Apprentice {Gravity Falls}

Mind Brand

A/n: Go check out Stormy_weather3000 version of this story, which is located in her one-shot book! Tw: Negative self-talk and implied!PTSD

Ford sipped on his coffee as his apprentice rubbed his eyes tiredly. Usually, this wasn't something to be concerned about. Like any teenage guy, Dipper most likely stayed up late reading or even online. However, Ford knows for a fact Dipper went to sleep at a reasonable time last night. There was no reason for the boy to feel tired.

It wasn't just this night either. It seemed as if the boy had been struggling with sleep for the past three nights. If this were to continue, Dipper would be too exhausted to help Ford with his work. This had to stop.

"Dipper?" The boy looked up at him.

"I've noticed you seem to be exhausted. Haven't been sleeping well, my boy?"

Dipper shook his head, "I keep having nightmares," he explained.

"About-?" Ford trailed off. Maybe if they knew what was causing his nightmares, they could get them to stop.

Dipper shrugged, "I have no clue. I keep waking up and forgetting the dream. I want to remember, but another part of me is scared of what I'm going to find. It's like my brain is repressing the dreams."

Ford was silent as he sipped on his coffee. He wanted to help, but with no way of knowing what the dreams contained there wasn't anything he could do. It wasn't like he could go inside Dipper's mind and get rid of the nightmares himself.

Wait! That wasn't necessarily true!

"Dipper, do you remember when you went into Stanley's mind?"

The boy nodds, "What does that have to do with-?" Dipper trails off when he sees Ford's smirk. It doesn't take him long to put two and two together.

"You're gonna go inside my mind and deal with the nightmares there?"

Ford smiles, "It's worth a shot!"

*   *   *

"Are you sure about this, Poindexter?" Stan questioned. The two were in Dipper's room about to go into Dipper's mindscape. Of course, Dipper had to be asleep when they went in, so Ford had the boy go to bed about an hour prior to their quest.

"Dipper said he's having nightmares and can't sleep because of them. Due to this lack of sleep, he's not going to focus as well albeit being my apprentice, or working in the Mystery Shack. Lack of sleep can also cause him to be more irritable and-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know what the health effects of sleep deprivation are!" Stan interrupted, "I'm just... is going into his mind the best way to help?"

"Under normal circumstances, I'd say no," Ford admitted. "There are plenty of ways to deal with nightmares. However, Dipper's nightmares seem to be reoccurring. There's a physiological factor at play here," Ford explained.

"So basically, we have to go into his mind because these aren't just any old nightmares?" Stan questioned.

Ford nodded, "And since his brain is trying to block out his dreams, we don't know how to help. We don't know what he needs to deal with them. If we see the nightmare for ourselves, maybe it'll help us see what he needs to move past this!"

Stan nodded, "Alright. I'm ready!"

Ford started to speak the enchantment, "Videntus omnium. Magister mentium. Magnesium ad hominem. Magnum opus. Habeas corpus! Inceptus Nolanus overratus! Magister mentium! Magister mentium! MAGISTER MENTIUM!"