Episode 7: Dipper's Denial.
Arc: "Devil's Deal"
Opening: Shiver – Gazette.

. . .

Dipper was falling directly towards his imminent death. And he was coming closer to the field of venomous flowers, when one thought— no, one name flashed through his mind: Ariadne.

The entire world stopped.

Dipper's eyes remained closed, preventing him from knowing what was happening outside, completely oblivious to his surroundings. If he had opened his eyes, Dipper would have averted them – which he obviously couldn't do, because the Adehnias had such a pretty movement within the wind that it was hypnotizing. He couldn't see, but he could feel and hear his surroundings — the wing hitting his face and delaying his fall, the screams of the others as they panicked. And he felt something inside him snapping. Something was wrong, out of place. He could hear the wyvern's incessant roars echoing through his mind and coming back, turning into reality, as well as Asaph's calls for him.

Opening his eyes, Dipper discovered he wasn't on his way towards the flower field anymore.

He was flying towards the sky. FLYING?! Dipper shouted inside his mind; the words echoed so loudly he was sure he was going to go deaf on this one. He looked behind his back and discovered he had wings. One of them was colored in a scary pitch black, while the other was in a soothing white color. That was certainly strange: where had they come from? How? Why? Dipper thought nothing could get stranger after being turned into a wolf and stuck like that until he finished a stupid quest. That was until he discovered he was some kind of magical winged wolf or something.

Suddenly everything went black for one moment; Dipper could see nothing. He could sense he was still flying, although his sense of sight simply disappeared. However, he saw a light, and all colors seemed to have faded as black became white. The name echoed on his mind again: Ariadne. Opening his eyes, he discovered one thing: those wings weren't his. And he wasn't controlling them. Someone else was. How was that possible? How could he have discovered that? He didn't have the answers he sought, only a sense of familiarity; he felt it deep inside. If it were any other day Dipper would have surely laughed at how stupid everything was, but not now. He was caught off guard when the wings headed directly to where the wyvern was. It was opening its mouth at him, as if wanting to eat him whole.

Dipper tried to stop those wings, or head another direction, but nothing worked. He wanted to control himself, but couldn't. He didn't know if it was the nervousness that made it impossible for him to control the wings or if there was someone else behind all this, but, seeing as the wings weren't his, perhaps it was the latter. This sounded very much like a story, a simple tale – the only difference was that Dipper didn't know if that story was a fairytale or a horror movie script. Suddenly, Dipper bumped against something hard. He opened his eyes quickly.

He was on the black wyvern's back, and, by its glare, the dragon-like creature didn't seem very happy by his presence, or the idea of being mounted, like a horse. It shook its whole body, trying to get Dipper down, unable to reach him by other means, but he had already nailed the wyvern with his sharp claws, preventing him from falling. Then he noticed he was a few centimeters close to the creature's neck. The brunette calmly crawled to the wyvern's neck, trying to shake that strange feeling that seemed to be made of a mix of fear and bravery, but was caught off guard one more time as the creature shook its body again, making Dipper almost fall.

Once again, Dipper thanked his claws as he managed to nail them on the creature's jaw, in which the dragon responded with a grunt of pain. Something told Dipper to do something quickly because his nails were slipping and his wings didn't seem like they'd budge anymore; his eyes widened when they shone in a white light and then disappeared. That was it, his life was over. Soon he would fall and die; he definitely didn't want that ending for his life, though this all would end and he wouldn't suffer anymore, if that happened….

No, what was he thinking? That would be considered suicide, and he definitely didn't want that. Then the wyvern opened its eyes and flew as fast as it could, with Dipper still attached to its jaw and clinging to life. The brunette-turned-blunette closed his eyes and focused. I need those wings, just one more time… Nothing happened. He tried again, but this time he tried something else. I need help… Ariadne… Whoever you are… No, this was wrong, he couldn't trust a stranger with his safety, it was the first rule of when he came to Gravity Falls! Trust no one, he told himself repeatedly throughout the whole summer, but, once he mentally pronounced those words, Dipper felt a wave of safety rush inside his veins— he had no other choice but to trust Ariadne, whoever she was. Then, he hesitantly let go.

He knew she would save him.

Dipper was falling to the ground, but he wasn't worried. He trusted her; he trusted Ariadne, whoever she was, wherever she was, whatever she was. Then he felt a warm sensation on his back. He was heading to the clearing of venomous flowers, and their movement in contrast with the wind was almost hypnotizing and relaxing. Dipper didn't know why he was being such an idiot by doing this, but he closed his eyes, and once more the entire world stopped, as he seemed to be frozen in time. He knew it was time to say it.

"I trust you, Ariadne." He said out loud.

Dipper opened his eyes in a heartbeat. He was almost close to the field. However, when he was going to bump onto the ground, he flew directly to the horizon. Dipper peeked behind his shoulders and saw the same wings he had seen before. Dipper had never felt this confident before, it was almost like it wasn't him — like he was someone else... Someone he knew. It's time to end this, he thought. Dipper then flew as high as he could, and just then he noticed that he could now control those wings. Dipper knew that was the weirdest thing he had ever done: he was flying behind a wyvern with black and white wings, which he had gotten by trusting someone called Ariadne. However, he indeed trusted her. For a reason unbeknownst to him, he trusted her.

"Dipper, what are you doing?!" He heard Asaph and Daniel shout at him, but ignored them completely. His wings were fully opened, as if trying to help Dipper with his flight. Somehow, Dipper felt more intimidating this way— if this wasn't such a serious situation, he would've snickered; it was very pathetic that the only time he ever felt intimidating was when using someone else's power instead of his own. With the difference of weight, Dipper could have reached the wyvern easily, but the creature's wings were much bigger and, therefore, this made it easier for it to fly faster. Not worrying about this, Dipper revealed his sharp claws, ready to attack when needed. However, he waited.

He was waiting for something.

He was waiting for a signal.

"Go." Someone said inside his mind; that was exactly what Dipper wanted to hear.

He flew as near to the creature's neck as he could – and as fast as the wings allowed him to –, then slashed it with his claws. It didn't seem to work at first, since the dragon's scales seemed to protect its neck from any possible damage that would be deadly. However, Dipper couldn't be more wrong; and that was, for once, a good signal. It was like a jolt of electricity. The wyvern's grunts of pain and attempts to fly were no use — especially because the wings were attached to the neck by a number of nerves — and it fell towards its apparent death, on the clearing. The ground trembled for a few seconds, as if complaining about the creature's fall, but then everything returned to normal. The apprentices that were still on the trees hung on like their lives depended on it, not wishing to fall, especially on the clearing of all possible places to fall on.

Dipper flew to where his comrades were and, when he reached the floor, his wings disappeared in a quick jolt of light, leaving some sparkles floating around the air. It was weird, but strangely magical. Dipper didn't bother turning to the other three apprentices who were frantically calling for him; his vision was slightly blurry and he was dizzy, eyes somewhat glassy, and his back was still aching from the tremendous effort he had to make. He turned and faced the creature, as its eyes didn't open again, nor did it move or show any signs of life. However, Dipper could still feel the danger — after having spent quite a while in Gravity Falls, Dipper learned not to expect things to die so easily. He was awakened from his hypnotized state by Asaph, who nudged him with his tail. "You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Dipper asked, not taking his eyes off the wyvern; he knew it had been easy... Way too easy. "It's just a stupid lizard with wings."

"Yeah, Asaph. When will you learn?" Daniel agreed, approaching them, and was ready to make a new comment about something. "It's just a stupid, gigantic, flesh-eating, blood-lusted, red-eyed deadly lizard with wings. How stupid is that?" Asaph rolled his eyes upon noticing Daniel's sarcastic comment. Dipper ignored both of them, focusing on the black wyvern's body (or, depending on its status, corpse). He wanted to notice the faintest movement, and the faintest sound, to know if the creature was alive or not.

If that was the case, he would react faster and kill the wyvern before it could gather enough energy to start a new fit.

He wanted to know where Danna was, and if she was alright, but that didn't matter right now. Yes, she was as well pulled far away by the wyvern's collision with a few trees nearby, but she was alright, he knew it. He hoped so.

"Dipper, I have to ask… How did you do that?" Asaph totally ignored Daniel and turned to the now-turned wolf. Dipper did not take his eyes off the wyvern's immobile body, but understood perfectly Asaph's question. And he'd been asking himself that as well. Dipper sighed, blinking tiredly – as he basically consumed his entire energy to follow the wyvern and attack it –, and shook his head, trying to wake up inside. Something that wasn't easy because fatigue was consuming him from inside out.

"I don't know. What do you mean, exactly?" He could be wrong. Asaph could be talking about how he slashed the dragon's neck with its thick and almost impenetrable scales, which wasn't actually a problem since wyverns don't have as much scales as the normal dragons, and their scales aren't as hard as a dragons'. Basically, their defense is low, although Dipper discovered their attack basis is very high. And their speed too, because even being lighter than the wyvern, it was hard to reach it. Asaph rolled his eyes at Dipper's question.

"I'm talking about the wings that appeared on your back out of nowhere!" He argued. "I heard from mentor Keehnesi that you can just learn how to grow wings when you're on a higher level – more or less when you've completed 200 lessons –, which clearly hasn't happened to you." Asaph explained. This time, it was Dipper who rolled his eyes out of boredom. "Well, that is what he told me, because it takes too much energy to create wings and they are hard to remove as well."

Dipper looked at his own back. His wings had disappeared when the preteen had reached the floor, and that made Dipper wonder how they worked. Maybe if he focused, the wings would appear on his back again? Things actually weren't as simple as they looked, at least to Dipper.

"I really don't know what I did. It just happened. I can't believe in it either." Dipper answered vaguely. It is funny how tables turn, he thought, closing his eyes and contemplating the meaning of all this. He would protect his family from Bill; they would be safe, they would be safe, he continued chanting inside his head. Asaph either didn't understand the sarcasm or pretended he didn't. "Uh, don't you guys believe in miracles?" Dipper asked once he noticed Asaph's silence.,

"We're all demons; so, yes and no." Daniel answered directly. "I mean, it won't happen to us and all."

"Shut up." Dipper ordered, though it sounded more like a joke than a direct order; Asaph snickered, as everything went silent. However, Dipper felt something wrong. Just when everything was calming down for a little bit, the ground below them started to tremble, as if an earthquake was about to happen. The wyvern slowly stood up, as if nothing had happened to it at first. Its neck was bleeding lightly, but nothing too drastic. In front of Dipper's eyes, the scar healed itself quickly, something he definitely hadn't predicted.

Dipper's eyes widened as he backed away a few steps, being followed by Asaph and Daniel. The creature's blood red eyes scanned the area, and then stopped on Dipper and Dipper only. Its objective was clear now: Dipper was its target, and no one else. What could be worse than being a dangerous creature's only target? The boy froze, his muscles stiffened, and Dipper had to stifle a cry of terror upon noticing the wyvern's slits become even thinner, as if deciding how it would kill and eat him.

Quickly, but swiftly, the wyvern jumped as high as it could, and then aimed its claws at the blunette. Then, it opened its large wings and flew directly to where Dipper was standing, with such an impressive speed that it would be almost impossible to dodge it. Dipper then realized that he would be an even easier target if he just stood there instead of moving, so he immediately levitated to a tree at his left that was almost entirely covered in leaves, impressed with his level of concentration at this point, and how he did it so quickly. Maybe the adrenaline did help after all. The wyvern tried to search for him, but it was no use. Instead, it hit a few trees to the right and then flew to the sky in frustration.

A high-pitched, feminine scream followed after this, and it echoed through the clearing and Dipper's mind, causing his head to throb for a few seconds after it. Dipper's eyes widened even more upon recognizing the scream and from who it was. He teleported himself to the floor, carefully, and, along with Asaph and Daniel, shouted at the top of his lungs:

"DANNA?!"

A/N: I'm really late with this chapter.

I'm sorry, really, I've been busy with LIFE. I've realized life's like a boarding game: it sucks. Well, not all boarding games suck, but I suck at them instead. Like monopoly. I honestly suck at everything that is equal to making money. I wish I could win money sleeping. I'd be rich. Well, today mom started giving me "the talk". I was, like, "EW. Mom, no. Just... no". Yes, children, stop illuding yourselves thinking being a teen is aweasome BECAUSE IT'S NOT. I mean, I'm a teen but I'M SMALLER THAN LEVI! How is that possible? D:

About the chapter, yes, it's really confusing. But you'll understand on later chapters... OH NO, DANNA! Well, looks like the tables really turned now. Dipper, go save her! She's your OTP! No, wait. NVM.

Awakened Niwana, off.