A Friend (Stanford Pines x Reader)

Do I Feel Lost?

The anomaly flicked its tail back and forth, a swift motion that Dipper felt his eyes follow like a pendulum. Back and forth, back and forth. His back pressed tightly against the stone wall, and a cut on his side kept begging for his attention, flaring and painful. But he wouldn't dwell on it, his own discomforts, or even his own fears. His sister's arms snaked around him, each tremor of her body, held his dominant focus. No matter what happened today, he wouldn't let anything happen to her. He swore on his life.

The young twins had run as far as they possibly could, but now they were cornered against the stone face of the cliff, and the anomalies gazed at them with a flash of hunger. A flash that spoke deep to his soul, a wordless song. The intent to slaughter. The intent to kill. They were wolves. Or at least, that the closest thing Dipper could name that they resembled, with thick manes of green and eyes a brighter shade of yellow than the fullest of the full moons. Their jaws gnashed, clacks that repelled off the wall behind them and swirled in the air all around. They barked and growled, kicking their hindlegs at the twins.

Mabel tightened her grip on her brother. "Dipper," her voice was a whimper, betraying every ounce of her fear. She looked up at him. Her brown eyes were wet, and he caught his own fear in her pupils. Her cheeks were pink and tear stained, rosy lips quivering around her words. "Dipper, what are we gonna do?"

He hated that he didn't have an answer to offer her. He had never seen an anomaly like these before, let alone ones so ferocious. He inhaled, letting the air that swirled in his lungs steady him, even if it was for only a moment. "It'll be okay," he replied, in the steadiest voice he could muster. "It's going to be okay, Mabel, I promise. I've got you, and nothing is going to happen as long as I'm here." His hand found her back, which he rubbed in soothing circles the way all adults did when he needed comforting. By the way she leaned into it, he assumed it helped assuage her fears. In the thick of it, it felt good, almost, to be protecting someone.

At his other side, Dipper clenched his fists. A large stick caught his eye, and he bent over and snatched it, stepping in front of his sister. "Get back!" he waved the stick forward, jabbing it as close as he dared. It gave him three extra feet from his arm, and he felt momentarily triumphant when the beasts staggered back. He waved it faster, shouting incomprehensibly now. Blood roared in his ears. "Get back I said!" he screamed. "Leave us alone!"

As if fueled by his fierceness, the dogs barked, loud now, and one jumped forward on the stick. He had it in its jaws and chomped on it, reducing their only hope of a weapon into a jumble of twigs. Each crack pealed off the trees in the surrounding woods, taking Dipper's one flame of hope and snuffing it out, leaving him with the swirling smoke and the knowledge that, in these woods, they were going to die.

Would Grunkle Stan, Grunkle Ford, or Grauntie Y/N find them? Would they be smeared along the wall, their remains a bloody massacre? Or would their very existence be reduced to faces on a missing person's poster, with no closure? Their only witness the eyes in the trees? Dipper didn't know. Everything hurt. A dog lurched forward, grazing his teeth along Dipper's leg, making his knees buckle, bringing the twins down as he cried out.

"I'm sorry, Mabel," he said quietly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to get us into this." His sister sobbed into his chest. The breath of the wolves was hot all over, and he closed his eyes, praying to whoever was listening that it was quick. Please don't let Mabel suffer long...

Dipper heard the whine of the gun before he heard the blast. Low at first, then rising in frequency before a blast of color took off against his closed eyes, bright blue. The dogs stopped barking, if only for a moment, letting Dipper hear a familiar voice.

"Back off!" Your voice was loud in your own ears, and you trained the gun right on the beast that stood directly in front of the twins. As if the beasts understood, they turned, running the short distance over to you and snapping their jaws.