The Caged Lark's Song

I have that sinking feeling again...

Sophie

Sophie swept the floor of the store. Grunkle Stan had returned Dipper's book, and the zombie goo was gone. Soos was still... Soos. 

Still, she was on edge after fighting off a zombie invasion. Dipper and Mabel ran up to her, and she pushed her bangs out of her eyes to look at them.

"Do you want to come explore with us? We might be able to find a secret bunker!" Mabel said excitedly.

"Sure," Sophie said, returning the broom to its place.

"Woah," Dipper exclaimed suddenly. "Your eyes are really cool!"

Sophie smiled at that. "Yeah. They're heterochromatic. It's a great way to freak people out."

Dipper smiled. "I don't think it's creepy. You're really cool." Sophie followed him outside to where Wendy and Soos were waiting.

"Dude," Wendy said in an annoyed tone. "Why did you invite the new girl?"

 It was a very valid question, and Sophie replied, "Because I'm awesome. Also because if we're going to be chasing mysteries, we're gonna get into sticky situations. 

I'm an expert at getting out of them, no matter what happened."

Wendy looked slightly interested, but she continued her earlier point as they walked into the forest. "Really? You don't look like much."

Looking over the horizon to orient herself, she replied nonchalantly, "I can one hit knockout punch any person, speak more than twenty different languages, I'm proficient with many weapons, I know first aid and creatures like me."

Dipper (time skip bc I don't want to write this one out)

Dipper looked back at the tree and the secret base that had caused so much trouble. The first challenge was a branch high above their heads, and had no idea how to reach it until Wendy had used her belt to climb up the tree and flip the lever.

When they had gone down the spiraling metal staircase, they had easily discovered a tunnel into a room full of square tiles with runes on them. Dipper had stepped on one, starting the defense mechanism. It had taken a lot of effort to get out safely, but when they did, they had found a tech lover's dream.

They ended up running for their lives, though. There had been a close catastrophe where a shapeshifter had almost taken Luna's place. 

Luckily, the real Luna's bangs covered her green eye, and the imposter had two brown eyes. The older girl had pinned the imposter then turned to face Dipper, her one green eye flashing out from under her hair. The imposter had not seen the difference, and so a catastrophe was averted. 

Dipper heaved a sigh.

He had also found out Wendy didn't like him that way. Oh well. Best to move on. Forgive and forget.

The next week was... strange. Luna had helped them out of increasingly sticky messes, and now Dipper and Mabel were going to ask her for help with the most important thing of all. Confronting the author. 

How could it be Old man McGucket? He was barely sane! 

Still, Dipper had to know the truth. He ran up to the counter, Mabel trailing behind, just in time to catch Luna leaving the shack with a strangely shaped bag on her shoulder.

"What's up, dudes? I'm about to head out for lunch."

"WE FOUND THE AUTHOR!" Mabel said in a loud whisper. 

Luna looked almost like she had stuck her finger in a light socket. 

A short time later, they were in the dump. Luna was leading them, Wendy and Soos bringing up the back. 

Old Man McGucket didn't remember anything, though, and Dipper felt disappointed until he mentioned the Museum. They climbed through the window hours later, then followed a hooded figure to a room full of eyes. Luna strode into it first, taking a long look around.

"Geez... so many eyes all staring at me... or that button!" She walked over and pressed the eye carving. The fireplace swung open, and they crawled in. 

There was a group of hooded people there, and Dipper watched in horror as they stole Lazy Susan's memory of a gnome encounter.

When they were gone, Luna said, "Okay, we're splitting up. Mabel, Wendy and I will stay here in case they come back, you go with McGucket to get the memories. If you can, get the memory gun too."

Keefe

Keefe stepped around another group of tourists clamoring around a giant ball of yarn. Ugh. Tourist traps. 

The longer he spent here, the more skeptical he was of Sophie's presence. Would she really want to hang out near a giant mummy collection? 

As he wandered, he came upon a washed out poster for a 'mystery shack' in a small, out of the way town.

Maybe she was somewhere in that tiny town, far away from civilization?

It would be foolish to hope, but all he had was hope. Hope and time. Keefe had pretty much given up with the walking in favor of light leaping, but now he didn't want to do anything to miss the town Sophie might be in. 

Tying his shoelaces, he continued on, wandering in the direction of his last beam of hope, and where Sophie had to be. She had to be there. For the sake of his sanity, if nothing else. He would find her.

Again, this is like a throwback to my second ever fanfic, sooo it's pretty different.