Back To Gravity Falls: Beware the Beast (Multiverse Crossover)

The Unseen and Ever-Present Danger

Full chapter: The Unseen and Ever-Present Danger (Is Upon Us)

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"You should go home, Norman." Dipper huffed as they climbed up the hill to the trail exit. "All this 'beast' talk is making me wonder if we should keep you out of this."

Norman's expression quickly turned to anger, "Oh. I see."

Mabel shook her head, uncomfortable, and Wendy grimaced bracing herself with a mental 'Aw, man... here we go'.

"So I'm some child now that needs to be relocated to the kids' table? Really, Dipper?" Norman was indignant, not bothering to hide the irritation in his tone. His arms were stretched out fully from his sides, palms up. "I don't get it-- the last I checked, we're the same age! More importantly, I thought we were on the same team here-- why are you trying to push me out of this!?"

Dipper's face turned red, then he proceeded to shout loud enough that it echoed a second or two in the woods around them, "Goddamn it, Norman, we could DIE doing this, you know?!"

There was a quietness, but for only a few moments.

Norman's face softened for a second, realizing he was out of line, before his face turned stoic, "I know that, Dipper. I do. This isn't the first time I've come face-to-face with death, you know? I'm not afraid to die, Dipper. Really, I'm not... At least if I died trying to save people from whatever this thing-- person-- is, at least I can say I did something worth the risk."

Mabel exhaled, roughly pushing past the two boys with an uncharacteristically dark expression, "Get moving, we don't have time to fight. Fight in the truck."

Dipper watched his sister with a look of shame before following her wordlessly. She was right, they had no time to waste. As they all piled into the truck, all but Norman in the cab, Norman pulled on the hem of Dipper's shirt as the Pines boy tried to step up into the truck.

"I'm staying at the Shack, Wirt and Greg are safer without me around anyway." Norman muttered loud enough only for Dipper to hear.

Dipper nodded slowly, "Your choice, Norm."

With that, Norman put his foot on the back wheel and climbed in the truck bed, sitting quietly in the corner behind the driver's seat. The truck had gone a few miles when Dipper opened the back window of the truck, looking at Norman as the boy watched the passing sidewalks with an empty gaze.

"Do you still wanna know about Weirdmageddon?" Dipper asked, roughly, as if he regretted opening his mouth.

"Yeah..." Norman nodded, voice distant. "please."

****

After the story, Norman got an irritated look on his face, slamming his fist on the side of the truck beside him. It resonated with a loud, metallic thud.

"Whoa, Norm, what's wrong?" Dipper asked, confused by the teen's sudden outburst after his complete silence during the story.

"Hyle.... I just realized it... She never told us how to kill that THING, just said it was dangerous-- so we basically just wasted the trip." Norman huffed, running his fingers through his unruly spikes.

"Not for nothing," Dipper offered, "at least we know what we're looking for."

"Do we, Dipper? I mean... how do we know how to kill something if we don't even know for sure what it is?" Norman asked, exhaling sharply. "I gotta check my cell, tell Wirt where I'm going..."

Dipper nodded, "In the mean time, I'll call Coraline and Wybie to give them a head's up."

While the boys were occupied with their calls, Mabel leaned her cheek against Wendy's shoulder to whisper so she wouldn't be heard, "That outburst earlier, that was unexpected, right?"