Hi again! I wrote this thing up of my own volition! Requests will come next, I promise.

Oc's are in this thing, people, so no stealing, alright? Thank you. Enjoy!

Drabble 2: Lurking Shadows

Sum:
There is something mysterious out in the Gravity Falls forest . . . and I mean more than usual. When Dipper and Stanley stumble into a cursed stream and meet a tiny society of "Monster-fied" humans and "Human-ified" monsters, Dipper thinks it's some sort of crazy dream. They quickly find that this is not the case. . . .

Universe:
Monster Falls, just after "A Tale of Two Stans"

A`N:
May or may not become a separate, multi-chapter fic of it's own. Not sure at this point. It popped into my head and I thought it'd be fun.

Dipper couldn't believe he'd gotten himself into this situation. And yet, here he was. Dangling upside down in a snare. It was a wire snare that wrapped tightly around his ankle, and it lifted him up so high that he was among the twigs and needles of the neighboring tree. Nowhere even close to anything that could help pull him to something stable enough to take a look at the snare and maybe get it off.

All he could do was dangle there. And stare down at his hat. For hours. In fact, he was dangling there for so long, he fell into a light doze. It wasn't until late evening that he woke up with a start. The wind had started to blow hard, and clouds were covering the sky, full of rain.

"DIPPER!?"

The boy jerked his head around at the shout. "Grunkle Stan?" he shouted over the wind. "I'm over here!"

Suddenly, Grunkle Stan was underneath him, picking up his hat and glancing around. "I'm up here!" he called down.

Stan jumped, looking up in shock. He chuckled and sighed. "What're you doing?" he asked.

Dipper crossed his arms. "I stepped on some type of snare hours ago."

Stan merely sighed again. "Just hang tight, then. I'll find where the thing is hooked up at." Stan walks out of Dipper's immediate view. There's some muttering and then an exclamation of triumph.

The wire suddenly loosens and Dipper drops unceremoniously to the ground. From a few feet away, Grunkle Stan says, "Whoops. Sorry, it slipped from my hands." he held them up, and a few small cuts on the fingers and palms were clear; the wire was very sharp, and Dipper was lucky it had tightened around his sock, rather his bare flesh.

Dipper rubs the back of his head, sitting up, only to groan and lay back down again.

"You okay, kid?" Stan asks worriedly, standing over him.

Dipper nods, sitting up more slowly. "Yeah, just a head rush . . ."

Stan nods and gives the kids his hat back, just as it starts to rain. He helps the kids to his feet, but Dipper yelps and would've fallen again had Lee not grabbed his shoulder.

"Think I twisted my ankle . . ." he grunts.

Stan raises a brow. "You think?"

Suddenly, there's a bolt of lightning and crash of thunder close by; the sky darkens significantly as rain stopped sprinkling and begins to pour in torrents. It soaks the two in less than a minute and making it hard to see more than two yards in any direction.

Grabbing his great-nephew, Lee swiveled on his heel and took off in a random direction, not recalling which way he came from and hoping to get lucky.

In his haste, he tripped and stumbled into a small stream, getting both him and Dipper wetter than they were before. Staggering to his feet, Stan glanced about, looking for something to use as shelter.

"Stan, look!" Dipper's small hand points towards a dark, yawning opening several yards to the left. A cave. And while entering a random cave in Gravity Falls could lead to bad circumstances, just standing or running around in a thunderstorm could (arguably) be worse.

Stan nodded and ran, sprinting through the trees. He stepped once inside. The rain didn't reach once you were several feet inside. The cave was much deeper than they originally thought; it stretched away, into inky darkness, much farther off.

Stan took a seat, stilling holding Dipper in his lap, panting. He glanced out at the storm, thunder roaring and brief flashes of thunder lighting up the cave from time to time.

"Guess we're stuck here for awhile . . ." Stan commented.

"Any . . . card tricks?" Dipper asked, trying to be conversational.

Suddenly, a light appeared farther down the cave. Both tensed as it got closer. The light came from a lantern, held by a tall, stocky teenage girl. Her dark brown hair was messy and thick, hanging into her green-gold eyes and stopping just above her ears. She wore dark brown skinny jeans and a dark brown jacket, and combat boots with clear metal toes. She seemed slightly annoyed.

A twelve-year-old boy at her side had long, deep brown hair, sea-green eyes, and wore a tattered pair of shorts and a faded dark blue T-shirt, and worn-down orange sneakers. There was a gap in his upper teeth and he wore a orange-red shell around his neck. He was surprised and worried.

Another boy, looking no older than eight, grinned creepily wide at them. He was surprisingly well-dressed. He wore a pair of black dress pants, a white short sleeved shirt with black sleeves and a yellow vest with a shiny golden brick pattern on it. He had a small black bow tie, a too-small black top hat set at a crazily slanted angle on his head, black dress shoes, and half-messy/half-neat corn-yellow hair that covered his left eye. His visible eye was a pale baby blue.

All three seemed rather surprised to see them, but only the teen seemed not to know them.

"Dipper?" asked the dark-haired kid.

"Mermando?" Dipper replied, squinting, then his eyes went wide. "Wait, do you have legs?!" glancing down at his sneakers.

"Hey, Pine Tree!" the kid piped up, his voice young and a bit high-pitched, full of cheer and curiosity. "Did you and Crescent-Spike catch the Fluvious Flu?" he inquired. It was what he called them that gave him away.

"Bill?!" Dipper demanded, flinching back. The demon-kid practically beamed, nodding.

He waved his hand and a pitch-black cane, previously unseen behind his back, was suddenly visible as he twirled it and spoke, "Lux tuum baculum!" and it suddenly glowed bright yellow, as Dipper had last seen it. In the new, brighter light, one could see what lay on the back of each hand.

Twin burn marks, that looked like the demon as he had previous been(a one-eyed triangle with skinny arms, legs, top hat and bow tie), the legs stretching towards his knuckles and top hat edging towards the kids' wrist on each hand. They were as like as if they had been copied from Dipper's own journal, and looked very fresh; days old.

"Oh, so you know me?" the demon continued. "Do you know where my parents are? I can't remember!" he laughed, a sort-of cackle that Dipper felt was similar, yet vastly different from the one he'd heard before from the demon; this laugh was truly joyous, with no bad intent or ulterior reasons behind it. It also had a subtle undertone of sadness, as if he really couldn't recall his parents.

Stan watched tensely. "What's going on here? Fluvious what now?" he demanded.

The girl tossed her head, her hair flicking up and falling back away from her eyes. "Fluvious Flu; though it's not exactly an illness." she replied. She pointed a strong, slender arm and hand towards the cave entrance, just as another flash of lightning, worryingly close, lit up the cave's mouth, the resulting BOOM of thunder making all of them but the girl jump as it echoed and re-echoed throughout the cave, speaking of it's depth.

Bill giggled childishly, though he was clutching his cane like a teddy bear and peeking out from behind the girl now.

"The stream out there? I assume you fell into it. If so, you're either lucky or unlucky. I'm still not sure which it is for me." she looked back at them, with curiosity that seemed a little morbid, with pity, with anticipation, and with sympathy.

Stan only held Dipper closely, protectively, and nearly growled at them. "I'm not going to let you hurt him." he ground out stiffly, though he made no motions as if to stand.

Mermando stepped forward and held up his hands in the universal 'we-mean-no-hard' gesture. "We are not going to hurt you; if you've fallen into the stream, then it's magic is already on you. Look at me!" he gestured widely with one arm, taking in his whole form with one sweep. "I was a Merperson and now I'm a human. Dios te ayude! I'm not sure what will happen to you; you'll just transformar en otra cosa - change; I don't know what it'll be." he finished.

Stan shifted uncomfortably against the cave wall; something was digging into his upper back, just about on his shoulder blades. "So, what, we're cursed or something?" he grumbled.

Dipper fidgeted, too, though for a different reason. His back felt kinda itchy. "So, wait, if creatures are becoming humans . . ." realization and a small amount of horror sparked in his eyes. "Will we become monsters?!" he snapped.

Bill giggled, twirling his cane. "Yes! Monsters and humans, humans and monsters!" he giggled again, smiling that insanely wide, almost-impossible, gleeful grin; though there was no malice in it or his voice, only cheer, as if it were his birthday.

Stan literally growled, gently setting Dipper to the side before leaping to his feet, intent on lunging and teaching that tiny twerp a lesson. When Bill saw the approaching, angry adult, he squealed with fear, real terror in his eyes before scrambling away, deeper into the cave. His brightly-glowing cane gave him away easily, until he yelped out another incantation or spell.

"Non magis illuminat!" he cried out, skittering quickly back towards Mermando and hiding behind him while Stan trailed back more slowly, grumbling.

Bill was practically trembling, and cried out in fright when he saw Stan approaching, cowering and ducking his head. "Don't eat me! I'm not tasty!" a few small tears fell from his eyes, and his voice was wavering, too. It was hard not to pity him.

Stan grumbled some, but it was mostly in discomfort. "Forget it, kid." he muttered as he passed. In the light of the lanterns flame, he looked a mite grey. Dipper peered closer as his grunkle approached, only to gasp.

Grunkle Stan was turning grey, and looked like he was made of stone. Stanley suddenly cried out in pain and dropped to his knees, hugging himself tightly, eyes squeezed shut. His ear grew pointed and his fingertips curved and ended in pointed grey-black claws. There was a set of loud R-I-I-I-I-P's as two large, grey wings suddenly tore through the back of his suit, large and bat-like, and a tail appeared from underneath his coat. Two small, black-grey horns poked out of his hairline above his forehead.

His whole form shuddered and he seemed to shrink in on himself, whimpering with a voice that was more boulder-like and deep and rumbling than Dipper was used to. Large wings curled around his grunkles frame protectively until the shuddering finally stopped. He slowly looked up, opening pure-gold eyes and grimacing with a mouth of sharp, pointy teeth.

"Oh, ow . . . that hurt . . . ow . . . " he grumbled, in a voice deeper and rougher than his own. Dipper half-flinched, scrambling to his feet, despite his twisted ankle, and stumbled towards Stan

"Grunkle Stan!" he exclaimed, half in fear and half in worry.

Eyes widening, Stan slowly uncurled himself, looking over himself in shock. "What the . . ." ears laying back in surprise and confusion, he tried to focus on making himself sound normal. For his great-nephew's sake. "D-dipper? Did you . . .did you get any stream water on you?" Stan demanded, managing to sound like himself.

Dipper practically flung himself into his Grunkles arms. He wasn't going to let his great-uncles new appearance scare him. He was still the same; right? "I-I don't know." he answered shakily. Stan would never hurt him on purpose; he could trust his Grunkle.

The teenage girl was eyeing them both apprehensively. "Another gargoyle?" she muttered.

Bill's grin was slipping into a thoughtful, fearful frown, worried for himself, and the others around him. He already knew the destructive force of a YOUNG gargoyle; he didn't want to know what this bigger one could do.

Dipper didn't have a chance to reply. A shudder passed through his form. Stan held him tightly, but gently in his large arms, shielding him unconsciously with his wings. There were no visible changes yet, but Stan was expecting him to become some sort of . . . gargoyle-stone creature, like him.

The teenage girl walked up cautiously, eyes flicking over a strange marking on the upward point of the new gargoyles right wing; right where his burn was, engraved into the stone of the flexible, indestructible joint.

"Stan." she said firmly, but suggestively. "You can't guess what he'll become; it's best to set him down and let the changes occur so you don't crush him by mistake. You can comfort him afterwards."

It was blunt and to the point; and her words held a distinct ring of truth to it. Stan slowly uncurled his wings and did as she said. Dipper looked up at him, frightened, a small hand clutching his jacket sleeve and another reaching over his back, scratching at it.

The changes started to become noticeable in the boy; ears lengthening and broadening, brown fur creeping out from under his shorts and towards his socks. For a several long moments, there were cracks and creaks as the kid spine seemed to lengthen, him groaning all the while with his eyes screwed shut, and two thin, bony legs seemed to erupt from under his shirt as his shorts ripped and lower half stretched out.

Mermando and the teenage girl turned away, but Bill watched in fascination and Stan in apprehensive worry; and he couldn't tear his eyes away, even though he initially tried.
The kids lower half from the waist-down was that of a deer; a fawn; brown on the back and flanks, lighter on the belly, with four trembly, twitchy legs that ended in black hooves, a little puff-ball of a tail, and white spots scattered on his back.

Two ears, deer ears, now replaced his human ears. Dipper slowly opened his eyes, ears laid back and both arms reaching for his grunkle. "It hurt. . . ." he whimpered.

Stan gently took him up in his arms, mindful of the strange new limbs, and did his best to hug the young deer-child. He could feel a stirring in his gut, a protective instinct rising up with a growl, daring any to approach and try to hurt his young charges. Stanley blinked, not sure where that had come from, but he was suddenly hyper-aware of the teenager walking slowly towards them.

She beckoned for them to follow her. "We should go and see the others. They'll want to meet you; and there are some that can help you adapt to your new instincts and forms." she instructed; she sounded confident, but was careful to say it in a way that suggested it, rather than ordered.

"It's getting dark outside . . ." Bill added, pointing; and it indeed was. The only light now, really, was the light of the lantern. The demon-child actually sounded scared, hovering next to the teenage girl and hugging his cane again, one burnt hand reaching up to take hers.

"Si, mi amigos, I can promise that you won't come to harm." Mermando smiled comfortingly. "They only wish to help; they helped me, after all."

Stan glanced down at Dipper, who only shrugged, before nodding minutely, rubbing his arms, legs twitching some. He looked up with a noncommittal grunt. "For the night, I s'pose." was all he said. "Tomorrow I'm gonna lay off the beer . . . stupid hangovers . . ." he muttered under his breath, carefully standing and holding the deer-child in his arms.

As they went deeper and deeper into the tunnel, there were little noises of terror coming from the side. "Lux tuum baculum!" Bill suddenly cried out, his staff lighting up again. He was trembling and glancing around, peering into the shadows fearfully. He was clinging to the older girls hand.

"Meesha, if I may?" Mermando gestured for the lantern.

The girl, Meesha, handed it over, then lifted Bill into her arms with a grunt. "It's okay, Bill." she soothed quietly, and surprisingly gentle. "I won't let anything get you." he closed his eyes and nodded into her shoulder, trembling.

And as they went deeper and deeper into the cave, so deep that it smelled of damp and cold and stone, the sound of rain and thunder far behind them . . . . . .

Dipper and Stan spotted a small light far ahead, and heard all the noise one would expect from a household of full of family, not a den full of monsters.

That's a wrap! Depending on how others like this, I might turn it into it's own multi-chapter fic. It popped into my head the other day, so I though I'd write it up.

Here's some translation for that stuff Bill was shouting in latin;

"Lux tuum baculum" = "Light your staff!"

"Non magis illuminat!" = "No more light!"

Little twerp can't use magic on a whim now. :-)

Please review!