Trigger warning! Self-harm/suicide related content!

August 4th

Bill's sister came back today, and we totally erased her from existence. And it's not like how we thought we erased Bill but he was actually just petrified! She's actually gone for good! Bill himself was pretty positive about it, and Ghost told us later that Ouroboros confirmed it with him. Ah, and Rawly…

So, it turns out that Rawly kept disappearing and slinking off into the woods at times because he was secretly meeting up with Atë. Earlier today, Rawly suddenly attacked Bill. The guy pulled out a magic halberd from some kind of pouch between the scales on his belly (uh, he was in his dragon form when he attacked Bill by the way)! Bill was stunned, then he was furious. From what we learned, he and Rawly have always been pretty close, so I guess Bill was really hurt by this (though he won't admit it). Mabel and I ran back to Valor's Clearing to get help.

While we were gone, we missed Bill (as a dragon) knocking Rawly down and pinning him, but instead of finishing him off, Bill used his weird "sight" powers to see that Rawly didn't really want to hurt him. Actually, Bill was telling Amy after that he noticed that Rawly was missing attacks on purpose. It turns out that, along with Shade, Rawly was brought to Avas by Atë after she made some kind of a deal with Ragnarok. We don't know what the deal was, neither do Rawly and Shade, but I get the feeling Ragnarok knew she was going to fail… Not sure why, but I just feel like it. I know that Rawly had apparently experienced some things when he was a dragonling that really messed him up in the head, so I guess I can understand why he went along with Atë's plan. Of course, in the end, he didn't actually want to hurt Bill (or anyone), and he ended up finding a way to relay that as much as possible without actually saying it. We found out later that Rawly couldn't directly tell anyone because of some freaky curse that Ragnarok had put on him.

Anyways, when Mabel and I got back, we saw that Atë had turned herself into a dragon to fight (and mostly taunt) Bill. She was frighteningly bigger than him, and he's a pretty big dragon. She's was about Gaia's size, actually. Supposedly, she was always stronger than him, but he still doesn't have all his power back, so it wasn't even a fair fight. Though, after dealing with Bill that first summer, I suppose fairness isn't really a big thing in his family…

She had beat him up pretty badly until Mabel and I distracted her with Mabel's party cannon. It, uh, blasts confetti. Atë…did not appreciate it. So, then we had to run for our lives from a giant angry monster dragon that nearly toasted me and almost crushed Mabel. Whether it was incidental or not, Bill saved us by pouncing on her back and distracting her. Luckily, Dionysus, Teeth, and Shade came to help him. Even Crusade flew down from the mountain to see what was happening and stood against her. They put up a decent enough fight but she ended up beating them all down on her own. They're all okay now, but they took some harsh beatings.

While this was all happening, Ford, Stan, and Amy were setting up this device that Ford had been working on since we arrived this summer. The thing that Ford had gotten Ghost to help him with was both a containment device and a superweapon. He said he had been designing it in case Bill ended up being our enemy again, but after realizing that Atë was a more serious threat at the moment, he asked Ghost for help with it. The trick, though, was getting Atë in the device. Well, Amy sure made it look easy. She had some choice words for Bill's bully of a sister, which Atë was not happy with. But once Atë passed over the device, Ghost's sealing magic activated and forced her into her true form as it trapped her inside. After screaming something about "pathos" she was obliterated by the gamma rays that the machine made. In fact, the machine even destroyed itself!

Poor Rawly was trying to sneak away because he was ashamed and thought that he wasn't welcome anymore. Bill was the one who said otherwise. It's odd to see Bill show someone affection. Especially when that someone is not Amy.

Needless to say, Rawly is still staying with us! He's still awkward and, uh, hungry…, but he's calmer now and doesn't seem quite as tense or scared. Dionysus suggested that maybe the more time Rawly spends hanging around and getting to know "us humans" as friends, the less he'll want to eat us. Teeth agreed and said that that's what happened with him. …I feel like I live in a freakshow circus sometimes.

August 7th

It's been a few days since anything interesting happened, but yesterday was certainly something. So, Dionysus was messing around and showing off his magic (he learned a "spell" to turn people into animals that basically represent the opposite of themselves). He was trying to use Mabel as a guinea pig, but she ducked under the kitchen table and it hit Bill instead. Next thing we know, there's an angry yellow rabbit with a top hat sitting on the table. Dionysus accidentally turned Bill into a bunny…

It's funnier every time I think about it.

"Bunny Bill" –

Solid yellow rabbit with pointed ears instead of those floppy kinds.

Just like his human and dragon forms, he has two eyes as a bunny, but the right one is always shut.

Very angry.

Adorably fluffy.

Tiny, sharp claws.

Yells lots of swear words in this form…

Uh, anyways… Bill demanded to be turned back immediately, but Dionysus didn't actually know how to do that. This did not go over well for him. Have you ever seen one of those TV shows or cartoons where an angry (possibly rabid) cat leaps onto someone's face and mauls them? Okay, so imagine that, but with a rabbit that calls you vulgar swear words as he tries to scratch out your eyes. Yeah.

After Amy managed to pry Bill off of Dionysus's face, Mabel suggested that he try reciting the spell backwards to "reverse" it. Rawly said it would cause the spell to have the opposite effect, but he looked worried. We soon found out why.

The spell turns people into an animal that represents the opposite of their personality or whatever. Well, the reverse of that is not turning them back into what they were before. It's turning them into an animal that DOES represent them. So, then we had an angry yellow WOLF baring his fangs at us. Bill liked that form better. I did not.

Dionysus quickly ran into his and Rawly's room, shouting that he needed time to figure out how to fix the problem. I think he was just trying to escape being mauled by a much worse animal than a rabbit. Meanwhile, to avoid getting mauled by a wolf myself, I went with Ford into the woods to help him look for some kind of weird magic moss he wanted for something. We were out looking for a while, and it started getting dark. After finally finding some growing on this old tree, we started to head back. I kept hearing something nearby that was starting to make me paranoid. I thought it might have been a mountain lion, but it was something much worse.

A big, snarling dog suddenly leapt from the bushes after us. We tried to run, but it was futile. All of a sudden, I'm pinned to the ground on my back with a huge snarling beast baring all of its sharp teeth in my face. I could feel its hot breath in my face and my ears were filled with the horrible sounds of "you're about to get eaten by a wild animal" when, suddenly, the thing throws its head back in wild laughter. It was then that I realized it was not a dog. It was a wolf. Not just any wolf, but BILL. That jerk said we were taking so long he came to see if we had gotten eaten. Then he decided to make us think we actually were about to get eaten!

I'm going to grow up with serious mental trauma, I just know it.

Well, Bill ended up being stuck as a wolf all day and night. Today, he's back to that "human" form thanks to Rawly. Turns out Dionysus just got drunk and passed out yesterday, so Rawly took it upon himself to look into fixing things. It's currently like three in the afternoon and Dionysus still hasn't woken up.

I've noticed that Rawly has been getting edgier lately. For lack of a better term… He's starting to get anxious again and taps his fingers together more frequently. Earlier, I caught him doing this while pacing up and down the hall and muttering incoherently to himself. He didn't even notice me until he practically ran into me. When I asked if he was okay, he practically shouted "of course I am!" at me with this almost irritated expression before immediately looking horrified and apologizing profusely.

We're trying to find a way to get him to tell us what he's worried or upset about, but we're not sure how. If we ask directly, he just says stuff like that (usually in a very irritable or agitated tone) before apologizing and excusing himself. Mabel and I asked Bill about it and Bill looked a little worried before telling us that Rawly might be due to have another "episode" soon. I'm assuming an "episode" for Rawly would be what we witnessed from the Enchiridion that one time… I wonder if there's some way we can help him?

…

It was another searingly hot day and Dipper and Mabel were on their way to the public pool.

"Hopefully this time we won't get attacked by dinosaurs," Dipper said.

Mabel laughed then gasped, startling her brother, and ran over to someone. "Rawly!"

Rawly, who was currently in his human form, jumped and spun around quickly. "Oh! Oh, it's you," he sighed with relief.

"Yup! We're going swimming! What are you doing out here?"

"Er, well, I…" He glanced up at the distant water tower. "N-Nothing.

"Do you want to come with us?"

He looked startled.

"Don't worry. There usually aren't that many people around this time. Besides, maybe the smell of chlorine will mask the smell of tasty people."

"Oh, well, um…" He kept glancing back at the water tower.

"What do you keep looking at?" Dipper asked.

"Oh, nothing, nothing in particular," he replied, tapping his fingertips together. "I suppose I could join you. B-But I'm not getting in the water! I can't stand water."

"Okay," Dipper said. "That makes sense, I guess, since you're a fire attribute."

Mabel was grinning excitedly as they continued the rest of the way to the pool. Once they had gotten there, Rawly lingered awkwardly near the entrance gate while the twins entered the water. There were only three other people there, but he still felt highly uncomfortable.

"Hey, Rawly," Mabel called from the pool. "Come here!"

Hesitantly, he went over and sat on his knees at the pool's edge to look down at her.

"Are you afraid of water?"

"No," he replied. "I just don't like being wet." He stared intently at the water for a minute before shaking his head and looking somewhere else.

"You sure you're okay?"

"I am not feeling well," he admitted without turning to look at her. "Something is wrong…"

"What?"

"I…I'm not sure. Excuse me." He stood up and walked off, stopping near the pool house.

Mabel exchanged a glance with her brother. They wished they knew how to talk to him.

After a while, when Dipper returned from the restroom, he stopped at the edge of the pool and called to his sister. "Hey, Mabel, have you seen Rawly recently?"

"No." She crawled out of the water and stood up to look around. "Where do you think he went? He said he wasn't feeling well."

"Yeah, but I don't think he was sick…" Dipper suddenly thought of the water tower. "Mabel, we need to dry off and get dressed. We have to find him."

She nodded agreement and hurried to get a towel and the bag they had brought with them.

"Do you know where he is, Dipper?" Mabel asked as she followed him quickly through the trees.

"I have a hunch…"

They came to a stop at the old water tower and looked up to see Rawly staring over the edge at the ground below.

"Rawly!" Dipper called up to him. "What are you doing up there!?"

"I…I was wondering if a fall from this height, in this form, would kill me," Rawly called back absently, not averting his gaze from the ground far below.

"What?! Rawly, don't do that!"

Mabel shoved the bag into Dipper's arms and hurried over to the ladder hanging from the tower. "My cellphone is in there somewhere. Call the house!"

He quickly rummaged through the bag until he caught the device and pulled it free. Trying not to fumble and drop it in his rush, he dialed the number of Amy's house phone. It rung twice before Bill's voice answered.

"Y'ello?"

"Bill? Bill!"

"Pinetree? That you? Figures. No one ever calls this thing…"

"Bill! Rawly's at the top of the water tower talking about jumping and killing himself!"

"What?! Why'd you let him up there?!"

"I – I didn't let him! He just – went up there! We found him up there! What do we do?"

"Um, well… One or both of you will probably have to pin him down, because he's not bluffing. Hold on, I'm on my way." He hung up.

"Mabel," Dipper called up. "Bill said to pin him down 'til he gets here!"

"On it!"

Rawly did not seem to pay them anymore heed and had not noticed Mabel until she was close enough to grab his sleeve. "Let go!" He said suddenly and tried to pull his arm away.

"No! You're not jumping! We're not going to let you kill yourself!"

He suddenly looked irritated and yanked his arm free. "Why!? Why won't any of you just let me die!?"

Before he could do anything else, she lunged and tackled him to the floor of the tower platform. Down below, Dipper flinched at the sound of them hitting the rusty old metal.

"Careful!" he shouted.

Rawly lost it and began to struggle beneath her, shouting, "Get off! Let me go!"

"No!" She clung tighter.

"This is ridiculous! You're all insane!" He managed to twist himself onto his front and grabbed the railing to try and pull himself free. "It's happening again, I can feel it! The Wings!"

"What are you talking about?!" She tried to pull his arm back.

"If I'm dead, I can't do it! But none of you will let me –! I – need –" He snarled suddenly and began to change into his dragon form.

Although his dragon form was small, it proved to be too heavy for the railing, which creaked and bent and finally broke under his struggling to remove the girl from his shoulders.

"Mabel!" Dipper shouted. As a dragon, Rawly would be fine from that height, but Mabel on the other hand…

Luckily, Rawly had landed on all-fours, and, as she was clinging to his back, Mabel was fine. However, as soon as he had landed, he reared up with a loud roar as something like a big ruby began to push its way out through his chest. From it, veins of fire stretched out across his body and something seemed to be trying to push its way out from his shoulders. His horns and spikes began to grow and his roar began to sound more like a roar of agony than fury.

Mabel, who had fallen from his back when he reared up, ran over to her brother. The twins stared in shock, not knowing what was happening or what to do. The dragon was transforming, it seemed. Suddenly, a blast of blue fire hit the gem protruding from Rawly's chest, and, with a flash and another roar, Rawly was back to normal and unconscious on the ground.

"Ah, good. It was still early enough to stop it with that…"

"Bill!" the twins shouted.

"Oh man, I never thought I'd be so happy to see you," Dipper breathed a sigh of relief. "What just happened!?"

"That's the power he has that he can't control. Sometimes, when he's having his 'episodes', it tries to break free, which would be very bad. Luckily, if you catch it early enough, you can stop it with a quick blow to the core. All the stuff that's happened lately… He must've been overwhelmed. Guess I should've realized…"

"He said something about 'the Wings'," Mabel told him.

"Ah, that. After that one incident back in Necronire, that form of his earned the title of 'The Wings of Destruction'." He pointed to the dragon laying before them. "This form you see here, that's not his true form."

"The Wings of Destruction are?"

"No. That's more like an in-between. He's never been able to turn into his true form, actually. He can't control it, so it just becomes the Wings of Destruction. He gains a power that I can barely deal with when I'm at full power and a fire that can burn anything. Fire consumes. That lack of control is why he's so hungry for blood."

"So," Dipper said, "that's the real Rawly?"

"Of course not! That is!" He gestured to him again. "That pathetic, nervous, usually sarcastic little runt is the real Rawly. Despite what he is, he doesn't want to hurt others. His birth name is Rapture, but I renamed him Rawly. Anyways…"

He went over to him and patted his head. Rawly grunted and his eyes flickered open.

"I'm sorry…" Rawly muttered.

"Eh, don't worry about it," Bill told him. "Come on, kid. I got you a box of those chocolates you like so much."

Rawly slowly stood himself up and transformed back into a human to follow. Dipper and Mabel remained close on either side of him, Mabel being so close that she was almost touching him.

…

August 8th

Rawly had an episode today. He went to the top of the water tower. Mabel climbed up to hold him down while I used her phone to call for help. He was so angry that she wouldn't let him jump, he turned into his dragon form and ended up breaking the platform, so they both fell. Luckily, neither of them was hurt. But Rawly started, like, transforming or something into what Bill called "The Wings of Destruction". Bill showed up just in time though, and he stopped him.

Apparently, the dragon form we know Rawly as is not his true form. He's never been able to take on his true form. Too much power and not enough self-control. Poor guy. He was really quiet and somber the rest of today, though he did perk up when Bill handed him a box of chocolates.

Mabel doesn't want to let him out of her sight now.

Bill told us that Rawly's "Wings of Destruction" are so powerful, he once nearly destroyed half of Necronire in a single day. And that was when Rawly was a dragonling. Ragnarok punished both of them after… I guess he doesn't want Necronire destroyed until he can get his revenge on his siblings first.

Ragnarok's return is growing closer every day…

August 9th

Rawly seems a lot better today. He's even acting a bit less nervous around us, too. I found him and Mabel together in the bathroom. They were dressing up Waddles and Bud in silly outfits. Neither animal seemed to mind.

Amy said Rawly isn't allowed to be left unsupervised anymore. Bill agreed. So did Rawly.

To be continued…

Just a tiny taste of an issue that will be dealt with in the sequel... And a bit of insight on Rawly.

Seven more chapters plus the epilogue left!