Episode 10: Beneath secrets and lies.
Arc: "Devil's Deal"
Opening: Shiver – Gazette.

. . .

"It is Bill's son; he has escaped."

As Keehnesi expected, a lot of questions followed at the same time.

"Bill has a son?!"

"Did he date someone then? What's their love story?"

"Escaped? When? And from where?"

"Who would want to date Bill, Danna?"

"What is happening?"

"SILENCE!" Keehnesi roared in a scary, loud, low and demoniac voice. His whole body turned a navy blue (just as Bill becomes red), but then he recomposed himself and turned back to his normal coloration. Beatrice wanted to try and calm him down, but didn't want to get involved. She knew that when her brother got angry or impatient, many things could go wrong and usually someone would get hurt. Though, his attitude impressed her; honestly, it did. Keehnesi was a calm person- uh, demon. He rarely shouted, because he used psychology. It seemed like he was nervous due to the new information that they had discovered.

"Stop asking me stupid questions; this information is not for children. Now, let's continue our lessons like nothing happened, shall we?" His tone was threatening. The four young apprentices exchanged worried glances before turning back to their mentors; and then they nodded. The four of them wanted the answers so badly, because they were – even if the mentors denied – somewhat involved in this case. Bill's son had escaped somehow; the apprentices found their animal forms; they had been attacked by a fierce, blood-lusting wyvern; Keehnesi was having a fit. Many things were happening at once, and it was hard for them to relax and stop asking questions.

"Calm down, brother." Beatrice said, rolling her single eye, and turning to the four children wearing white, clean tunics in front of her. "That was a very interesting battle. May I ask how did you defeat the Black Wyvern? I heard they're one of the hardest species of wyvern to defeat and-" She was interrupted.

"We didn't." Daniel answered, trying to hide (effortlessly) his disappointment.

"What?" Beatrice and Keehnesi asked at the same time; both were confused. They had spent a lot of time inside there. Many things had happened there, but they were too busy to watch. Yes, they knew a lot of things, but that didn't mean they knew everything. Keehnesi and Beatrice had lives to live, and many things to do. They had works and apprentices to take care of. It was like babysitting, but harder; they had to babysit and train the apprentices at the same time. Who says that is easy? Daniel sighed, feeling a headache coming. He wasn't goods at explaining things, so all he did was nod at Dipper, and let him explain the situation. And Dipper didn't complain at all.

"When I first hit the wyvern, it just fainted… for a few minutes. But then it woke up and tried to catch me, almost as if…" Dipper trailed off. He had never thought about that before. This feeling had crossed his mind during the explanation: the fierce and anger in the wyvern's eyes, the determination it had, and everything else. It was something hard to explain, he knew that, but… Was he imagining things, because of all the nervousness and curiosity he was feeling? Something wasn't right, but Dipper couldn't put his finger on it. He needed a few more clues to complete his mental puzzle.

"As if what?" Asaph asked, snapping Dipper out of his thoughts.

"Almost as if it wanted me dead… or as if it wanted to catch me and take me somewhere… or both." Dipper completed as he sighed in realization, running a hand through his now-blue hair. Everything went silent. Nobody said anything, and all they could hear were each other's breaths. The two mentors were in silence, watching Dipper carefully, as if he was a criminal. Asaph stopped to think about it. The way the wyvern looked at Dipper, the way it aimed at him with its tail; and the way it tried to catch him when it turned out the creature was still alive.

It seemed like it needed Dipper alive for something. But Asaph couldn't put his finger on the question either.

"I don't understand. Why would it do that? This wyvern had also found me on the forest; if it wanted me dead, it could've killed me right away." Dipper asked himself. Beatrice grabbed the chip from Keehnesi's hands and analyzed it again. She narrowed her eye at the chip, while thinking about Dipper's question; it was a good question, if you stop to think about it: why would a wyvern do that? If the wyvern was so eager to get Dipper, then why didn't it attack him on the forest, anyway? It had a chance; a choice. Why leave him alone, let him live?

"I found out the answer for this question, Dipper: it was programmed to do so." Beatrice said, while gripping the chip tightly in her hands. Something wasn't right, and she hadn't discovered something new like this in ages. Finally, Beatrice Cipher felt useful and smarter than her brother. "This chip tells me everything. Look at it." She gave it to Dipper. He calmly analyzed it, and – at first – he didn't find anything special about the chip. Yes, nothing was wrong with it; or it seemed like it.

Narrowing his eyes, he analyzed it better and discovered the written numbers: 13(2)1450(2)9(2). These numbers were the key! He hadn't noticed it at first. They had been written under the letters 'A. Cipher'. Something wasn't right, and he knew it. Dipper felt himself trembling with anxiety, fear and excitement: a combination that he rarely felt at all before going to Gravity Falls. After that, he started having this feeling every day; the feeling of a new adventure. "This wyvern was created. I should've expected it. Black Wyverns have been extinct for centuries."

"What does that mean?" Daniel asked, pointing at the numbers on the chip.

"We've said too much." Keehnesi narrowed his eye.

"We have the right to know." Dipper argued back, feeling his rage building. Why were the mentors so devoted to keep this a secret? Was it something they would have to die after discovering or something? Was it a government secret? "And what do you mean by programmed? Does that mean it was created? Is that why it still exists though its species have been extinct?" He turned to Beatrice, hoping she'd answer his questions, but Keehnesi interrupted before the floating circle could say anything.

"Don't tell him anything." Keehnesi's body became purple again, also feeling the same anger as Dipper. "Listen, this is private information. You can't interfere in anything right now. A threat has returned, and it's coming closer and closer. It is my duty to keep you away from this. If I don't, he'll find you all; especially you." He pointed to Dipper, who shuddered. Keehnesi was really threatening when he wanted to, though that didn't make him want to give up; that encouraged him. If this threat was coming closer, one day it will have to come, and they would know the truth. Why should they delay this? Would it make it any better for everyone? "Do you know why Bill chose you?"

"No…" Dipper answered weakly.

"You have great mental capabilities, as well as great strength; and you're powerful. Bill's previous apprentice, who was his own son, was also like that. He was a powerful demon, and a great strategist. His mind was a brick wall against our previous apprentices. He was better at everything: battling, strategies, concentration… But he had one flaw; one defect. And this flaw led him to madness, and this madness led him to his own end. I think you don't want to end up like that, do you?" At this point, the other apprentices didn't even know what Keehnesi was talking about. Beatrice, knowing what he was trying to say, wanted to interrupt, but she couldn't. She shouldn't.

Dipper paled at Keehnesi's harsh tone and explanation. "I… I don't…" He stuttered.

"This is all I can tell you." The pink square recomposed one more time, returning to his pink color and relaxing. He closed his eye and mused: "Alright, since I feel you won't stop asking us questions, the lessons are over until we solve this case. And I don't want to see you sticking your noses in this; otherwise, heads will roll. And these heads will be yours. Now, it's time to go." The world around them started to crumble. Beatrice snapped her fingers and the apprentices had their normal clothes back. They were also fading, starting from their legs and going up to their other bodies. Their vision was getting blurry and, even if they were trying to fight against it, they fainted…

And everything went black.

. . .

Dipper opened his eyes in a heart's beat and jumped out of bed, looking around. Had it been a dream? Had everything been a dream? Everything about the wyverns, the story about Bill's son, the mentors and everything else… It felt like a dream; a weird one. Dipper sighed and put his hand in his head, sitting back on his bed. Everything was spinning inside his head, and he couldn't think. Looking down, he noticed how he had his clothes back on. The pine tree hat, the orange shirt, the grey shorts, the navy blue vest, the shoes… Yes, it was a dream, Dipper thought, as he wanted to tell himself that confidently. But couldn't.

What would he do? It sounded like, whenever he was closed to discovering something, another thing completely different happens and prevents him from finding anything out. Dipper got up, glanced at the clock that said 6 pm, and was about to open the door when the knob turns by itself and somebody enters inside the dusty attic. Dipper almost tripped (even if he was still) upon recognizing who had just entered: it was Mabel, his twin sister, and she didn't look very pleased. Dipper was already thinking about the best excuse to tell her.

"Hey there, Mabel" Dipper greeted in the most cheerful and normal (for him) way he could; though it didn't really seem to change the fact he looked worried and frightened inside. Yes, stupid, go like this, like nothing really happened even if you made a deal with a psychotic demon and now is probably being haunted by a dragon created by him son, Dipper thought as he resisted the urge to bite his lower lip and tell her everything.

"Dipper, we need to talk." Mabel said, and Dipper had never heard such a serious tone voice in his life. Well, in fact he did, but it didn't seem such serious business like right now. The brunette closed the door behind her, and sat on the bed that was hers. Dipper, knowing this would take some time, did the same with his bed. "You've been acting weird lately." And she went right to the point, not even trying to sound Mabel-like, with all her chit-chat and irresponsibility. And now the blunette was, again, thinking of a new excuse that would actually work, because the previous one now didn't seem like a good idea. Serious Mabel was a Serious Mabel, after all.

"What? No, I haven't – of course I haven't. I would never do that! Why do you think that?" Dipper stiffened nervously.

"First, if you weren't hiding anything from me then you'd answer me with a 'no, I'm not', and when you are, you answer me with five statements, in which two are questions and one in an exclamation – that sounds like you're in despair or something." Mabel explained, staring him in the eye. She didn't frown, or smile. She was really serious; keeping her poker face.

Dipper was impressed.

How had she been so observant in all those years and he hadn't noticed that? His sister was a genius or something like that, even if he wanted to believe she wasn't; or that she didn't use this characteristic that much. "Second, you've been disappearing in the middle of the day for the past few days! And you also sleep a lot. You never wake up this late; it's, like, 5 pm or something! Third, you are different, physically and mentally. We don't talk to each other anymore; your hair is getting a little blue-ish and your eyes are lighter."

Dipper's eyes widened and he grabbed the nearest mirror he could find. Indeed, his hair was still a light blue. And his eyes were light-yellow; the color of his wolf form's eye. He sighed. How could he explain this? Dipper thought these traits would go away when he turned into a human again, but they stayed. Like an unwelcome guest that he had to keep. Dipper sighed silently, knowing this would be a hell lot harder now.

"I-uh, decided to dye my hair. It makes me look cooler." He lied. I hope it works, Dipper thought to himself. Mabel knew how eager he was to look cool and impress Wendy, even if he had now stopped doing this that much.

"You said you'd never dye your hair because you know mom and dad will be mad at you. And you said hair dye is for girls." Dipper sighed. Mabel didn't buy it. And the blunette didn't even remember saying that, did he? Mabel had a good memory, and that is probably because she could blackmail him with things later. He knew his sister, but what other things was she hiding from him? She already revealed being observant, though fairly distracted. "Are you sure you aren't hiding anything from me?"

"No, Mabel, I'm not-"

"We don't go on adventures anymore…"

"Mabel, I'm serious-"

"You promised you'd tell me…" She sighed. "We're twins, are we not?" Dipper nodded. "And we promised we'd tell each other if we had a problem, right?" Dipper nodded again. He knew where this would lead. He had to be strong, keep his promise to keep this a secret, and move on. "Please, tell me if you have a problem. I know you do, and I want to be useful!" Dipper felt a tug at his heart. Mabel felt useless… because of him. What kind of twin brother he was? He was so busy doing the 'apprentice stuff' that he didn't even realize he was hurting Mabel in a way.

"If I tell you…" Dipper, however, didn't change his mind about keeping his secret. What would she do if he told her? Would she help him or abandon him? Knowing Mabel, she would do the first one, without a doubt, but he didn't want to risk anything. So he stood up, went to the door and grabbed the knob. He turned to her, and his grip on the knob tightened. "… You'll hate me." And then he left, closing the door and leaving behind a desolated Mabel.

She lied on her bed and let the tears stream down her face, falling onto her pillow.

"Dipper… You promised me…"

A/N: Finally, chapter 10!

Wow, Mabel, it took you 10 chapters to find out? You're slow. And what has happened to Dipper's appearence? I'm not telling you. Yes, this chapter may cause many confusion on you guys, but I'm sure that later chapters can explain everything! I hope. Got a question? PM me! And, yeah, new cover! I found this photo on the internet and it caught my interest actually. I do not own this image! Just saying, ok! That's because I'm bad at drawing XD

Also, check out my profile, there are good news about this story inside there! Just check it out. And, oh my god, more than 5.000 views? Thanks so much, guys, I couldn't have done it without you T^T I'm so HAPPY! Yeah, I'm sad too because on Monday I have math test and it sucks so badly. One more thing I forgot to tell, and I think you don't know: DANIEL AND DANNA ARE TWINS, GUYS! FORGOT TO TELL YA! I'm too distracted this year. I'll just go to bed and sleep 'till next year.

Welp, I hope you guys have a good week! Oh, and a warning for those who haven't read Wolf Twins yet:

At least one CS (Cipher Secret) character, OR EVEN MORE, will not survive! Thanks for reading :3

Awakened Niwana, off.