Big Brother (Semi-Permanent Hiatus)

Nine

((A surprise Shadow Servant speaking will be Bold Italics))

"Damn."  A previously thought perished man of thirty two years stumbled through the dense forest of Gravity Falls looking for his three younger brothers. Weak and hungry, the Watcher fell into a clearing at Vern and James's feet.

The older of the two men above him widened his eyes significantly and gasped. "Phillip?"

.•°•.•°•.•°•.•°•.

Adrian shapeshifted into a cat and crawled into Mabel's shoulders a week later, watching his inner eye sleep in a chair a few feet away. James has been hard at work the past week helping Vern in every way he could care for the battered man they found.

"Hey Dip- I mean, Adrian?" Mabel mumbled, stroking the dark blue cat that was formerly her brother for the longest time.

"Go ahead and call me Dipper. I know you want to. And it's a nickname anyway so no harm done." Adrian smiled the best he could in the form he was in. He could shift into a lot more than Bill or Will and he took advantage of it. A lot.

Mabel sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. Anyway, can I please see what your Shadow Servant looks like? Pretty please?" The sixteen year old still retained her childish traits from years ago.

"When he wakes up." Adrian yawned, also tired from the week. "He's had a long, ah, week." He drifted to sleep on his former adopted sister's shoulders and Mabel giggled, lifting his small body off her and laying him in James's - where she guessed he was anyway, which was a pretty good guess - lap.

"Are you Mabel?" Phillip Lawrence stepped into the doorway, looking a lot better from when he was found. His long corn flour golden hair that hung down to his middle back was pulled into a low pony tail and his dark forest green eyes weren't as clouded as when he was found. Despite being thirty two he only looked to be about nineteen, the age he was when he stopped physically aging.

Mabel turned and looked at him with a smile. "You look better."

"Thanks to Vern's healing spells." Phillip smiled easily. He stepped into the room and sat down on the floor, hand going to stroke James's black locks. "You placed Adrian well, seeing as you can't see James. He's on James's lower stomach. I imagine you were going for his lap?"

"Yeah." Mabel tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Anyway, how are you feeling? Vern won't be happy to hear you're out of bed."

"I feel fine." Phillip sighed. He looked up as Bill shuffled in with Amos following behind closely. Will was in his own dimension with Vern.

"How did you survive?" Amos whispered, hugging Phillip tightly. "We thought Kill had murdered you."

"Little brother, you can't kill a Shadow Servant that's not tied to your life force. Kill, severed the ties between us then tried to kill me without him getting hurt. All that happened was I got cast out to some remote part of the world and I tried to find you and Vern. I didn't even know about James." Phillip smiled at his youngest brother who awoke with a yawn.

"Master Adrian?" The boy looked at the demon asleep in his lap. His cheeks flushed and he attempted to sit up without rousing Adrian. Unfortunately he did wake the sleeping demon who ended up shifting back to his human form in shock and consequently straddling James's stomach.

"Ah, sorry James." Adrian crawled off his inner eye and sat down on the floor, which earned a disapproving look from Amos to James. The youngest shadow scrambled off the chair and offered it quickly to Adrian who just laughed. "I'm fine. And you don't have to always live up to your brother's expectations." He smiled kindly. "You aren't Amos, James."

"I'll say." Phillip laughed softly and patted James's hip - all he could really reach at the moment. "You're a Fighter. You fight for your Master's honor James. If I learned anything from Henrietta, it's that Fighters don't normally follow the rules." His eyes skimmed over Adrian. "Although, you might want to start training daily if you want to fight for Mr Adrian against Kill." He stood, a smirk in place. "I can train you, I may be a Watcher but Kill insisted I be good at hand to hand combat too."

"Not until you're fully healed." Amos started to scold. Bill chuckled and shushed him.

"Really?" James looked up at the six foot man who towered over him.

"Course! And I can get to know my little brother while I'm at it huh?" Phillip single arm hugged the young boy.

"Oh! Speaking of getting to know people, James, go ahead and show yourself to Mabel. She wants to see what you look like." Adrian murmured, just loud enough for James to catch. James looked at Mabel and his form wavered before solidifying again.

"I can't. I don't know how." James whispered.

վօմ ϲɑղ ժօ íԵ ƒօɾ հíʍ. A voice spoke up in Adrian's subconscious. ժօղ'Ե աօɾɾվ í'ʍ ղօԵ հҽɾҽ Եօ հɑɾʍ. ҍմԵ յմՏԵ ԹӀɑϲҽ վօմɾ հɑղժ օղ հíՏ ՏհօմӀժҽɾ ɑղժ ƒօϲմՏ օղ ʍɑҍҽӀ.  Եհҽղ ɑՏ Ӏօղց ɑՏ վօմ'ɾҽ Եօմϲհíղց հíʍ հҽ ϲɑղ ҍҽ Տҽҽղ.  ɑӀɾíցհԵ? Adrian was unnerved and James picked up on it as Adrian did as he was told.

James felt warmth ripple through him and soon he was visible to Mabel. But only for a short while because as soon as she got a good look at James, Adrian passed out.

Bill caught him, a confusing smile on his face that turned to concern when he felt Adrian's temperature. The boy was burning up! Amos watched as James soon toppled forward, also sick. "What's wrong with them?"