Y/n's POV
I couldn't tell if I was really still hearing the roaring, nightmarish screams of my old realm or if it was only echoing in my ears. My new legs moved swiftly as my feet hit the ground, footsteps and heartbeats pounded in my head. Heat rose in my cheeks and I remembered the sacrifices I had made to obtain this body. Blood circled through me now. Blood that made my face hot when I ran. The forest was dark but I could see perfectly fine. The trees didn't appear to have an end, and I ran for so long before I emerged from the woods. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and tumbled over a cliff before I could stop myself. The cliff overlooked a small town I didn't know was here. A very small town actually. I hit the ground with a satisfying splat noise. I tumbled over when I stood up again. I could see that the blood that as once in my body was now smeared over the ground, my hands and presumably my face as well. My chest felt ungodly sore from the impact. I shuddered, finding bodily fluids very unpleasant.
'I can fix up the parts necessary for movement but I might not be able to fix up my skin and flesh. I used a lot of power to get out..' I thought, looking at my hands. I glanced at the staff I always carried with me. I was pretty cracked at wielding that bad boy but I drew the line at igniting it. On the end of the staff, there was a small cup shaped end piece that was meant to be ignited by my flame. If I were to ignite my staff I would have access to a whole new level of my power but... I don't know what it would do to me. Like writing my name in the story book from Ever After High, I fear it would seal my destiny. That destiny being to follow in my father's tiny, pill shaped footprints. I just can't let that happen. I shook off the temptation to light the thing. I don't even know how! I mean even if I wanted to I couldn't, so that's a good thing.
I took a deep, ragged breath (something I learned that releases tension in the nervous system) and waved my hands over my body. Broken bones sealed back together and torn muscle intertwined once again. Blood still dripped from the deep scrapes on my arms, chest and face, but I would fix them later. I rose to my feet once again, dizzily, and set off, limping into town.
Seems this place has little night life, a stark difference from my old home, that technically didn't have a night, but it didn't matter because everyone was screaming and partying constantly. I closed my eyes and drank in the silence. It was like a comforting blanket after a lifetime of being trapped outside in the cold.
"Dipper, are you sure this is a good idea? It's really dark and no one's around to make sure we don't die." A female voice asked from across the street. I ducked behind a corner quickly to observe.
"Exactly! The perfect conditions! Now keep watch on that lamppost, will you? I need to monitor the paranormal energy ratio to paranormal beings. If we're going to get you that photo with moth man, we need the right environment for moth man." a scratchy boys voice responded
"Alright alright, he is really fluffy looking." The first voice said reluctantly. "But are you sure you aren't just doing this to impress Ford when he gets back?"
"Whaaat? Nonsense! I just love helping my sister!" The voice supposedly belonging to "Dipper" said. "Of course getting together a portfolio of what we've done since he left would be useful in convincing him that we are capable enough to go with him next time he goes out BUT that is my second priority."
"Jeez Louise, Dipper, you are a cruddy liar."
"Just say shitty, Mabel."
"I will not!"
I observed the owners of the voices as they slowly emerged from the shadows across the street. Two kids who looked to be about 15 and suspiciously similar to each other stood on the street corner tentatively. One had long brunette hair tied up with a very sparkly scrunchy and a headband. She wore a pink, baggy sweater that almost fell off one of her shoulders and a purple skirt. The other had the same brunette hair, short and messy, shoved under a hat that was definitely meant for colder weather. He had a vest over a flannel that had sleeves down to his elbows and looked like they were cut that way. However, whoever was cutting it was on a rollercoaster at the time and was cutting the sleeve off while it was still on their body. Anyway, he probably could have just rolled the sleeves up. Also, he had khaki shorts on.
The girl fixed her gaze determinedly on the streetlight across the other street from her. It also appeared to be the only working streetlight in my field of vision. The boy drifted his gaze to a device in his hands that looked like a tablet with radio antennae.
"That's odd." He said.
"Which 'that' are you referring to? There are a lot of weird 'thats' in Gravity Falls." The gild responded without taking her eyes off the beam of light.
"My super cool, new anomaly sensor is acting up. It's showing off impossible statistics!"
"Wait how so? Lemme see!"
"No keep your eyes on the street light! I'll explain. So this is supposed to tell me the ratio of paranormal energy to paranormal energy makers in a given radius. Basically 'how much energy does the weird creature give off.'
"Well, this thing is giving me a reading of 500 PEU to only 1 anomaly. PEU stands for Paranormal Energy Units. Ford came up with it."
"It just sounds like you're saying peeyew, but at least Gruncle Ford is good at coming up with creative names. So is 500 high or something?"
"Crazy high! Way too high! The average energy an anomaly gives off is 20-30. The highest I've detected is 41, from a very powerful ghost. Of course if it read an anomaly count of 100-150 it might be more believable but that is also an absurd amount of anomalous.. uh- things. Ergo, 500 should not be possible!"
"Oh shoot! Did you just say ergo?"
"Mabel, that's not important."
"You're such a nerd!"
"Shut up! This is important! My device is malfunctioning, so I can't trust it to give me an accurate reading on moth man! Or any entity! What if all the other readings have been false, too? How can I trust myself to make anything of use if I can't even make a functioning paranormal activity reader with STEP BY STEP instructions from Gruncle Ford!" The boy began to freak out.
"Woah woah hey! No need to beat yourself up, bro bro! You're great at building stuff! I'm sure it's just an itty bitty error and you'll fix it up no problem!"
"Euugghh..."
"Look, how about we just take a picture of mothman this time! We can get his readings later."
"I guess.. but mothman needs very specific conditions to show up. When are we going to get another quiet night like this again?"
"I'm sure an opportunity will present itself! Like I always say, Campe Diem! Or no.. carpet diem.. yeah that's it. Seize the day!"
"We'd have to carpet noctum, though. Since mothman only comes out at night."
"Whatever, you know what I meant."
The teens turned around and began to walk back the way they came. They might see me! I ducked further behind the corner to envelope myself in the shadows but I misstepped and tripped over a pile of boxes. They tumbled over and I got stuck in one of them. I writhed to get out.
"What was that?" The girl called Mabel asked in a loud whisper.
"It might have been moth man!" Dipper's tone perked up.
'No! No I'm not moth man! I'm just an alley-cat!' I thought as hard as I could, hoping to will them away. But they would not be swayed by my mind powers. I wriggled more to try to free myself from the box but I just slid down further, folding more in half. This sent sharp pains through the exposed nerve endings on my chest and arms. I yelped as it seared across the huge scrapes.
"I heard something! It's over here!" Mabel called, when they reached my side of the street.
My box tipped over and I was set free from my cardboard prison. But where was my staff? I dug around in the box pile quickly to find it.
"Hey, there's someone over here. Excuse me? Who are- WOAH!"
I swung around as soon as my hand gripped my staff, pointing it in a defensive position toward the current threat of "Mabel."
"What? Mabel are you ok, what happened?" Dipper jogged over to us, sounding out of breath.
"Woah! Who's this?" He asked his sister.
"I dunno! I just sort of stumbled across them! I think they were the one making the noise! They don't look so good do they?" She said. "Sorry, is that rude? We don't wanna hurt you! I haven't seen you around, are you new? Where'd you get the staff?"
"Don't overwhelm them, Mabel.
Hi, my name is Dipper. What is your name? Are you ok?" He said this is a surprisingly soothing voice, despite his earlier, high pitched freak out.
I started to back away slowly. These two must be hunters. From their talk of moth man and their strange devices, they could have heavenly ropes or nets and weapons that could kill even a creature like me.
"Holy shit! Are you bleeding?? You look like you're dying!!" Mabel cried.
"Mabel, don't scream! You'll scare 'em off!" Dipper said, covering his ears.
"Sorry! Do you need help? Or the hospital? Dipper, where's your phone, we should call 911."
"Why can't you use your phone?"
"Didn't bring it. Yours has better camera quality anyway."
"They're the same phone!"
"Yeah but yours works better!"
"How? They're the same model, yours has the same quality!"
"I think yours is cleaner."
"That's because I clean it!"
As the two continued to bicker, I slipped away, back into the alleyway and the shadows. I would find a place to rest in the woods.
"Hey, wait! Where are you going?" Shouted Mabel when she noticed. But I was already gone.
YOU ARE READING
Ignite the Staff (Reader Insert, Gravity Falls)
Fanfiction(This story may or may not be based off of my very old Gravity Falls OC lore. We're bringing her back with the resurrection of the Gravity Falls fandom due to the Book of Bill. Which I own ;) (This is NOT an X reader. There will be no romance.) I ha...