A/N:

Code Answer: Her name is Roxie.

Getting some positive reviews so far which is always great and thank you all so much XD But for those who aren't reviewing, please do! I love writing this but I need to know that the work is good if I'm going to continue putting so much work into it. You don't train a horse and then send it to the stalls while the race is on and all that jazz XD Thank you!

Dipper was not happy. Mabel had been completely besotted with mothering the unknown and had insisted on taking it back to the Mystery Shack with them. The only reason he agreed was because Mabel had used blackmail by threatening to tell Wendy that he would go, and had been, far enough to alter a time line to make her like him. And so, he was forced to hand over his cap so that the tiny humanoid could be scooped up and carried safely across the woods, back to the Mystery Shack and into their attic room. Now the unconscious female was laid on their desk and the cap returned to its owner. Dipper had examined it thoroughly for any supernatural traces before wearing it again. Mabel was crouched down and smoothing the mousy hair gently like one would do with a pet hamster.

"Can we keep her?"

"What?" he blinked, "No, we don't know what it is. There could be more of them! We should have just checked the journal or left it alone."

"Well we had to get her out of there, right? She'll be safe here with us."

"But are we safe around it?"

Mabel scoffed, "What danger could she be? She's tiny!"

"You said that about a gerbil we brought home once, remember?"

She shuddered, "So many teeth… But, I'm sure this time it's different. Awe, she's adorable!"

"Mabel, shush, you'll wake it!"

"Pfft! Come on, Dipper, she's out colder than Grunkle Stan after he saw the last phone bill."

"And whose fault's that?" Dipper paused and arched an eyebrow at his sister, "How do you spend so much time on the phone anyway?"

Mabel put a hand on her brothers shoulder and smirked knowingly, "Is that really the issue here right now?" she directed her attention back to the tiny figure and prodded her gently, "See, out cold. Bop, Pop, Poke!"

"Mabel don't touch it! You don't know what it is or what it's carrying!" Dipper exclaimed, thinking that this must be a creature from his book, and if that's the case then not to be trusted.

"You worry too much. Hey look, she's moving!" she wagged a finger in his face scolding him, "So you'd better sort your manners out, mister, girls don't like to be called it."

As far as Dipper was concerned, this creature was an 'it' until he could find out more. It couldn't be human, the size was one thing; and the part of the woods where the size altering gems were had been sealed off and the crystals taken. So it couldn't have come across them recently. Then there were the two wounds on its back where it had either been cut or something had been pulled off. Dipper felt his fingers itching to flick through the book as a theory slipped behind his eyes. Wings? Extra limbs? This creature could be anything. And he hated not knowing. Mabel on the other hand found it all exciting. After everything they'd come across so far, this was another adventure to add to the list; which only irritated her twin more.

The creature in question was in fact starting to stir. She groaned, wincing through shut eyes. The throbbing pain in her head, neck and spine was almost unbearable, made worse that she was laying on her back. With some effort, she pushed herself onto her front and heaved backwards so that she was kneeling. Slowly, she braved herself to open her eyes and stared down at the wooden surface beneath her. Where was she? Looking around, she saw some white sheets that looked like paper and lengthy tubes that resembled pens and pencils. That's not right, the last thing she remembered was being in the woods. What was that all about? Swaying slightly, she managed to get to her feet. Something was seriously off around here. The ceiling looked so high up, she must be in a grand hall or something. A very run down grand hall anyway, this place looked ready to fall apart.

"Lara? Chris?" She muttered, searching for her siblings.

Suddenly, there was a horrible prickling at the back of her neck like she was being watched. Cautiously she braced herself and one step at a time, turned around. But nothing could have prepared her for the sight that towered over her. Two figures stood before her, a girl and a boy that looked a little similar to one another. Both had large round eyes and dark brown hair, the boys sticking out messily under a blue and white cap while the girls trailed down to her waist. But it wasn't the giant strangers that unnerved her, it was that they had her cornered in an unfamiliar place; alone. Judging on her position, she could very well fit in their palms snugly, she just hoped that they weren't going to put it to the test.

She clamped her teeth on her tongue to stop a shriek and instantly backed away, tripping over one of the huge pencils and falling flat on her back. This time unable to stop a groan as she hit the two strips of pain in her spine. The mountain of a girl leant inwards, making her feel uncomfortable and grinned with light bouncing off of the braces coating her teeth.

"Hi!"

"Uh…" was all the newcomer could get out.

"How you feeling sleepy-peeps?"

"Uh…"

"I'm Mabel! Can you say that? May-bell."

"Uh…"

"Close enough. Can you say Dipper? Oh, this is my brother Dipper. Go on, you can do it!"

"Lara!" She finally found her voice, eyes darting in panic and trying to shuffle backwards, "Chris!"

"Awe, not quite but you'll get there!" the girl gave a wink and a thumbs up.

"Mabel, it's not a baby, stop babbling at it."

It? What was this it? Was he calling her it? How dare he? That insulting label seemed to trigger an anger inside of her that mixed with her fear and pushed the words out of her mouth louder, "I'm not an it! It's name is Roxie you jerk!"

Dipper clamped his mouth shut in awe at the outrage. Suddenly Roxie felt a growing dread that maybe she shouldn't be insulting the giant before her who could easily smash her if he wanted to. The girl, Mabel, turned to her brother and smirked, "Told ya girls don't like being called that."

Roxie blinked, "What is going on? Where am I?"

"You're at the Mystery Shack." The boy, Dipper answered, "You kind of ran into trouble in the woods."

"And what part of that included me getting kidnapped by you two?"

"Mystery twins!" Mabel corrected proudly.

Dipper sighed, "Seriously, that again?"

"What? I thought you were coming around to the idea."

"I was but then it kind of got overused and now it's just annoying again."

Roxie arched an eyebrow, "You trying to be a hipster or something?"

Dipper blinked, how did this creature know about modern references? "Uh, no… You know what hipster means?"

"Well yeah, where do you think I live, under a rock?"

"Uh…"

"Yeah!" Mabel grinned, "That's where we found you ! Well, on a rock technically. In the woods and that's where all the not-humany people usually are. Oh I know! You're some kind of pixie or elf, right? Or a Brownie…" she suddenly giggled, "Hehe, Brownie, it doesn't even sound right!"

Roxie watched the boy face-palm and felt like joining him. This girl believed in fairies? Seriously? "I'm no such thing. And for your information I was visiting this place with my family; all humans."

"Bit on the small side for a human, aren't you?" Dipper asked, crouching down so he was eye level with her, "If you're human then how did that happen?"

Getting irritated with the interrogation she folded her arms warningly, wanting to get off the subject, "Last thing I remember is getting jumped by those santa-men in the woods and then waking up here. So as far as I'm concerned it's everyone else that's weird here, not me."

Mabel's eyes widened, "Oh my gosh! Maybe she's right! The entire universe might have altered and now we're giants among men!" she beamed and raised her arms triumphantly, "Go Mabelzilla!"

Exasperated, Dipper rolled his eyes, "Mabel, seriously, what are the chances of that happening? Clearly it's just confused and- ow! Hey!"

Forgetting that he had lowered himself to Roxie's eyelevel, she took advantage of the closeness and gave a swift punch to his nose. How dare he call her an 'it' when she was standing right there! He may be bigger but that didn't give him any authority over her. Admittedly the punch wasn't hard but it still took him by surprise and gave her some satisfaction. She may not remember how she got there with them, but she didn't like the way they treated her. One spoke to her like a child and the other was like some scientist with an ego boost. And if they didn't believe her story then she didn't care. It wasn't like their approval was required anyway. In fact, she didn't need to tell them anything.

Mabel chuckled at the attempted attack, "Wow Dipper, how manly do you feel right now?"

He gave her a disapproving glare and turned it to Roxie, pulling back to a safe distance. "What was that for?"

"I don't care what you think I am, I've got nothing to prove to you. In fact, I don't even have to stay and listen to this. So thanks for the heart attack but I'll be heading home if you don't mind. Bye!"

Dipper watched in confusion as the girl walked to the edge of the desk and peered over the edge as if sizing up the drop. Surely she wasn't going to jump? No, instead she leaned across to grab the lamp wire and zip lined down to the ground, landing roughly and stumbling. Collecting herself, she continued the journey.

"Wait, you can't leave, the gnomes might still be out there!" Mabel warned, laying on the floor on her stomach to be closer to eyelevel.

"Gnomes… right."

"It's true! They were going to marry you, I know because they tried to do it to me once!"

"In that case thank you so much!" Roxie said in a snarky tone. She'd had reached the door by this point, Mabel army-crawling to keep up, "Nice meeting you!"

Just like that, she was out of sight. Dipper arched an eyebrow, not really sure how to react to what just happened. Did he go after it? It was hurt after all and after knowing that it could speak and think, etc, his curiosity was increasing by the second to find out more. And Mabel looked ready to jump up and chase it down. So it said it came from a family of humans, and didn't seem to believe their story; but she seemed a little too accepting of being that size and the situation to be anything but used to that height and thus, not human. It was a mystery, and it wasn't going to be solved just sitting there. Oh great, he sighed to himself, there goes any chance of a break.

Mabel stood and brushed herself down, "Why didn't she believe us?"

"Good question, in fact there's a lot of questions here." He scratched his head in thought.

"Is one of them: why are we still standing here when we could be stopping Roxie getting into more trouble?" she gasped, "Oh no, it's Soos' weekly 'vacuum the store's forgotten food for lunch' day!"

"You see, that really grosses me out and yet I can't look away."

"Same here, it's hypnotic!"

Suddenly the meaning behind the announcement struck him. Creature only inches tall plus vacuum equals disaster! He tightened his cap to his head, "Mabel, you search the house, she couldn't have gone that far. I'll start looking outside."

"Why would she be there?"

He shrugged, "She wanted out, right? So she'll be trying to get out."

Roxie lay on her front and tried to catch her breath. That had been one heck of a ride. Upon exiting the twins bedroom, she had first tried to attempt the stairs but thought against it. Thankfully there had been a large crack in the woodwork on the side of the house, leading into the open. And as luck would have it, the rickety drainpipe was swaying near by. It hadn't been much of a jump to reach it, and the slide downwards would have been fun if it wasn't for all the leftover muck and leafs clogging her way. But she would rather go through that and end up on solid ground then go back. She didn't like the way she was treated in there. Cooed at by an excitable girl and objectified by some schmuck! She didn't have to take it, and it wasn't their business who she was or where she came from. She knew, and that's all that mattered. Well that and getting there.

If the last place she'd seen her siblings was in the woods, then it made sense to go back there. Taking in the colossal sights, she started on her way. The place seemed pretty empty, which worked in her favour. But her luck had been far from useful as of yet, so she had to make it count. Sprinting with all her energy, ignoring the pain in her back, she let the shadows of the trees take her. There was nothing she recognised, or rather, everything looked the same. Helpful. Surely whose kids weren't serious about gnomes trying to marry her? It was just too random!

She flinched as a twig snapped behind her and a dark shape skimmed in and out of view. And it looked big. Roxie felt her heart hammering against her chest. Where the hell were Lara and Chris? In the blink of an eye, she'd started running, panting desperately to force herself onwards. No, she needed to get high up. If she was high then she'd be out of reach and safe. But all the trees here had their branches way too high up and with few footholds; she'd never get down let alone up. So it looked like running was the best bet. For a second, her eyes clenched shut as if she was trying to picture herself somewhere, anywhere, else. And she definitely didn't want to picture herself plummeting suddenly as her foot stooped downwards. Her eyes snapped open and she released a scream as she found that she'd run out of ground; falling down what would be just a dried out river bed only a few feet deep, but to her it was like a canyon. Eyes sealed, she braced herself.

A sudden pain sprang through her as she landed on her back, but this time on something softer than the solid ground she was expecting. Darkness swallowed her as whatever she landed on curved around her in a shield. Her body jolted as whatever was containing her moved and starting bouncing rhythmically as if it was running. A lump of fear caught in her throat and she curled in on herself, wishing for it to end soon. She didn't know what was going on, she didn't want this, she just wanted to remember what had happened and go home!

Suddenly, everything went still and she could hear a slight panting of breath that she was sure wasn't from her. Her eyes were forced into a wince as the pinky dome around her started to open up, letting the evening light flood over her. When her eyes adjusted, she looked down to see that she was sitting on a slightly curved platform that felt a little fleshy. A pair of hands? Slowly, she turned her head and saw a large pair of wide eyes looking down at her. Part of Roxie was happy to see him again for saving her, the other was filled with annoyance that he'd dared to follow her and practically kidnap her. Again.

"Anyone would think you like giving yourself a death wish." Dipper panted, cheeks flushed from the lunge he'd taken to catch her and short sprint to a calm spot shaded with trees.

Roxie scooted around in his palm to face him, not trusting herself to stand just yet, "I don't need your help, I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, it really looked like it." He gave a knowing smile, hoping to make peace or at least just get a little gratitude.

"Yeah, well…" she sighed and looked to the side, "Thanks… I guess."

"Don't mention it."

"I won't."

Dipper rolled his eyes and felt his curiosity tweak a little more. It was all too much of a mystery to ignore, so as much as he wasn't happy about his next question, he felt that it was necessary for his investigation.

"Listen, why don't you stick around with us for a while? You know, just until you can find a way home."

She arched an eyebrow and added air quotes with her fingers, "So you can 'observe the creature's behaviour' more like."

"Well I wouldn't put it like that…"

"Thanks but no thanks, Dippy.

"Dipper."

"I'm not something you see on the mystery channel; I'm a person. You have no right to treat me otherwise."

Seeing that he was loosing her he backtracked, "Okay, I'm sorry. But seriously, you can either stay with us until you figure things out, or brave it out there alone again."

"I want to go home."

Dipper felt a pang of guilt, "Well… Where'd you live?"

"I'm not telling you that. I don't know you." She said bluntly, "But, I'm visiting family near the town centre."

"Well that visit's going to be memorable." He muttered, indicating her size compared to her 'supposed' human form.

"Look who's talking." She arched an eyebrow, "Okay, let's compromise. Take me to the town centre and I'll go from there. You get to see that I live in a human habitat while I get to go home and forget this day ever happened."

"Or, I take you to your family myself. Unless of course, you are hiding something?" he challenged.

"Well from the, let's see," she glanced at an invisible watch, "fifteen minutes I've known you, you have done nothing but ramble mythical conspiracies and take away my humanity by objectifying me, so sorry if I don't want you near my family."

He gritted his teeth in irritation at her stubborn, yet rational logic, "Good luck getting home then."

"That's blackmail and I'm pretty sure it's kidnap too."

"It's neither. Because technically we rescued you so it's not kidnap and we're giving you the option to stay with us if you need it, or you can head off."

"You keep saying 'we' and yet it's just you here." She circled her finger by her ear in a screw-ball symbol, "Okay, Dippy, how many people have you got in there?"

"It's Dipper." He growled.

"Just you and Dipper, that'll make it easier to take a guess." She smirked.

She could feel him starting to shake with irritation and felt a tweak of satisfaction, although she didn't feel too comfortable being in his hands. "Okay, fine, have it your way." To further his point, he lowered his hand down to the ground, making Roxie's stomach flip, "Go on home then, no one's stopping you. The offer's there if you want it."

Roxie looked over her shoulder at the ever-growing gloom of the forest and shivered. She had nothing to protect herself with out there and thinking about it, she had no clue what she was meant to protect herself against. She knew that he was calling a bluff, but the idea of going against it made her anxious. So, hating herself for letting him get one over on her, she stayed put on his palm and looked him in the eye.

"Fine. I mean, yeah, I'd like to stay. But just until I can get my family here to fetch me." The next word was bitter in her mouth, but she spat it out, "Thanks."

He gently lifted his hand to near eye-level again. Instead of acting smug like she expected, Dipper softened his expression and tweaked his cap with his free hand, "You're welcome."

GSV XIHGZO NBHGVIB WVVKVMH

A/N:

So what do you think of Roxie so far? And is she human or is she another creature to beware of? Tell me what you think XD Until next time folks!