Chapter Four

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8:03 AM

Dipper had woken up four hours prior to that time from another nightmare. He was currently lying in his bed, blankly staring off as thoughts plagued his mind.

He was still disturbed that Stanford knew nothing about what his tattoo was. Though, they had learned that if anyone touched it, the tattoo would react badly and sting whoever touched it and Dipper. 

Though Ford had said that he'd search for what the tattoo could be, it gave Dipper no comfort.

The simple thought of the thing on his back sent chills down his spine... Which happened to be where his tattoo was, as well.

Dipper sighed and sat up. He sat there for a moment before deciding to get up and get ready.

After changing out of his pajamas, Dipper found a piece of paper and a pen, quickly writing down a note and placing it on Mabel's phone that was on the table in between their beds.

Mabel,

Couldn't sleep and decided to head out for a walk. I should be back before the Mystery Shack opens. If I'm not back before then, come out looking for me.

- Dipper

Dipper made his way out of the attic, down the stairs, and out the back door. He decided to eat breakfast and get his coffee later and just focus on clearing his mind as he took a walk.

Fortunately, Dipper was right that taking a walk. The surroundings of the forest distracted Dipper from the thoughts of his nightmares and tattoo. The scent of the summer breeze was calming and the forest wasn't full of people unlike the Mystery Shack. Dipper was so distracted by taking in all of his surroundings that he even forgot how tired he was.

"Get away from me you disgusting mutt! Gah!"

Dipper tensed up as he heard the scream from nearby. He heard snarling and someone yelling. Without hesitation, Dipper quickly chased after where he heard the sounds, stopping dead in his tracks as he reached the location.

There was a giant, black, wolf standing in the middle of the clearing, staring down a guy whose arm was bleeding. The wolf was much taller than Dipper and smelled awful. Something clicked in Dipper's head and he realized what the creature was.

It was a Hellhound.

Stanford had informed Dipper about the beasts before, but Ford had admitted he didn't really know anything about them because they were so rare. The only thing he knew was that they looked like giant; dark, canines, had terrible odor, and that they had some relation to demons but he wasn't entirely sure what. He had guessed maybe Hellhounds were pets, but it was just speculation.

Dipper then realized the guy the Hellhound was staring down was the same man he had met in the library, Caesar.

Caesar hadn't seen Dipper and was too busy staring back at the Hellhound and gripping his bleeding arm. He looked terrified, making Dipper feel uneasy seeing such fear in the other teen's eyes... Well, eye as his right eye was still covered by his eye patch.

Dipper then remembered something... His flask of holy water.

Luckily, he had brought it with him and quickly grabbed it out of his back pocket.

"I hope this works," Dipper whispered to himself.

He quickly opened the flask and yelled, "Hey, ugly! ...Yeah, you, you big slobbery mutt!"

The beast turned it's head, it's blood red eyes meeting Dipper's terrified gaze. It snarled at him and completely turned around taking a step towards him.

Dipper's breath hitched as he saw how large the Hellhound's teeth and claws were, but then quickly splashed the water out of the flask onto the beast's face.

It howled in pain, eyes screwing shut, and pawing at it's face. It shocked Dipper as the Hellhound suddenly turned into smoke and disappeared into the air.

Caesar stared at him, eyes wide as he spoke, "...D-dipper...? You... You just scared off a Hellhound!"

"I know," Dipper lightly chuckled as he closed the flask, put it back in his pocket, and quickly made his way over to Caesar. "Are you okay, man? You're bleeding a lot."

Caesar let Dipper inspect the bite mark on his arm. The Hellhound luckily hadn't dug in too deep, but still enough to hurt Caesar pretty bad and rip the sleeve off his hoodie.

Dipper held Caesar's arm as he looked the wound closer and asked, "It looks like there are a few burns, too. Does it hurt?"

"Yeah...," Caesar calmly said and then tapped his eye patch with his free hand. "But, hey, I've gone through worse pain."

Dipper laughed a bit before speaking again, "Here, I'll take you back home and get you cleaned up. It's not too far of a walk, so you won't bleed to death before we get there."

"You don't have to do that for me, kid," Caesar then said, making Dipper frown.

"Dude, you're in the middle of the woods and the Mystery Shack is the closest thing here," the brunette protested. "I'll help you out, Caesar. I don't mind at all."

Caesar stared at Dipper for a moment, but then softly smiled at him as he spoke, "Alright, kid. I guess I could get some help...  Thanks."

Dipper smiled back and then began to guide Caesar back to the Mystery Shack.

Both of them didn't speak for a moment as they were walking through the forest. Dipper ended up breaking the silence first.

"Hey, uh, if you don't mind me asking, what were you doing in the middle of the forest?" Dipper questioned. "...And why was that Hellhound attacking you?"

"I was just taking a stroll through the forest like I normally do...," Caesar began. "Then that Hellhound came out of nowhere and started chasing me. It got a hold of my arm, but I luckily managed to get away before it really hurt me... And that's when you stepped in."

"Hellhounds are supposed to be really rare... I wonder what is was doing in the middle of the woods," Dipper murmured.

"I don't know... Just bad luck for me, I guess," Caesar chuckled. "But what about you, kid? What were you doing wandering in the woods? Just looking for someone to save?"

Dipper shook his head, smiled, and replied, "No. I was just taking a walk to clear my mind... I've been having a lot of nightmares recently and I just needed to focus on something else than those dreams..."

"Nightmares?" Caesar repeated. "How bad of nightmares are we talking?"

"I get around three hours of sleep a night," Dipper plainly said.

Caesar gave him a worried look, "Ouch... I'm sorry, kid. That really sucks."

"It's alright... They'll have to go away eventually," Dipper replied, trying to be optimistic... Though, that was hard when the source of his nightmares could possibly be a dream demon.

"I guess that's a good way to look at it," Caesar said with a smile.


(A/N: Everything will make sense soon... I promise!)

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