Disclaimer: I do not own GF

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Epilogue:

Πραγματικότητα

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Dipper peeled his eyes open, warm sunlight filtering through his window, dappling the floorboards with golden whorls. His worn, but comfortable bed called for more dozing sleep, but the happy screeches outside from his sister called to something else.

Scrambling up, Dipper paused, placing his hand on his forehead, cradling his head. The sound of another joyful scream pierced his ears, unlocking his shackles of sleep, and chasing away the fog of the nightmare he had.

Dipper couldn't quite recall when the nightmares started or stopped. Some days he had them, others he did not. Though the nightmare remained the same every time, Dipper always found himself unable to grasp onto it as he woke fully, and it slipped between the cracks of wakefulness and rest into limbo, lost forever.

Perhaps one day he would catch the nightmare and what happened during it, or maybe such a childish thing would fade as he ages.

After all, his and Mabel's birthday was rearing its head. Thirteen was the mark of the teenager, not the child, and he was long ready to put away childish things such as silly nightmares.

It took only seconds to pluck clothes he had worn the day before off the ground and get changed, and only several more minutes to run downstairs. Dipper waved hello to his father, who cleaned dishes as he picked up some toast, and then another to Grunkle Stan as he tried to get yet another poor customer to buy some junk in the shop he ran.

Running outside, into the open world, Dipper stared up at the blue sky of Gravity Falls with a beaming smile.

There was not a cloud in the sky. All he could see were the far-away forms of ships sailing through the air. Even from afar, light glinted from dull hulls and machinery. His heart pounded in his chest at the sight.

"Bro-bro! You finally awake, huh?" Mabel barreled over to his side, her pet pig, Waddles, nipping at her heels as he oinked happily.

"What can I say? I was up late last night doing work!" Dipper laughed, catching his sister around the waist before playfully pushing her away.

"Reading mystery novels isn't work."

"Yeah it is!"

Waddles oinked, wanting to join in on the conversation.

"See? Even Waddles agrees with me!" Dipper laughed.

"No, he's taking my side!"

Waddles oinked again, then ran a circle around both twins. Mabel and Dipper laughed watching her pig run with its tiny legs.

"Hey, is Wendy still in town?" Dipper asked. Indeed, the sun had almost reached its peak in the firmament.

Mabel flashed her white teeth in a sparkling grin. "I think so!"

Wendy had gone off not too long ago on adventures on a trading ship, part of "growing up" she had said, though Dipper suspected it was more like her sneaking off under her father, Manly Dan's, nose more than anything else.

Still, she came back into town when she could, always helping her captain sell fabulous treasures and useful goods.

"Let's go see, then! Before she leaves again," Dipper said, taking off into a run down the dirt path toward the sleepy town of Gravity Falls. Mabel nipped at his heels as she followed with a shriek of agreement.

Dipper couldn't help the little pinprick of jealousy that pierced his heart as they found her stall at the base of the mountains, which served as Gravity Falls' docks. If only he were old enough to sail in the open sky and go on wonderful adventures such as her!

The little table that was set up was mostly barren-they must have set up in the morning. Currently, only Wendy maned the stall, sitting in a chair and leaning back, reading some book or another about avoiding eye contact.

"Wendy!" Mabel called out. "You're still here!"

Wendy jerked to attention, and a wide smile stretched across her face. She put her book down. "Yeah, I am! But we're about to take the stall down and start preparing the ship for sailing again." She set her book to the side and happily reached over the table to give each twin a hug. "It was good seeing both of you again."

Mabel nodded in agreement, her smile falling a little. "Yeah. It was good seeing you again, too. I wish you could stay longer with us and go adventuring with us…."

Wendy sighed and ruffled Mabel's hair. "I know. But hey! When you two are fifteen, you'll be able to start sailing too, if you want! Maybe I could even convince Captain Strange for you to join our crew."

Both twins brightened at that prospect.

Wendy, noticing their expressions, winked. "Just watch out for nasty pirates in the meantime."

Mabel laughed at the little joke, but Dipper found his smile disappearing as a shiver wracked him.

Pirates.

Yeah.

"So, do you have any cool wares?" Dipper asked in an attempt to change the subject.

Wendy tapped her chin. "We sold the last of our interesting wares this morning, I'm afraid. Besides some rations, rope, and bullets we don't got much."

"Oh." Mabel deflated a little. She had wanted to see gleaming baubles and beautiful, finely crafted jewelry.

Wendy hummed. "Well, we sold most our things. I do have one item that could be considered treasure. I have no idea why Captain Strange told me to sell it for such a high price, it's not actually worth that, I think."

Mabel tilted her head to the side. "What thing?" she asked.

Wendy held up a finger, then went and dug around in a nearby crate for the object. She pinched it between her fingers, and pulled it out.

A long golden feather.

Dipper froze, ice water filling his veins, and for what reason, he couldn't place.

It was just a feather. Most likely from an eagle of some kind. But as Dipper eyed it, he couldn't help but think it had to have come from one large eagle.

"A feather? Wait, is it made of real gold?" Mabel gasped, reaching over the table, trying to grasp it.

Dipper found himself taking a step back. He couldn't tear his eyes away from how the feather glittered in the sunlight. A terrible, dreadful feeling grasped his heart in a frigid, clawed hand. He couldn't place it, but his instincts warned him away from such a terrible object.

"I doubt it. It feels like a normal feather, just happens to be this color. To be honest, I don't even remember where we picked it up. Captain Strange said it must belong to some rare creature, but didn't really say much beyond that."

"Oh. Maybe an eagle?" Mabel said.

"Maybe…." Wendy tilted her head and peered at the feather with squinted eyes. Eventually, her look of curiosity smoothed back into boredom, and she shrugged.

"How much?" Dipper finally said. He still hadn't torn his eyes from the feather. He couldn't.

Mabel gave her brother a surprised side-eye. "Don't tell me you wanna actually buy a feather!"

Even Wendy frowned. "I have to agree with your sister. Captain Strange told me to sell this at no less than 500 gold pieces. You can't possibly have that kinda money. I doubt anyone but some collector would want this."

"Well, maybe I wanna collect that feather," Dipper fired back. He couldn't understand his own words pouring from his mouth, or why the need to have such a simple feather in his possession meant a great deal to him. "I'll start saving up now if you can hold onto it for me."

Wendy paused, then shrugged. "I can't see why not. Gold is gold. Sure, I'll hang onto it for you." She tucked the feather back into the crate.

Dipper shook his head, blinking hard.

"Anyways, I wish I could talk more, but I need to start packing things up," Wendy said with a sigh as she eyed the sky. "I promise I'll return soon, however!"

Mabel brightened at that. "Alright, Wendy! C'mon, bro-bro. Let's go back home."

Dipper blinked slowly, then turned away. "Yeah, home," he whispered mainly to himself. He shook his head quickly, dislodging his thoughts, and the sudden wonderment and dread that golden feather had instilled in him.

Today was a beautiful day, after all.

Dipper smiled at the thought.

"Hey, Mabel. Let's go adventure in the forest! I'll race you there!" Before Mabel could respond, Dipper took off running.

"Hey! No fair!" Mabel called after him, and gave chase. "Cheater!" Mabel yelled.

Dipper laughed loudly, and all thoughts and worries about the mysterious golden feather bled from his mind.

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~Fin~

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And that's the end! Sorry this was so short, I have been way too busy to really sit down and write a long epilogue. Actually, funnily enough this was supposed to be posted like two days ago but oh well! It's posted now.

I hope the ending was satisfying to everyone! It is up to reader interpretation as I made it a little vague on purpose, so yeah!

And, uh, I have written a lot of other fics, if you're into this pairing! Such as my Once Upon a Time Trilogy among other fics and oneshots, so yeah! Feel free to visit my profile to see my other BillDip fics and such!

Also! I have written a companion fic to this called Trapped By His Own Need. It's rated M as well and is about Tad and Bill's relationship before Tad left Bill, so if that kinda interests you, feel free to take a look!

If you have any questions about this fic or its writing process, feel free to ask, but make sure you're logged in! I can't respond to anonymous comments.

Anyways! Thank you guys so much for your patience and especially those who have stayed around. I know this fic had a year-long hiatus during writing it, so I am grateful to anyone who has stayed around thus far and has finished it!

Thank you so much for reading! And if you have favorited and followed, I thank you too! And lastly! To those who have left wonderful comments, I really thank you! Comments are what really keep me going at times and wanting to post, so I do appreciate those who leave me their thoughts. Speaking of, for those who haven't left a comment yet, I would really appreciate it if you did considering this is the last chapter and I won't be updating this fic again! Feel free to tell me what you like, dislike, and etc. about this fic!

I hope you all enjoyed Icarus!

Stay classy folks!