they could have been.
"Do it! Do it! Do it!" Wendy and Mabel chanted, pumping their fists into the air.
"Heh, alright dudes... " Soos laughed, before putting on a facial expression that resembled Stan's signature frown. "Soos, make that keychain a hundred bucks more! Wendy, stack those overpriced novelty shirts! Now come on, the tourists aren't gonna rip themselves off!" he yelled to the thin air beside him, to the utter amusement of the two girls.
Wendy was laughing so hard her sides were aching. "Oh man, that's so true! He would totally say those things! It's like you've been inside his mind or something!" she exclaimed.
"Oh believe me, dude, I have," he said seriously.
Mabel shivered. "I have seen things I cannot unsee," she agreed.
"Woah, wait forreal?" Wendy asked, beginning to stand up from her place on the rock. "You guys went inside Stan's mind?"
"For Realsies!" Mabel brightened, then a frown etched onto her face. "Well, it was to get this triangle demon Bill out of his mind. Ugh, I hope I never have to see that evil nacho chip ever again!" she groaned.
"Ditto," Soos remarked. "Triangle guy– bad news."
Wendy raised an eyebrow. "Wait, triangle guy…it kinda sounds familiar…" she trailed off, and then her eyes lit up. "Oh my gosh! Your sock puppet play, Mabel! Wasn't he like, possessing Dipper or something?"
"Yup! And then after I blew up the stage with fireworks, we haven't seen him since! So, I don't think we have to worry about him for a while."
"If you say so," Wendy laughed, and soon the three were left in a comfortable silence for a few moments before anyone had decided to speak again.
Minutes passed.
Soos' face twisted slightly and he froze, only turning his head slightly to the side as though trying to locate the source of some far off sound. "Dudes…you hear some kind of high-pitched noise or is it just me?" he looked around cautiously, before loudly taking a bite out of his granola bar and shifted his eyes suspiciously from left to right. Noticing a small insect circling around his snack, he promptly swat at it, frowning.
"High-pitched noise?" Mabel echoed, looking over to another bug flying in her direction.
Wendy sat upright from her laid back position on the rock upon hearing the sound, and suddenly became aware of the several increasing insects flying around seemingly out of nowhere. "Ugh, where are these coming from!?" she asked irritably, taking out her axe from her belt to swing fruitlessly at the incoming bugs.
"Blargh! Are these moths?" Mabel exclaimed in disgust. She began to swat them away frantically, but no to avail, and soon, she too was overwhelmed with the swarm and began to yell. "What the…! Ack!"
The buzzing of the now present moths soon became deafening, until suddenly they quit swarming the trio and soon began to materialize into the physical embodiment of a ten-foot-tall mothman humanoid. As it loomed over the three, it could have rivaled the statue of Paul Bunyan in size– and the constant high pitches and hums of the erratic being did not help.
The three Mystery Shack employees looked up in horror at the sight before them.
"Uh, guys?" Soos squeaked fearfully. "I think we might have a problem."
Back in the clearing, Danny and Dipper had finally managed to somewhat make friends with each after all their differences put aside. They were in the midst of a light conversation– Dipper sitting on a stray tree log while across from him, while Danny leaned against the base of an eye marked tree.
"You know, I kinda don't blame you for being so paranoid about all this," Danny commented. "I mean, when you live with the threat of constant death you tend to get over protective about everything. It's just survival. I've had my moments too, but sometimes a friendly tourist is just a friendly tourist, and creepy trees are just–"
He was cut off by a rustling coming from just across the clearing, and he froze, snapping his jaw shut. The boys averted their eyes from the clearing and glanced towards the noise in question and silently made eye contact, preparing for the worst.
But to their surprise, a deer with three eyes poked its head out of the bushes and ran across the clearing to the other side, soon disappearing into the trees. It just ignored the boys entirely, as if they were never even there.
"...trees." Danny finished meekly. He did a double take at Dipper and back again to the deer. It's a living deer with three eyes? he mused to himself. It's not green, so surely it can't be a ghost…
"What was that?" he asked aimlessly, though it was more to himself than to Dipper.
Meanwhile, Dipper had immediately recognized the cause for the three eyed deer. The deer in the Gravity Falls forest weren't normally like that unless something had interfered with them. And there was only one thing that could have done that.
"Oh no." Dipper blanched.
The rustling of the leaves seemed to slow to a halt, and the rich natural hues of the flora bleached out before the eyes of two boys, turning everything in sight to black and white with the exception of themselves. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and neither boy could tell if it just felt like it was or if things were actually moving at that pace.
Lightning struck the skies, and the clouds considerably began to move in fast forward. Danny began to feel dizzy. Was time really moving at this speed or was he dreaming?
Familiar, loud, high-pitched laughter began to fill the air, leaving an echo in all directions.
"We have to leave," Dipper ordered, once they gained consciousness again. "Now!"
Danny wildly looked around their surroundings with a lost expression. "Huh? What's happening?" he asked quickly, turning to Dipper. "Do you know what's going on?"
Before Dipper could even utter a response, a large triangle materialized out of thin air, then promptly combusted into surrounding flames along its edges. A crease in the center of the triangle appeared, and opened like a rift in the universe before fading to white, leaving only a large, menacing eye in its wake, of a certain yellow dream demon.
"Well, well, well," Bill Cipher mused. His voice held a mixture of a condescending tone and excitement, and left a lingering echo as he spoke. He seemed to completely disregard the presence of Danny, and instead floated nonchalantly towards Dipper. "Look who it is! My favourite fleshbag! Did you miss me?" the demon asked mischievously.
Dipper briefly widened his eyes in shock, before clenching his fists in frustration. "As if! What are you doing here?" he seethed, and snuck a quick glance at Danny beside him. The teen was now suspiciously not afraid anymore, and seemed to be searching for some sort of exit route as a means of escape. Dipper didn't bother to tell him that they were in the mindscape now; he couldn't escape nor hide.
"Uh, Dipper…?" Danny trailed off, looking back and forth at Dipper and Bill. "Do you know this…guy– er...thing?"
Dipper bit his lip down in frustration. "No! Well, yes, but I–"
Before he could even finish his stammered response, Bill snapped his fingers and Danny's eyes rolled to the back of his head, making his body falling limply to the ground not a second later. He landed swiftly onto the hard dirt, with arms and legs sprawled across the ground.
"Danny?!" Dipper openly gaped at his unconscious companion. "W-what did you do to him?!" he spluttered out accusingly, kneeling down to nudge the teen awake with no success. He then raised one of Danny's arms from the ground, and slowly it lifted like a rag doll, before letting it drop harshly to the ground. Horror slowly rose up inside Dipper. "Is he…"
"Oh, relax, Pine Tree! He's not dead! I just put him in a temporal nightmare state of consciousness where he's currently living out all his worst fears!" Bill exclaimed, flying closer to Dipper.
"What?! You did WHAT–"
Dipper was cut off by the sound of Bill's erratic high pitched laughter. "Don't worry, he'll wake up! Eventually. Maybe." Bill floated closer to Dipper, eyeing the state of him. When he didn't look back up at Bill, he continued, "I'm just joking, kid! Live a little!"
Dipper glared. "Great. I finally made a friend out of the guy I thought I hated, and now he probably thinks I'm a freak! If he's even conscious right now, at all, wherever you put his mind!"
"Oh, his mind is fine! Say," he drawled, "How are those cuts and bruises treating you from our last meeting? I sure did leave a mark, eh?" Bill chuckled, elbowing him.
Dipper was then reminded of when Bill had possessed his body during Mabel's whole puppet fiasco, when Bill threw his body down a flight of stairs, closed the kitchen drawer on his hands, and stuck forks through his skin. He shivered at the memory, and his brows furrowed in frustration. "What do you want, Bill? You've done enough damage, just get lost!" He turned his back to the stone faced dream demon and crossed his arms defensively, hands covering some of the worse scars.
"Ooh, a temper! I like that, kid!" Bill complemented, resting his small hands on his triangular hips. Suddenly his entire demeanor changed within the blink of an eye. "Here, have this mirror that shows you every possible way that you can die!" he exclaimed innocently, and held out his hand to where a handheld mirror poofed into existence.
"What the, AH!" Dipper stared into the mirror, horrified at what he saw. "I don't want this!" he yelled, swatting away the mirror causing it to shatter on the ground.
"Now, is that any way to treat a friend?" Bill asked, but when he said the word friend, his yellow appearance turned large, bright red and angry as he came too-close-for-comfort up against Dipper.
"I am not your friend! You stole my body!" Dipper yelled through narrowed eyes.
"The past is the past; 'Forgive and forget!' as you humans say." Bill laughed. His eye turned to Dipper, and without missing a beat he flew over to face the boy once more. "Listen kid. I need something. Information. And a little book worm like you might happen to know something about something."
This undoubtedly caught Dipper's attention, but he was still apprehensive. "Something like what?" He said, carefully choosing his words as he spoke.
"There's a certain something new. I can't put my finger on it because it's been moving around." he explained with his hands, his eyes flashing blue on his last two words.
"Once again, something like what?" Dipper pressed.
"Kid, If I knew, I would tell you. All I know is that it feels like it's not from this dimension. It's definitely weird," he continued, eye flashing red as he said the word weird.
"How would I know something like that? Why would I even tell you?"
"Fair game. I give you a chance to fork up the truth. If you lie to me and I find out, I'll end you. Sounds good, right?" Bill seemed to sound playful throughout his threats. Dipper took a step back in defence.
"I want nothing to do with you, Bill," Dipper put his hands up in front of him. "I have no clue what your game is, and I don't want anyone to get hurt. Just leave us alone."
"Dramatic as always, Pine Tree! Speaking of 'us', who's the new meatbag?" Bill eyed Danny from his spot in the air.
Dipper turned his head to glance at Danny, who was still lying on his back, unconscious. "Just… some regular tourist. Not a threat." Dipper maintained face. He couldn't show a hint of doubt in the face of Bill.
Bill sighed disappointedly, and rolled his eye towards Dipper. "You've got guts coming here, kid. I'll see you around! Maybe," he promised. "But until then, I'll be watching!" Bill laughed before blinking out of the visible realm.
The surroundings began to revert back into their original colours once more, and Dipper blinked in shock, startling himself awake. Wait, I was sleeping? He thought, and then remembered that he was in the mindscape just seconds before. He breathed a sigh of relief, the adrenaline in seeing his enemy now gone, before panic began to arise in him.
As the forest regained its colour and composure, Danny shot upright as if awoken by a loud sound. "Please don't dissect me! I'm not a–" he yelled as soon as he came to, but cut himself off as soon as he saw Dipper crouching down next to him. Then he frowned, and seemed to realize that he was sitting on the forest floor. "Dipper?" he asked unsurely. "Where the heck… What was that? And why do I smell like… dirt?" he asked confusedly from his sitting position, rubbing his head.
Dipper's eyes widened. He couldn't tell Danny the truth, and be seen as a hypocrite. But then again, he did see Bill. "Uh, what do you remember?" He stretched out a hand to help him off the floor.
"A yellow blur, and then..." Danny's eyes widened as his words trailed off, and as his memories came flooding back he turned his sights away from Dipper's view. "Nevermind that." He stood up and dusted off the dirt from where he was laying on the ground, visibly wincing at the movement of his left elbow.
Ooh, He scraped himself on the fall, Dipper pitied.
"Are you okay?" he asked, feeling guilty about not helping Danny off the ground sooner. He was so shocked by Bill's sudden appearance that in the moment, he completely forgot about Danny.
Danny pressed his hand against the side of his head, unsuccessfully trying to will away the pressure built up in his skull. After realising his headache would not be sent away so easily, he let out a lot sigh and allowed gravity to drop his dead weight arm.
"I guess. I mean, my head is killing me, but, I think I can manage," Danny gave a pained smile, turning to Dipper.
"Well, then we should probably get back to the others," Dipper suggested. "We've been gone for a while." At least about twenty minutes, almost, he thought. Would Mabel even be worried? Was she still mad at me?
"Yeah, I guess we should," Danny agreed as they began to walk off together, back in the direction of the river.
But above everything, Dipper couldn't help but feel uneasy about Bill's words. What weird new presence was he on about exactly? And why did he have a feeling that it had to do with Danny?
Whatever it was, Dipper was determined to find out.
HELLO AGAIN
So, I wanted to apologize for the umpteenth time for missing my promise update. I tried to make this chapter extra long in compensation for that, so I hope that makes up for it!
I wanted to thank lupsss1412, Panther4Life, bruno14, EmPro8, ShiraCr18, RedHeadsRock1010, Guest, Loopy Leefy, Petrovik, DipperDanny0715, Con-san, Bug Queen, and Lazy Me for leaving reviews on the last chapter.
About the comments regarding what I said in my last author's note about Journal 3, I don't exactly own Journal 3 either! I borrowed it from my wonderful sister when I went to visit her in Canada, who actually bought it when she went to the U.S! It's not available where I live either, but if it is where any of you live, again, I highly recommend.
To EmPro8: No offense taken! I do think SVTFOE is a great show, and I think I initially thought that too before I started to watch it, but trust me, the plot picks up A LOT at the end of season 1. It's remotely similar a lot to Gravity Falls which is why I like it, and if you do get the chance to watch Star vs. the Forces of Evil, you won't regret it!
As for Bug Queen's question: Why didn't Stan react more when he saw Phantom in the mirror? Did he just assume he was another ghost like the ones in the convenience store, or merely deem him non-threatening?
Well, I would most say the last option best suits the answer to your question. Stan has seen paranormal stuff before, and Danny doesn't exactly look malevolent, so yes, he thinks of Danny as non-threatening. I planned to touch more upon that in a later chapter!
Anyways, until next chapter!
-dannyghost :)
