A/N Oh thank you so much everyone for the reviews! Sorry it took so long to update, hopefully the next update will be sooner. Right now I'm putting most of my focus on "My Sister's Keeper" (I would love it if you guys checked that one out too, if you feel like it anyway) because it's closer to being finished than say, this one which I anticipate will be a long one. I was going to wait until MSK was finished to post this, but then I realized how long it's been since I updated so yeah... I know I gave a few shout-outs in the previous chapters, but I don't think I can keep up and maintain that anymore, so I a-PAW-logize. But I still cherish every comment I receive, so even if I don't reply (I'm terrible at that sometimes) know that I appreciate any feedback I can get and y'all make me so happy.

Just a reminder that this is set late season one and is mildly A/U-ish. I don't know why but I feel the need to mention it.

So without further ado, enjoy!

Chapter Seven

Dipper wasn't aware of falling asleep but when he opened his eyes it was morning. The sky was cloudy and grey and rain lightly splattered against the triangle window. He looked over to Mabel's side of the room and his heart sank. Even though he knew she wouldn't be there, a part of him foolishly hoped that she would be, ready to yell, "Gotcha!"

But it was empty as expected, except for Waddles who was lying on the floor by the foot of her bed, curled up in the section of her blanket that he had pulled down.

He yawned and worked at a kink in his neck and realized he dozed off while drawing that face he saw in his nightmare. Looking at it with fresh eyes Dipper frowned at the quality, but it still somewhat resembled the image that still appeared behind his eyelids when he blinked. Waddles turned his head to look at him when he noticed Dipper was awake and made a sad noise.

"We're going to find her," Dipper said to the pig, as though Waddles could understand him, though it was as much to reassure himself as well. Without his sister's optimism to keep him going, he had to be the one to look on the bright side. And while his knees were throbbing from falling the day before, and his body ached from sleeping so awkwardly, he felt more alert and ready. "She'll be OK."

A commotion from downstairs caught Dipper's attention, and Waddles' ears perked at the sound. For a fleeting moment he thought maybe they found her at last and all was right in the world, but when Grunkle Stan's voice carried up into his room his heart sank. Grunkle Stan was upset about something, angry even. No, furious.

Quickly Dipper got dressed and headed downstairs, both curious and terrified by what he would find when he got there. He reached the bottom of the stairs and pushed his way through the door to the gift shop and one look at the group of people gathered in there had him reeling with fury. It was like he got punched in the gut and kicked while he was down and without thought Dipper was moving in for the attack, stopped only by a set of large arms that wrapped around him.

"What are you doing here?" Dipper demanded angrily, struggling to get out of the grip of whoever was holding him back and keeping him from attacking the last person in the world he wanted to see.

"My goodness Dipper, is that any way to treat a guest who is only trying to help?"

"Get out!" Dipper demanded, feeling a little betrayed when he realized the person holding him back was Soos. "You're not welcome here Gideon!"

"Exactly!" Stan hissed, and from his body language Dipper realized that it was taking all he had to keep from physically throwing Gideon out of his shop, but Gideon was standing between his two biggest fans, Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland, and there were a handful of cops Dipper had never seen before looking bewildered and surprised by the scene. "Now get of my property!"

Gideon stood with a smug grin on his face, knowing that if Stan or Dipper did anything that Blubs and Durland would probably have them arrested. Dipper shook free from Soos's grip, realizing now that Soos was only trying to protect him and that there wasn't much Dipper could do about Gideon's presence anyway. Still, Dipper clenched his fists, the very sight of him filling him with rage.

"Now Stanford," Gideon said with feigned sympathy, "Sheriff Blubs had contacted me personally to help with this investigation. As soon as I learned that my little marshmallow, my dear Mabel was missing, I couldn't sit idly by and do nothing. I am here to do whatever I can to help." There was a pause and then with a wink he added, "Free of charge, of course."

"Good, you can help by getting lost!" Dipper spat, the fact that Gideon was talking about Mabel with such terms of endearment, as though they were still together had Dipper's blood boiling and he didn't know how much more he could take. Besides, they were wasting precious time.

"Mr. Pines," Blubs explained, speaking to Stan but also to the other officers in the room, "I called in Gideon because he has proven time and again to be a very good psychic, he's very accurate and we believe that he can be a crucial asset to the search for your niece."

"Except for the fact he's a fraud!" Stan hissed.

"Well, look who's talking!" Gideon retorted with a smirk, grandly gesturing at the items in the gift shop. But then Gideon folded his hands and his expression went serious, " Listen, I know we've had our differences in the past, I don't like you, you don't like me and we can safely go so far as to say that we're enemies. There's no denying that. But regardless of our personal feelings, I do care for Mabel, you know that, and I will do everything in my power to help you find her and bring her back safely," Gideon seemed sincere, and even Dipper had to concede that Gideon, unfortunately, had a point.

While Gideon seemed to want nothing more than to bring the Pines family to ruin, he still had feelings for Mabel. The stalkery letters he would send her all the time only proved it. It creeped Dipper out as much as it did Mabel, especially considering Mabel did not reciprocate those feelings even in the slightest. But as much as he hated to admit it, it also meant that Dipper had little reason to doubt Gideon's sincerity about helping with the search.

Dipper and Stan exchanged glances as they considered what Gideon had to say and finally Stan spoke, "Fine, you can help. But outside. You're not welcome in my house."

"Very well," Gideon nodded with a grin, "I will follow through with your wishes. But when I do find Mabel, you're going to regret not being a little bit more hospitable."

"Is that a threat?" Dipper asked, genuinely unsure. He wouldn't put it past him, but then again, Gideon had a way with phrasing his sentences to sound both innocent and sinister. His words could simply mean that they'd feel bad if he found Mabel after they treated him like crap. And Dipper would be grateful if he found her, of course he would, but it wouldn't change the fact he hated the little weasel. But then Gideon could easily be implying something else.

Gideon laughed, "Of course not! Don't be silly, Dipper! Now, I'm going to need to see that video footage."

Stan rolled his eyes in irritation and Dipper bit his lip. He didn't like the idea of anyone watching the video of Mabel getting attacked and seeing her at her most vulnerable, especially Gideon Gleeful. Besides, he didn't want to revisit it just yet, the thought was just too painful.

"No," Dipper said quietly, a drastic change in demeanor compared to moments ago. "The police can watch it if it'll help Mabel, but not you, Gideon."

"Wait," one of the officers stepped forward, interrupting whatever retort Gideon might have had. She was the only officer in the room not in uniform, a badge clipped to a lanyard around her neck was the only visible sign that she was a cop at all, "There's a video?" She turned to Blubs, exasperated.

"That's how we know for sure that there was an animal attack," Blubs explained.

"And is there a reason you haven't submitted it as evidence?" she demanded.

"Well it's blurry and doesn't show much," Blubs shrugged, "but I had already seen everything that needs to be seen."

She glared at him, exasperated, "And you didn't think to even mention it before when you were briefing us on this case?"

"Trust me Detective Jensen, there's not much there that's helpful," Blubs explained in his defense.

"That's for me to decide," she turned to Stan, "We're going to need that footage."

"Let me get it," Stan sighed, "sooner we get this done, sooner you can get back to finding my niece…" he frowned and left the room.

Stan headed upstairs and went into Dipper and Mabel's room. He found the camera by Dipper's bed and grabbed it then he reached into his pocket and took out the SD card and put it back in the camera. While Dipper was sleeping he had snuck in and taken it, wanting to analyze the footage himself in more detail than the camera's tiny screen could offer. He managed to save a copy on his private, secret computer and as soon as he had a chance, when the Gift Shop was empty and the coast was clear he would try and snag an enhanced image of the dark blur that took Mabel. It would certainly help if he could identify exactly what they were up against.

With the SD card back in place he started to leave but then something caught his eye. Mabel's sketchbook. It was open to a page with a crudely drawn picture on it, definitely not one of Mabel's drawings as she was all sunshine and rainbows and this was a drawing of a dark, sinister looking thing. There was something about it that, despite the mediocre quality, was eerily familiar like he had seen it before somewhere else. He glanced at the camera and back at the drawing and back at the camera and wondered.

Filing it away in his memory to confront Dipper about it later, Stan brought the camera downstairs and handed it to the officer. Dipper was standing next to Soos, looking antsy and anxious to get out there and Stan went over to stand by them.

"I'm going to want that back," Dipper said quietly, "you can watch the part that shows what happened to Mabel, it's the third video. But that's it and then I want it back. Mabel made those for me, they're private…."

The female detective in civilian clothes smiled compassionately and approached him, "You're her brother, aren't you?"

"Twin brother."

"I can tell. Dipper? Is that right?" she asked. He nodded. "My name's Detective Tara Jensen, I'm in charge of this case. I promise we're going to do whatever we can to find your sister." She took the SD card out of the camera, "Tell you what. I'm going to make a copy for myself and then you can have it back. But the other videos, do they have anything on them that can help?"

Dipper shook his head, "No. I don't think so." He realized he still hadn't watched the second video yet, and he mentally kicked himself for that because what if there was something? But at the time he couldn't handle any more footage of Mabel and fully intended of watching it on his own when he was ready. But since he didn't know what it contained, he didn't like the idea of anyone else watching it before he could. It was obviously just going to be footage for Dipper's "Unexplained" videos, but what if Mabel also included something meant for Dipper's eyes only? What if she mentioned the Journal or other secrets?

On the other hand, what if there was something on it that could help? At the very least they would be able to see footage of the footprints they had found that had now washed away from the rain. Man, if there was anything in the video that could help them find Mabel, he would gladly risk giving up the Journal and everything he had worked for.

"Are you sure?"

But then again, what good would it do to know what the footprints looked like? All it would show was that it wasn't just some random wild animal, but a bipedal creature like possibly Bigfoot and who's to say they wouldn't dismiss it as fake? Besides, he was pretty sure they showed up on the third video anyway. Maybe not in the kind of detail the second video probably contained, but they were there. Maybe it was foolish, but he still wanted to see it first and if there was something of use on it then he would say so but until then…

"Y-yeah…just the third one."

"OK," Jensen nodded, "I want to respect your privacy as much as I can so I'll only upload the third video for now, OK?"

"OK," Dipper agreed tentatively, "but Gideon's not allowed to watch it."

"But if I'm to get any kind of reading…"

"Forget it," Stan cut Gideon off before he could finish, "if you're such a great 'psychic' then you wouldn't need to see the footage anyway. Say, didn't we tell you to leave? Out. Put those so-called psychic powers to good use and find my niece already."

"Very well Stanford Pines," Gideon huffed, "I'm leaving now. Sheriff Blubs, Deputy Durland if you would be so kind as to lead me to the site where my darling Mabel disappeared?"

"Sure thing, Lil' Gideon," Blubs said, leading the way out the door, pausing a moment as Durland opened up a Lil' Gideon umbrella and held it over the young psychic.

Detective Jensen rolled her eyes, "He's kind of a creep, isn't he?"

Dipper couldn't help himself, her words made him smile, the first real smile since Waddles showed up with the bloody piece of Mabel's sweater. The smile was short lived, but it was such a relief for him to know that there was someone on the case who wasn't blown away by Gideon's 'charms' and it was clear that she wasn't impressed with the cops stationed in Gravity Falls either. It gave him a little bit of hope.

Jensen pulled out an official looking laptop from a leather briefcase and plugged the SD card into the drive. "Dipper," she said, "I know these videos are private, but can I see them? Just me and you, no one else. Maybe there's nothing on the first two that can help, but there's always a chance that you missed something. There's teams out there right now looking, but knowing what we're up against could be as crucial as these first twenty-four hours."

Dipper thought a moment, if there was something there that could help then he didn't want to be the one to hinder the investigation. Plus there was the fact that through one little sentence expressing her opinion of Gideon, Detective Jensen managed to earn his respect, and maybe even a bit of his trust. "OK, but just you. And Grunkle Stan and Soos too." He turned to them for confirmation and they both nodded. "If there's something then…

He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence when the police radios crackled to life. Suddenly there was a flurry of activity amongst the officers as a voice on the radio called for backup and immediate medical assistance.

Mabel, Dipper thought, his heart pounding both hopeful and afraid. But as quickly as the thought came, Dipper discovered that they hadn't found her yet. One of the officers looking for her had been injured badly.

"I see it! It's right in front of me it…oh god it's…unnatural! I've never seen anything like it!" The voice on the radio sounded terrified, "What is this thing? It—ahhh!" the voice screamed, Dipper could hear the sound of shots firing, a terrifying and inhuman growl and then the sound of silence that came on so abruptly that Dipper flinched.

"Officer Li, do you copy, come in!" Jensen radioed back as a map was strewn across the counter, cheap Mystery Shack merchandise pushed haphazardly aside, "Li!"

There was no answer though as the officers in the room went over the map referencing the part of the woods Li and his partner were assigned to search. Dipper couldn't breathe, he backed up a step his mind reeling. He could feel someone grasp his shoulder to hold him steady. He wasn't sure if it was Grunkle Stan or Soos but he was grateful for it because Dipper wasn't sure he would be able to remain standing otherwise. All he could think about was Mabel, and the video of her attack and the whirlwind of commotion as the officers in the room did their job.

The Gift Shop was filled with sounds and motions but Dipper couldn't focus on any of it as the room began to spin, and the noise of voices barking orders and doors opening and slamming took on a hollow, distant tone. If not even the armed cops were safe from the creature, what did it mean for Mabel?

"Dipper? You OK, dude?

Soos's voice reached him with clarity amongst the cacophony of sound and motion and Dipper nodded, his stomach turning. "I…I need some air…" moving on pure instinct Dipper turned and ran, through the 'employees only' door leading into the living room and out the main door.

0-0-0

She watched as the two men and a dog walked through the woods, carefully as though searching for something. She could tell by their uniforms that they were officers and she knew they were looking for her. While the thought should have lifted her spirits, it only filled her with dread.

I'm over here! she wanted to cry out but she couldn't find her voice, and now that she thought about it, she couldn't move either, not on her own volition. It was like she was literally outside of herself only there to observe whether she liked it or not, and could only watch as she stalked them from a distance.

They combed the terrain with concentration and care, the dog sniffed at the ground. One of the officers knelt down, reaching for something with a gloved hand. She could see a trace of pink, a small thread of yarn.

"Think it's hers?" the other asked.

It is! It's mine and I'm over here!

"Possibly," he replied, "it looks like it's the same color as the piece found on the pig."

Waddles! she thought, Is he OK?

He put the small trace of yarn in a plastic bag as the other marked the ground where they found it and they continued as she crept closer to them, still unnoticed by the men. The dog however sniffed and looked up in her direction, it growled, baring its teeth, scared but vicious. The men stopped and regarded the dog and suddenly she was in motion and the dogs growls of warning were silenced with a yelp in a flash of crimson. One of the officers was down before he could know what hit him and the other fired his gun in her direction as he yelled into his radio.

She was close enough to read his nametag: Li. The way he stared at her, the terror in his eyes, it was the same kind of terror she felt when she herself was first attacked by the creature...

His screams were quickly silenced in one fell swoop as claws met flesh and blood splattered everywhere.

-0-

Mabel opened her eyes with a gasp only to be met with darkness. She let out a sob, her whole body throbbing with pain. She had just awoken from one nightmare only to wake up and realize that the horror was still very real.

What the heck was that? She wondered, horrified by the images in her dream that felt so incredibly vivid and real. It was like she was there.

Her surroundings were still so dark, and the sound of water echoed through the darkness, reverberating painfully though her head and she still had no sense of where she was or how much time had passed or if she was even alone.

Dipper...help me...

"Hello?" she whispered hoarsely, the sound of her voice bouncing around in the darkness. It hurt to speak, her throat was so dry and she swallowed, realizing she was parched. There was no new sounds other than the endless echoes of water dripping and flowing somewhere painfully close but out of her reach so she figured that the creature was hopefully, at least for now, gone.

Gotta find a way to get out of here…

She forced herself to keep calm, because panic wasn't going to get her anywhere. Her hands, which were still tightly bound together gingerly reached for the new wound on her neck to find it crusted over with congealed blood. The area was hot and swollen and the touch of her fingers sent a sharp stinging sensation to pulse through her nerves and she let out a small whimper, the sound echoing through the darkness.

She tried to push herself up into a sitting position but her arms felt weak and heavy and she collapsed back onto the cold rocky ground, trembling. Breathe… she willed herself as her stomach churned with unrelenting nausea.

Gotta get out of here…

Grunting with determination she tried once again to get up and get her bearings but she didn't get far before white spots flickered in the darkness and she crumpled back onto her side. Mabel let out a sob and curled into a ball. OK, just gotta rest a moment, find water and escape this horrible place...piece of cake...

A new sound filled the endless black void that was her prison and Mabel sobbed hopelessly, burying her face in her bound hands. Too weak to run or fight or do anything else she squeezed her eyes shut in terror and dreaded anticipation.

It was back.

A/N So, the plot thickens? I would love to hear your thoughts, predictions, theories or criticisms or whatever, just please give me a shout! I'd love to hear what you think! Either way, thanks for reading and I hope you guys will continue to stick with me on this!

Until next time!