Facing the Aftermath

The diner was full of people, something Danny took notice of as he leaned closer to his companion to avoid being overheard. At least the bustle of people covered his words. This wasn't the sort of conversation where he could afford anyone listening in on.

While Dipper and Mabel had been running away – combining the two states of facing the other direction and being far away, Robbie had actually seen him use his powers. That needed to be dealt with, preferably before the teen told anyone. If he already had, Danny was in trouble. Robbie had left quickly the day before, there was no telling where he had gone after they parted.

Danny's hands where sweaty, his breathing slightly irregular. Taking pity on himself, he decided to ease into the conversation slowly."You've lived here all your life, right?"

Robbie was mostly looking annoyed with the situation, slowly eating a ketchup covered French fry. "... Yeah."

"Then you can explain what... whatever it was that happened yesterday, right? And in turn I'll explain... the thing that happened yesterday."

Robbie raised a single eyebrow, a feat Danny had been practising for months without perfecting.

"You know... with the dragon? And the ice?"

"Don't make up creepy stories. You sound like the Pines kid."

Danny blinked. Twice. "Wait, what? Are you in denial?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're in denial." Danny gave Robbie a pitying look. "Well, as long as you don't go around telling people what I did-"

"There's nothing to tell." Robbie was starting to look really irritated, biting down on the fries with more force than necessary.

"Then how do you explain your broken mp3-player?"

"Dipper pushed me into the river."

"And he did that because?" Danny rolled his hand in a 'go on' gesture.

"Because he's jealous of me and Wendy."

"Because we were being chased by a dragon!" Danny stopped himself as he realised he had raised his voice. They didn't need to attract attention. A sweep of the room confirmed that nobody seemed to be listening. Danny brought his focus back to Robbie, but something in his eyes made Danny pause. They didn't remind him of when Jazz had been in denial about ghosts, but rather showed genuine confusion. "You don't remember, do you?"

Danny could only look on in shocked silence as Robbie got angry enough to leave the table without another word.

Robbie didn't remember anything that had happened. A selfish part of Danny was happy that his secret was safe. The moody teen wasn't exactly somebody he trusted. Still, it was worrying... Why didn't he remember?

Or, maybe the question was; why did Danny? Was it because he wasn't human? Was there some ghostly artifact in Gravity Falls that caused humans to forget about things? Or maybe not even ghostly, the dragons had been 100% alive after all...

Danny noticed that he was confused.

He needed to check if Dipper and Mabel still remembered the dragons, and then he needed to find his still missing Thermos.

Danny tried to appear casual as he walked over to the back door of the Mystery Shack. He was failing quite badly. What if they didn't remember? What would that mean? Would his parents forget their livelihoods if they spent too long in Gravity Falls? Would Jazz forget about his secret? Would the human part of him eventually make him forget, too?

There were way too many things he didn't know about the situation.

Danny knocked on the door.

It was Mabel who answered it, a big smile on her face. "Hi, Danny. Come in! Me and Dipper were just finishing lunch."

Danny smiled back, if only to hide his nerves.

"Would you like a glass of Mabel Juice? It has plastic dinosaurs in it." The way she smiled made it very obvious that she thought the plastic dinosaurs were a huge selling point.

Danny blinked, nervousness forgotten in his confusion. "I think I'll pass."

"Your loss."

Mabel led him into the kitchen, talking excitedly about something... he wasn't actually paying that much attention. His earlier worries were returning.

Dipper stood by the sink, apparently putting away his plate. Before he could say anything, Danny's kinda very important question came in a burst of nerves.

"Do you remember the dragon!?"

Dipper blinked and looked at Mabel before answering. "Yeah, those are pretty hard to forget."

Danny exhaled like an emptying balloon. "Oh, good. I was worried, since you're both human and all..." He mumbled the last part under his breath.

"... Why?" Mabel was looking at him with concern.

"Robbie doesn't remember what happened."

"What!? How is that even possible?" Dipper's eyes widened almost comically.

"I think something did something to his memories."

"But what could..." Dipper pulled out the Journal and started flipping the pages.

"I don't know, but be careful, okay?"

"It wasn't the dragon, they don't have those kind of powers..." Dipper mumbled mostly to himself as he continued his search.

"Maybe it's more general. Robbie seemed offended by the very idea that there was something wrong with this town."

"But... that wasn't the first time he's run into the supernatural. He was there at the haunted convenience store."

"Maybe he doesn't remember that either." Mabel shrugged. "It's not like we've talked to him about it after."

"Haunted convenience store?" Danny latched onto the phrase, trying his best to act casual about it.

"The old Dusk 2 Dawn, but you really shouldn't go there. The ghosts there hate teenagers."

Danny filed the information away, and nodded in a way he hoped would make the kids believe he'd taken their warning to heart.

'So I need to find out what makes people forget about the supernatural, find my Thermos and defeat some ghosts in an old convenience store... Well, one crisis at a time.'

All in all, the Dusk 2 Dawn was probably a low priority... if only because the memory issues and the Thermos were such potential disasters.

He was so distracted by everything that was going on, that he almost forgot to ask about the other thing that had been on his mind. "Hey, Dipper... What's up with that old book?"

Dipper almost hid the tome behind his back, before apparently changing his mind. He put the book on the table, flipping it open at a random page. "I found it in the forest. It's a journal about all the weird things that happen in Gravity Falls."

"Cool." Danny mumbled, before hesitantly turning the pages. It read like something Agent Mulder would write. If Danny had seen the journal before running into that living dragon, he might not have believed it.

There was a section about ghosts.

Of course there was a section about ghosts.

It was surprisingly accurate, for a scientific text about ghosts. Almost like the author had talked to spectres, rather than use Danny's parents' policy of 'shoot first, ask questions never'. Even if there was no new information, it made the rest of the text more believable.

He flipped the page again, trying not to make his interest in ghosts too obvious. "This is... not how I thought I'd spend my vacation."

"But you believe us?"

Danny looked up and locked gazes with Dipper, who was wringing his hands slightly.

"Of course. I saw the dragon, didn't I? If that can exist why not..." Danny looked down at the yellowed pages again for an example. "...Gnomes? Really, gnomes? I take it all back. Dragons make more sense than gnomes."

Dipper huffed at the perceived insult, but Danny smirked and stuck out his tongue at him. "Just kidding."

"You're taking this very well."

Danny didn't know how to reply to Mabel's innocent comment. Even by people who believed in ghosts, the Fentons were considered extreme and weird and... no, better to keep it a secret as long as he could.

"I guess? I mean, it's not... I don't know?"

Danny wished he was a better liar, because Dipper's calculating look was seriously unnerving.

AN: This one gave me writer's block. The main problem was that there isn't really much happening, even though all of this is important for the continued story. Next time there will be more action.

And yes, the main reason I included Robbie last chapter was so I could delete his memories. Since the Fenton parents are helping out with the portal, it will be opened before season 2 and the episode Society of the Blind Eye. As such, I had actual reasons for doing this... one of the reasons is that it's fun to mess with my readers.