There once lived a family deep, deep in the mysterious forest of Gravity Falls. It was a very large family- a pack, a tribe. The united tribe consisted of two different families as well, brought together by the holy ceremony of marriage— a fox tribe, the Vulpes Tribe, and a wolf tribe, the Lupus tribe. Together, they made the Vulpes-Lupus clan. They all loved each other as families should despite the differences in their species.

Within that small village of foxes and wolves, breathed a child. He was only but a moon old. He was the child of the wolf-man and the fox-woman. He also had a brother, older by five winters. The baby's name was Sora, a fine specimen of wolf, fox, and human— his upper body human and his bottom half connected to the body of a pale brown pup. They called him the "folftaur" jokingly.

His brother's name was Vanity within Ashes, Vanitas for short (since his dear brother had trouble pronouncing his full name, it just stuck). Vanitas was a happy child, a pure black wolf, the same as his father and past mother. Everyone could tell he took after the warrior wolf what with his hair, and they could see Sora was soon following suit— yet he held his mother's soft baby blue eyes. Vanitas loved them, though.

Each night, Vanitas and Sora would fall asleep to their mother's gentle lullabies, as would the other children of the pack when they came to sleep over. Her soft voice would echo into the night, soothing the creatures of the deep forest and lulling her children into the world of sleep and dreams.

"My dearly beloved,
Be strong I shall be there,
Always here beside you.
So keep your head held high.
The shadows of this world will try to steal you away into their arms,
But you belong in mine..."*

Vanitas will never forget the words nor the melody.

Moons upon moons later, two winters had passed and Sora was growing to be a strong boy while Vanitas was already learning to use a bow and arrow, just like his father. He would bring home squirrels to feast upon with the tribe. Sora looked up to his brother like he was a mighty warrior, adoring him to pieces and Vanitas did the same.

One day, their parents agreed on bringing the two on a walk through a secret path only known to their clan. It was common to their kind to walk on this path, after all it was known to be peaceful. They were well aware that it was hunting season for the humans, but they thought they wouldn't be seen.

It was a bloodbath.

A man, his hair pulled back in a ponytail, his face scarred like a warrior. He wielded some sort of magical weapon that shot faster than a bow. It stuck his mother in the chest. Vanitas was quick on his paws, however. He ran for cover with Sora holding onto his hand while his father howled for the tribe to run— their secret home had been compromised by humans.

Vanitas, hidden well in an old fox hole, kept his brother safe and oblivious to the grotesque sounds from the hunter and his claim; he knew how to care for his brother even in the more dire of times. He made sure the boy kept quiet while the hunter cut and bagged his dead parents. Why? Why would someone do such a thing? It was a horrible idea to begin with. They should have waited. They should have.

For three days, the boys stayed in the burrow, too scared that the hunter would come back again to find them or the pack. When they finally had enough nerve to leave and return home, they were crushed to find their little village deserted.

Day by day, the two waited, and waited, and waited for them to return... Day by day, the young black wolf grew more and more bitter until he finally lost hope and took Sora away from the place, seeking the survive on their own instead. After all, if Vanitas knew how to bag squirrels, he could take care of the two of them.

The tale of the two brothers began here.

* Lyrics by AmaLee on youtube, from her take on Dearly Beloved

Well! What started out as a silly doodle of foxtaur!sora to a roleplay verse to an actual fanfic, I'd say I'm mighty proud! But I couldn't do it without my friend, who owns a roleplay account as well as I on tumblr where-loyxlties-lie. You should check her out!

I've got GOH all written out in my head, all that's needed is to write it all out. Anyway, so here's the plan: the years leading up to 2012 will be written like memories and/or fairy tales (ie. this chapter) and once 2012 hits, then I'm back to how I usually write. This fic will also parallel GF episodes, meaning Dipper and co. exist and do their thing alongside Vanitas and Sora's story. So, yeah. Taking Qs and stuff here and I'll post a Q&A chapter later on. Oh! And you can catch any other info needed on my tumblr blog: Loyal-toxthe-bxne on tumblr verses Sora Monster/Gravity Falls au! Ask box is open to all, so feel free to pester the boys!